I reached for her hand and took it within mine.
“Anything you need, Emma, it’s yours. If you need a new mattress as your body changes, done. I’m paying for your medical bills, that’s not even a question. I’m getting you the best prenatal vitamins on the market. And if you want, I can have those premade healthy meals or whatever sent to your door every week. Or you can come here and I’ll cook for you. All soups. Every single kind of soup you could imagine.”
Emma giggled and the sound filled the living room of my apartment.
“You could even move in, if you wanted.”
I watched her tense as her hand fell from mine.
“I don’t know if we should be jumping into things that quickly,” she said. “I mean, you just took over custody of the kids. They’re getting settled in, right?”
“They’ve been settled for the past month and a half,” I said. “Right now, all we’re doing is decorating and painting their rooms.”
“But what if there isn’t room for me and the baby?” she asked.
“My library can be converted into a nursery if necessary. And there’s an entire half of this apartment you haven’t seen yet.”
“Wait, what?”
“Yeah,” I said. “If you walk through the kitchen to get to the library-- which I don’t think you’ve even seen yet-- there’s another door off in the corner. That opens up the entire backspace of my place.”
“Can I see it?”
“Of course. Follow me, beautiful.”
Emma flushed at my
words as I helped her from the couch. I walked her down the hallway and through the kitchen, then opened the door and dumped us into the library. She gawked at the high-vaulted ceiling of the room and the sheer amount of books. It was the darkest room in the house, but it was my favorite room. The shelves were filled with books I’d read over and over again, from the time I was a teenage boy up until the time my company took off in the marketplace.
“I didn’t know you read,” Emma said.
“There’s a lot about each other we still need to get to know. And I can’t wait,” I said.
I squeezed her hand and guided her towards the door. I threw it open and led her into the second half of my apartment and her jaw hit the floor. She walked into the massive expanse of the room and just stood there. Dumbfounded. Shocked at the sheer size of it. The place didn’t have a lot of furniture. I didn’t know what to do with the space honestly. It had two other empty rooms, each with their own decadent bathroom, and a massive space that could be categorized as a second living space. It even had its own electric fireplace.
“How do you just not use something like this?” Emma asked.
“Never had a reason for it. Until now. Emma, there’s more than enough space in this place for all of us. And with a few tweaks to this massive wall that separates the two living spaces, it can all be easily conjoined. You don’t have to make a decision now, but the offer stands if-”
My phone rang out in my pocket and I groaned.
“Hold on,” I said. “This is Ryan.”
“Mr. Aaron, my name is Gloria Whiffenpoof. I’m Miss Gentry’s substitute teacher.”
“How can I help you?” I asked as I glanced over at Emma.
“You need to come pick up Zoey. She’s gotten into an altercation with another student.”
“What!?”
Emma whipped her head around as I stood there dumbfounded on the phone.
“What happened?” I asked as I held out my hand.
Emma ran to me and we both started jogging through the apartment.
“She bit one of the boy’s in her class at lunch. We’re requesting you pick her up.”