Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Maybe he’s realizing he’s thirty now and finally needs to grow up and needs one last drunken two-week party. If that’s the case, I’ll give it to him. He’s given me everything, and he’s about to give up New York for me. I’ll give him whatever ridiculous thing he asks for.
“It’s not like we’ll never have a vacation alone,” I say. “Wade is fifteen. He’ll be at college in three years.”
“That’s twenty-one in gay years,” Noah singsongs.
“You’re confusing that with dog years.”
He can’t hear me as he answers his phone.
I assume the call has something to do with Rainbow Beds, but when his voice cracks, my gaze flies to his.
“What’s wrong?” I mouth.
He says a few mm-hmms and uh-huhs, sounding in deep concentration. When the phone call ends, he gives an extremely polite “Thank you very much” and that’s when I know it’s big.
Noah. Polite. To anyone who isn’t me.
Yep. It’s a world-ending event.
My husband stares at his phone long after the screen goes black.
“What is it?”
“Holy shit.” Noah stumbles back and sits on the edge of our bed. “Holy shit!”
I rush to his side. “What? You’re freaking me out.”
“You know how the adoption agency said it shouldn’t take as long to find a match for us, but then nothing happened so we figured we’d be waiting the few years like everyone else, so when the Wade thing happened, we didn’t take our names off the list?”
My heart skips a beat completely before it drops into my stomach. “Yeah …”
“There’s … there’s a birth mom who’s about six months along. She wants to meet us.”
It’s my turn to stumble toward the bed for support. “A … a baby.”
“And a teenager,” Noah says, his eyes wide. “Like, at the same time.”
The quick panic of we’re not ready hits for a microsecond before a seed of excitement grows in my gut.
Yeah, plans changed when we offered to take in Wade, but the baby thing has still been on the agenda. We just thought it’d be a future thing.
But one look at Noah, and I know this might not happen. His expression is a mix of panic and nauseated.
“We both still want this, right?” I ask.
I’m expecting a no.
Instead, Noah breaks out into the biggest grin I’ve ever seen on him. Seriously, it takes up most of his face.
“Fuck yes,” Noah says.
My brows shoot up to my hairline. “Yes? Like, yes, yes?”
“Yes, yes. Again, fuck yes. I mean, I’m freaking out, don’t get me wrong, but I haven’t thought of anything else since we decided to do this.”
I let out a breath of relief. “Me too.”
His face falls the tiniest bit. “Wait, will Wade be okay with this?”
He’ll have to be is my immediate response, but we should be sure. “Let’s call him.”
One thing I have loved since standing up to my parents is access to my siblings. I keep in contact with all of them except for Daisy, who’s firmly on the conservative side of the family. Maybe her rich fiancé can take over paying for Mom and Dad’s habits.
I wish I could say Daisy’s disapproval doesn’t get to me, but it does. I just keep repeating in my head what Noah says: four out of five ain’t bad, and I guess with our upbringing, he’s right. It’s probably amazing that only one followed our parents’ views.
We Skype Wade, our faces close together so he can see us both when he answers, and he picks up with smirk on his face.
“Aren’t you guys on your way to Fiji?”
“Soon,” I say. “But we just got a pretty important phone call we want to talk to you about.”
He frowns. “Okay?”
“How would you feel sharing an apartment with a baby?” Noah asks.
“I’ve already prepared myself to live with Matt.”
“Funny,” I grumble. “But seriously. We, uh, looked into adoption a few months before we asked you to move in with us, but we thought it would take years.”
His frown is back. “Oh.” He stares off camera, and I can see his Adam’s apple bounce.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Like, you’re getting a baby now, so you won’t want me hanging—”
“Stop.” My stern tone takes him off guard. “Wade, we’re calling to ask if you’re okay with moving in with a baby. We’re not trying to back out of taking you in. At all. We promised you, and you’re a part of this family now. Not the family we grew up in.” I wrap my arm around Noah. “This family. You have a say.”
“And if I say no?” His voice is quiet. “That a baby will interfere with my studies because they cry lots and grow into toddlers who destroy shit, and they’re loud—”
“Maybe we should rethink this baby thing,” Noah says, but he’s laughing as he says it.
I nudge him and turn to my brother. “Wade, if you say no, we’ll tell the adoption agency that we’re not ready, and we’ll reapply in a few years after you’re in college.”