“And by that,” he said. “I assume you are talking about my future grandchild.”
I winced. “So, you do know?”
“Calvin told me,” he said. “Just last night. I haven’t had much time to process.” He laughed, staring down at his lap. “Cal said she’s keeping the baby. And you know what that means! I’m going to be a grandfather.” I saw the flash of a tear in his eyes. “I’ve always wanted to be a grandfather.”
“Congratulations,” I said, trying to mask my own pain. “And just know, I’m prepared to take care of this child. Just because Kat and I aren’t together anymore, that doesn’t mean I’m going to not be involved in this kid’s life. Okay?”
Dean nodded. “I know, son,” he said. “You are not the type to abandon your kid.”
“Will you just make sure Kat knows that too?”
“I will,” he said. “Sorry to cut things short, but I should get going.” He started to stand, but before he walked away, he smiled down at me and folded his hands in front of him. “I’m planning a trip over the holidays, taking my kids to Hawaii. Kat doesn’t know about it yet, but I hope she will be as excited as I am when I tell her. I think we could all use some… time away.”
“I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas,” I said, truly meaning it.
“And good luck in Japan,” he said. “I know your flight leaves bright and early tomorrow morning. Maybe, when you get back, and we get back from Hawaii, you and Kat can sit down and talk. I’m always amazed by what time away from someone can do to make you appreciate them.”
“Maybe,” I said. “I don’t know. I think it’s really over, Dean.”
He walked up next to me and clapped me on the back. “You think, or you know?” When I didn’t answer, he chuckled. “Funny,” he said. “I never took you for a quitter.”
Before I could respond, he had picked up his coffee cup and muffin and was already walking out of the doors of the building. He took a right on the sidewalk out front and then disappeared around the corner. I took a long sip of my coffee and sat back in my chair.
I’m a lot of things—but a quitter isn’t one of them.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kat
Monday was the last day I would be staying home from work.
Jonah left for Japan on Tuesday morning, sometime around 1am, and then he would be out of the office until just before Christmas, but since SHDC took the week of Christmas off anyway, I could easily avoid him until the new year. Which was exactly what I planned on doing.
But I really hated missing this much work, so Monday morning I asked Calvin to go into my office and grab a few things for me so that I could work from the apartment. He dropped the stuff off around lunch time, then stuck around to inform me that our dad now knew I was pregnant. At first, I was mad at him, but the more I thought about it, the more relieved I felt. I didn’t want to be the one to tell him, for fear of his reaction. But Cal told me that our dad just cried tears of joy when he found out, and also mentioned that the old man said he would be stopping by to see me later that evening.
“I better head back into work,” Cal said after he’d polished off nearly all the snacks in our pantry. “I have to actually getsomethingdone if we are going out of town for the holidays.”
“We’re going out of town?” I asked, standing guard in front of the pantry door in case he tried to grab any snacks to go. “Since when?”
“Dad will tell you about it when he’s here. Don’t tell him I ruined the surprise.” The sound of the shower running echoed from down the hall. Cal frowned. “Is Becca here?”
“Yeah,” I said. “She didn't have any clients until the afternoon, so she slept in. Why?”
He shrugged. “No reason. I was just going to say hi. But she’s in the shower, so no reason for me to dilly dally. I’ll talk to you later, yeah?” He waved to me, then bent down and spoke to my stomach. “I will also talk toyoulater, little dude.”
“You do realize you’re talking to what is basically just a ball of cells right now.”
“I’m excited, sue me. You know, I’m going to be the best uncle in the world. I wasbornto be an uncle.”
“Would you get out of here already?”
He flashed me a cheesy grin, then left. I tried to get started on work after that, but my nerves kept getting the better of me. I wasn’t sure I was ready to face my dad, and I knew he would have a lot of questions about the pregnancy, many of which I didn’t think I could answer at the moment.
As is often the case, however, all my worries were unnecessary. When my dad arrived a little after five, he wrapped me up in a big hug, kissed me on the cheek, and apologized for how he reacted when he first found out about me and Jonah. After that, everything went very smoothly. He gave me a list of names of the best OBGYNs in the area; apparently he had been researching all afternoon. Then we ordered some dinner and I acted surprised when he brought up the Hawaii trip. He was thrilled that I said yes, and we spent a long time going over the details and figuring out what resort we wanted to stay in.
It was almost nine by the time he left, and I was feeling exhausted. I got cozy on the couch and turned the TV on. There wasn’t much playing, so I switched it to the nightly news. I fell asleep during a story about a local athlete who might be making it to the next winter Olympics and woke up two hours later to the sound of someone knocking on the apartment door. I wasn’t expecting company, but then again, it could’ve been Becca. She’d been forgetting her keys a lot recently.
The person knocked a second time, so I got up off the couch and walked over to the door. “Hello?” I said. I hated that our door didn’t have a peephole. “Who is it?”