Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Anyway. I brought us back. I told the followers an abbreviated, Coast Guard-approved version of what’d happened that day, which was close to the truth but made no mention of how the boat had been set ablaze.
Jake followed that up with our plans for improving our physical strength and knowledge so we could take on more high-risk projects in the future. Starting with a harmless survival documentary taking place in Alaska at some point.
It was gonna be fun.
“Maybe I’ll wrestle a bear,” I mused. “How hard can it be?”
“This is what I put up with, folks,” Jake said. “If you hear a news story next year about a New Yorker being airlifted from Alaska, don’t ask for confirmation. Just assume it’s Roe.”
“Oh, I can see it. Alaska Survival with Roe Finlay and Jake Denver, sponsored by Johnson & Johnson’s Band-Aid.”
Jake snorted. “You’re gonna need a lot more than Band-Aids.”
We’ll see.
At lunch, we were alone in the house again after Seth had stopped by briefly. We’d gotten the early numbers for today’s episode, which was a solid indication of how it would perform as a whole. Most of our followers binged episodes or tuned in later in the day, but if we had a lot of people listening or watching when we aired, we knew it was gonna do well.
Today had been a good one.
We had some new sponsorship deals and paid partnerships to go through as well. We were hella picky about those, much to Seth’s chagrin, but Jake and I had been around a while now. We’d seen too many podcasts sell out and then tank because listeners got sick of all the pimping of products.
We had food delivered at one, and I brought it to the patio with sodas and ketchup.
I was getting my mac and cheese. Specifically, mac and cheese with bacon. Jake had ordered his with chicken.
“Fuck me, this is good shit.” I swallowed a mouthful and poured more ketchup over my food.
“I think you’re supposed to cut the sugar outta your diet now that we’re—”
“Dude. Don’t. I gave up my Friday morning donut. That’s enough.”
He grinned and shook his head, refocusing on his own food. Sans ketchup.
I checked my phone, wondering what Sandra was up to. She must be home by now. I’d texted her right after we’d finished our episode, ’cause I couldn’t remember an ultrasound ever lasting longer than half an hour, maybe forty minutes. Then I’d sent another message an hour ago.
I hoped nothing was wrong. Shit. Okay, I’d finish my lunch, and then I’d call her. If she didn’t pick up, I’d try her mom.
Jake chuckled at something, and I side-eyed him. He was on his phone.
“What’s funny?” I asked.
“Joel. He sent me a dumbass joke about Marines.”
Oh. Fucking Joel. Were they still in touch? I’d been the one who’d reached out to ask for another interview.
I wasn’t gonna ask, because frankly, I didn’t wanna know. They were evidently texting jokes to each other, so…whatever. Good for them. Maybe Joel was helping Jake figure out who he was.
I needed help.
“What the fuck?” Jake was still staring at his phone, though with an upset expression now. No more jokes from Joel the Jokester? “Sandra’s pregnant with twins, and you didn’t care to tell me?”
She was pregnant with what?!
Jake showed me the screen of his phone, revealing an update from Sandra’s Instagram. I almost dropped my food container. Holy fuck. What? Without thinking, I ripped the phone from his hand to look closer. It was a selfie, and she was holding up two pairs of baby socks.
Oh my God.
Was this for real?
I swallowed dryly and scanned the caption.
Roe and I are excited to announce that our son will have two little siblings next year. We’re expecting twins!
Oh my God.
“Oh my God.”
“You didn’t know,” I heard Jake say.
“I…” Oh my God. Twins. I set down my food on the table when I noticed my hands were shaking a bit. Why the fuck hadn’t she told me first? Was it too much to ask that she share the news with me before the rest of the world? Judging by the likes on the photo, I was number 268 to find out. Christ, twins. It was incredible. Wonderful. Amazing. Fucking terrifying. Two babies at once! Oh my God.
“Roe, are you all right?”
“I—yeah. I don’t know. I mean, yeah.” I was still figuring that out, but yeah. A tad overwhelmed, maybe. My heart was pounding. My brain was a mess. “We, uh… I knew she was pregnant. We were gonna tell everyone after the first ultrasound this week, but…” Fuck, I couldn’t think. “She got an earlier appointment. And now we’re apparently having twins. Jesus Christ.”
I couldn’t reach out and grab on to any of the million emotions swirling inside me. Elation, fear, annoyance, wonder, relief, sadness, I could go on and on. I’d made my bed, and I was lying in it, but for every right thing I did by my wife, that bed shifted further away from Jake.