Page 7 of Wish For Me

Rose:You’re not getting married for nearly three weeks.

Everly:But we leave for the bachelorette/bachelor party in ten days!

Will:We leave to celebrate Christmas at the farm in ten days. Your bachelorette party just happens to coincide with that.

Leo:Hey, I’ve been working my ass off to plan this party, show a little respect to the best man.

River:I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware we allowed you in the group thread, Leo. Surely that was an oversight.

Everly:Can we focus please? We leave straight after Christmas for Napa, which means all wedding planning needs to be settled by the time we leave town.

Everly:I have a million things to do. I can’t make this the most amazing, epic, absolute best wedding of the century without your help.

Everly:Don’t all volunteer at once.

Everly:Hello??

TWO

ROSE

“Hanging in there?”

I look over at my husband as he stops at the red light. He’s wearing a concerned expression that makes me wonder how long I’ve been zoning out for.

“Sure,” I tell him, reaching over to take his hand.

I feel Leo’s gaze on the side of my face, but he doesn’t say anything else. The light turns green and he continues down the road.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks after another few minutes of silence.

I sigh. “I feel…weird.”

“That’s understandable. It’s been a weird few days.”

That’s a fucking understatement.

I thought we’d spend December getting ready for the holiday, helping out with wedding prep, planning Bodhi’s bachelor party, and traveling with our family. I had no idea our focus would change so much in such a short time.

First my period was late. I figured it was stress with everything going on, so I didn’t tell Leo. Then the big bombshell hit. My incredibly talented husband got offered an amazing new job—a research position at a university in Singapore. The program is using cutting edge technology to answer questions about human psychology. Which is exactly Leo’s interest.

Suddenly, we weren’t just planning for Christmas and a family wedding. Instead we were talking about moving to a different continent for two years. I still feel like we’re no closer to making up our minds. And the whole need-to-take-a-pregnancy test issue didn’t help either of us relax.

“Do you think it means something that I’m not disappointed?” I finally whisper as Leo pulls up in front of my Uncle Reed and Aunt Paige’s house.

His eyes snap to mine. “The only thing I think it means is that we’re not ready to have a baby.”

I know he’s right. But I can’t help feeling like it’s more than that. The relief I felt when I saw that negative nearly took my breath away. And, okay, we haven’t talked about having kids in a long time. We’re both enjoying the life we have right now. And the potential of this new job and a trans-Pacific move is hanging over our heads. So it wouldn’t have been an ideal time to get pregnant either way.

But seeing that negative made me wonder if I’m ever going to feel differently. What if I never want kids?

“You know what I think?” Leo asks, reaching over to take my hand. “I think we should make a nice dinner tonight and talk all this out. Really talk about our options and what things would look like.”

“We said we weren’t going to do that until after the wedding.”

He shrugs. “Putting it off clearly isn’t stopping us from worrying about it. So let’s enjoy this day with your crazy family and then take some time for ourselves tonight. Okay?”

“Crazy family, huh?”