Thirty-Six
Liz
It’s been two weeks since finding out I am indeed pregnant. Hiding it from Cooper is killing me, but I decided since Christmas is so close, I could give him—and Bella—the gift of a new baby. The first couple days I felt like I was betraying him by not telling him right away. I think he even noticed how guilty I felt, but since then it’s been smooth sailing.
Christmas is in two weeks and I need to think of a cool way to tell him. Simply putting a box under a tree and saying, Surprise you’re going to be a daddy again isn’t fun enough. So, I’ve gathered my girls together to help me figure it out. I know, I admit them knowing first probably isn’t the best idea, but hell, how do I plan without telling them why I’m planning?
Cooper has been gracious enough to watch Bella and Tristan at our place. Caleb, Bentley, Kaden, and Alex are all joining him to watch a UFC fight on pay-per-view. I don’t really know much about Alex except that he goes to the gym and he’s the one who took the picture of me at the club. You know, the one that almost blew my relationship up in smoke.
He apologized and explained that he was just looking out for Cooper. I forgave him, but it still stings. He should’ve come to me before sending that picture to him. However, I’m not about to hold a grudge. That brings us back to the present.
Hayley, Kayla, Ashley, and I are all sitting at Hayley’s place, giving each other homemade facials, manis, and pedis while listening to Iggy Azalea’s Fancy. That girl can seriously rock those lyrics.
Hayley gets up and dances to the kitchen, bringing back a bottle of Jack in one hand and Coke in the other. Now is probably a good time to let them know I’m preggers.
She passes out the glasses and dishes out ice into all our cups, and then begins to pour the Jack.
“Just coke for me,” I say.
“Excuse me?” Kayla cuts in. “Since when are you going sober?”
“Since I’m pregnant and I’m not sure how much the baby will enjoy Jack Daniels.”
Everybody goes silent and then cheers erupt. They all take turns congratulating and hugging me.
Ashley finishes pouring everyone’s drinks, but Kayla says she’ll remain sober with me.
Ashley raises her glass and we all follow suit. “A toast. To the new precious little miracle.”
“Here, here,” all the girls say.
“So, does Cooper know? How far along are you?” Hayley asks.
“Not far at all, only six weeks, and no, Cooper doesn’t know yet.”
“How is he going to feel?” Kayla asks. She almost seems despondent about my news. I give her a quick look, silently asking if she’s okay and she nods.
“I’m hoping he’s going to be ecstatic since it was his idea. Back in October, he told me he wants another baby and we decided I wouldn’t get the shot. I didn’t think it would happen so soon, but I’m excited. Speaking of the shot, we never ended up going together. Did you go get yours done?” Kayla nods, but something is off with her.
“So, anyway, I want to come up with a cool way to tell him. Whenever I ask him what he wants for Christmas he says he has everything he could want.”
“I got it! You can plan a family weekend away, like to Disney and say it’s the last trip before you’re a family of four.”
“Oh, I like it, Hayley! Yes, that’s what I’ll do, and it’ll be a Christmas present to Bella as well. Yay! I’m so excited! You guys can’t say anything to anybody. It would break Cooper’s heart if he found out he wasn’t the first to know.”
All the girls vow to keep silent and I’m ready to plan our trip.
Thirty-Seven
Cooper
All the guys are here, we’ve ordered pizza and wings, the pay-per-view fight is on, and Bella and her friend Tristan are running around playing. I’m thinking tonight is the night I’m going to let the guys know I’m going to be taking a break from fighting.
“So, I’ve decided something…” The guys all turn to me, but when I see Bentley, he looks like he’s a hundred miles away.
“Yo, Bentley! What’s up with you?” I ask.
“Women, bro. No, not women. One woman. One stubborn damn woman that is going to be the death of me.”
We all laugh and nod because we’ve been there.
“Kayla?” Kaden asks.
Bentley just shakes his head and we wait to see if he’s going to explain. Finally, with a deep sigh, he says, “We had sex in Boulder.”
We all congratulate him. Because really, that’s what men do… A guy gets laid and you say, Congratulations. Yep, we suck.
“So, does this mean you two are together now?” I ask, remembering he said the next time they have sex would mean they’re together.