"Y'all are gonna make me lose my appetite." I groan at their cute PDA.
"Welcome to my life." Maize sighs.
"Y'all are welcome to leave," John states.
"Don't worry, I am." I turn and head toward the dining room. Maize catches up with me, and I notice she's not wearing her chef jacket. "You not workin' today?"
"Half day. Told my staff to take over for a few hours so I could spend the afternoon with Gavin and the kids. But I’m starvin’, so I'll stay and eat with you if ya want."
"Sounds good. What's on the menu?" I ask.
"Cajun chicken and sausage gumbo with rice and potato salad."
"Mmm...sounds and smells delicious."
"And of course peach cobbler."
I grab a bowl, then add rice and pour the gumbo on top. Maize and I chat while we eat.
"Somethin' on your mind?" she asks after I bite into my cornbread.
"No, why?"
"You've barely eaten your gumbo, and I know it's your favorite. My life consists of third-grade girl drama so spill the tea."
I glance down, realizing she's right. Sighing, I look around to make sure no one's within earshot.
"You can't tell anyone."
She zips her lips and flicks away the imaginary key. "To the grave."
Lowering my eyes, I inhale softly before blurting out, "It's...Payton."
"You two finally hook up or somethin'?"
"No, not exactly, but he offered to."
Her face scrunches. "Offered to? Like a if we aren't married by thirty, let's get hitched kind of offer?"
I snort, shaking my head. "Not exactly. I told him I was gonna order sperm online and basically baste myself with it to get pregnant. He offered to knock me up instead."
Maize nearly spews out her sweet tea but quickly covers her mouth and chokes it down.
I hand her a napkin. "Jesus, Maze. You okay?"
She dabs her mouth and chin. "I wasn’t ready for that and almost regret askin' now. I know you've joked about going the donor route, but I didn't know you were serious."
Shrugging, I take a bite of my gumbo and smile at how good it tastes. "I'm tired of waitin'. I want a baby. If I wait for this mysterious Mr. Right, I'll never have one."
"Okay, I understand wanting to have a baby. So how did Payton randomly get involved?"
I recap his finding the donor pages and our conversation on Wednesday.
"You're messin' with me," she deadpans.
"Nope. And even better, he wants to be a dad," I confirm, still worried about how this will play out. "To be fair, I drunkenly told him at the wedding reception to fuck me raw and knock me up. So his volunteering to get me pregnant isn't completely out of the blue. But I never thought he'd actually be interested."
"So...you'd just do the deed until you're knocked up, then what?"