Page 73 of Playboy Pilot

I’d stopped at one of the outdoor shopping plazas near my hotel for some ice cream and sat on a bench outside of one of the stores. I needed a sign from God.

Please give me a sign that the decision in my heart is the right one.

I continued to stare into space as I licked around the circumference of the ice cream over and over, forming smooth lines around the ball of soft serve.

When I got up to throw away the last of the cone, I looked up. Staring me in the face was a gigantic advertisement for baby clothes. It featured a large, chubby baby boy with rolls of fat on his legs. He looked exactly like the baby picture of Carter that he’d shown me. My heart seemed to expand with every second that I stared at the baby’s joyful smile. If this weren’t a sign, I didn’t know what was. In fact, I couldn’t think of a better one if I tried. That is, until I looked up at the name of the children’s clothing store.

Carter’s.

I WAS FOLDING MY purchases from the day when my cell phone rang. Frank Sinatra’s Come Fly with Me made me smile from ear to ear. I’d changed Carter’s ringtone after hearing that song in the car this afternoon. Another big sign. I couldn’t recall ever hearing that on the radio. Maybe on my grandfather’s CD player, but definitely not on any station I listened to. Yet today, there it was.

After throwing out my ice cream cone, I’d wandered into Carter’s to look around. It was honestly only the second time I’d ventured into a children’s clothing store. The first was for my cousin Harper who got pregnant when she was eighteen by her thirty-nine-year-old, married college professor. Us Sparks’ high society women truly were all smoke and mirrors.

“Hey, handsome,” I answered.

“You sound better than when I spoke to you this afternoon.”

I sighed. “I feel better, actually.”

“Any particular reason? Not that I’m complaining. But I’d like to know what it took to turn your mood around. Store that in my mind for a day that I might need it again.”

“It was you, actually.”

“Go on. I’m liking the sound of this story so far.”

I laughed. “Well…today I was doing some heavy thinking. And let’s just say that there were some ways that you were present with me.” I folded the little outfit I’d bought today into my suitcase. Not only had the store been named Carter’s, but inside I’d found a tiny navy suit with piping down the sides of the pants that looked almost exactly like Carter’s pilot uniform. I couldn’t help myself. I was at the register before it even registered in my brain that I was buying clothing for a baby I had just decided I wanted to try to have.

Outside the store with my bag in my hand, the sun seemed to shine brighter. The air breathed a little easier. My head and heart that had spent weeks in turmoil, finally came into perfect alignment. Oh my God. I was going to have a baby. A baby. With a man I was crazy in love with.

Feeling freed, I did what every well-bred Texas debutante would do. I went shopping. The strip mall had a dozen other stores, and I hit each and every single one of them. My bags were almost too heavy to carry by the time I reached the last store—an Army Navy store where I found a set of antique Airman wings.

Looking down at the folded suit with the wings pinned to the lapel, I could actually visualize a little dimpled boy wearing it as his Daddy held him proudly. His Daddy. Lost in dreamland, I almost forgot Carter was on the phone.

“Perky, you still there?”

“I am. Sorry. But I’m thinking that I’m going to hold off on telling you anymore about my day. I would much rather show you what reminded me of you.”

“Does that mean I’m going to be seeing you soon?” I heard the hope in his voice, and it made my palms sweat with excitement.

“It does actually. I was hoping we could meet up.” I finished zipping my suitcase and plopped down on the bed.

“Say the word. Where and when? I’ll divert my flight to Dubai in the morning if I have to. Hijack a 757 full of Arabs to Texas if you have some good news for me.”

I knew he was kidding, but there wasn’t much I would put past this crazy man. “Where will you be on Monday next week?”

“Hang on…let me check my phone.”

Thirty seconds later, he was back. “I’ll be in Miami Monday.”

That had to be another sign. “The airport we met in?”

“That’s right. I have a layover for the night, and then I’m heading back to Brazil again. Sounds like fate to me, beautiful. What do you say? Is it a date? Meet me in Miami. Same bar it all started at. I’ll book you a ticket that gets you in as close to when I land as possible?”

I took a deep breath of courage in and let out the rest of my fear. “Yes. I need to see you. I have a few things I want to talk about. But I also miss you like crazy.”

“You got it. You’ll have a ticket by morning.”

We talked for another hour after that. I didn’t tell him about my purchases or the decision I was pretty sure I made. All of that needed to be done in person. But toward the end of the call, I said, “I bought something today that reminded me of you.”