Page 84 of The Do-Over
“She gets what she wants,” he said as everyone grabbed seats around the TV.
“Oh, no,” Thea said. “I forgot to get my soda.”
“No worries,” Rob said, jumping back up. “I’ll go get that for you.”
Steph leaned over. “He’s being really helpful.”
“It’s the first kid for both of us,” Thea said. “Both of us had kind of resigned ourselves to never having children. So it’s a big deal.”
Steph nodded. “I sort of thought you didn’t want to have children,” she admitted.
“Well, I’d gotten used to the idea that that was how things were going to be,” Thea said. “It seemed like if I was going to be with someone, I would have found him. And I didn’t want to raise kids on my own.”
“Sure.”
“But now that I’m with Rob, everything feels different,” Thea said. She sighed. “I’m just glad we found each other again when we did. I’m glad this was still a possibility for us.”
“Me too,” Steph said. “Now our kids will be able to grow up together. They’ll be friends.”
“I hope so.” Thea smiled. “There’s nothing I’d like more than for us to bring our kids up knowing and loving each other.”
“So what’s this movie we’re watching?” Carlo asked. “Something exciting, I hope.”
“New monster movie,” Thea told her brother.
“I didn’t know you liked monster movies.”
“I don’t care about them. But Rob gets to pick the movies while I’m pregnant.”
“That doesn’t seem fair,” Steph said, laughing. “Pregnant women should get to pick everything!”
“Well, I get to pick everything else, more or less. So I decided he could have movies.”
“And it was very generous of you,” Rob said, coming back into the room. He handed her her soda. “Ready to start?”
“If you are.”
“Oh yeah. I need to clear my head after the day I had at work.”
“Stressful?” she asked sympathetically.
“The start of summer always is. I had two kids in today who went over the handlebars on their bikes, if you can believe that.”
“Oh, no! Are they okay?” Thea’s hands went to her stomach. Whenever she heard stories of kids in trouble, it gave her a pang of anxiety. She had no idea what she was going to do after this baby was born and she couldn’t feel for herself that he was safe all the time.
But I suppose that’s what all mothers go through. It’s just a part of the process of becoming a parent.
And she was more than ready for that.
“They’re fine,” Rob assured her. “The parents were more freaked out than the kids were.”
“I can believe that. I know I would be.”
“You’re going to be a great mom,” he said. “Already freaking out about our kid’s bike accidents, and he’s not even here yet.”
“You know, Rob, I’ve said it before, but it’s so great that you opened up an urgent care facility here in Deer Ridge,” Steph said. “It was always stressful not knowing if you’d be able to get to Ames if you needed help. I feel so much better raising my daughter here knowing that if something goes wrong, we can just go down the block to your clinic.”
Rob nodded. “I learned the hard way that that was what this town was missing,” he said, grinning.
