Chapter Seven: It’s A Girl
Smoke
I walked into the bar and spotted Bones sitting directly in front of me, sipping a draft beer. I hadn’t seen him in a few days, not since I talked to him about my trouble connecting with Gavin. He’d left that day for the ultra sound appointment and at the sight of him, it occurred to me that I hadn’t heard how that went.
“Hey, man,” I said, cupping him on the shoulder before taking a seat beside him. “How’s it going?”
When Bones turned toward me, I could see a calm happiness in his eyes I’d never seen before. Bones used to be a little rough around the edges in the years following his bitter divorce, but there was no sign of that side of him now. And I thought it was pregnant women that glowed…
“It’s a girl,” Bones told me, “A little peanut.”
“Wow. Congratulations,” I said, gesturing to Ink that he should bring me a beer as well.
He produced it quickly, setting the tall glass on the bar in front of me.
I lifted it up. “To your daughter.”
“Hell, yeah. I’ll drink to that.”
Bones lifted his own glass, and we both took a long drink.
“You’re a lucky man, Bones,” I said, resting my elbows on the bar.
“Trust me, I know it. But what about you? How’s it going with your baby mama?”
For some reason, I didn’t like him using that term to describe Naomi. It felt disrespectful, but I knew Bones didn’t mean anything by it, so I held my tongue. “Better. We all had dinner at her place the other night, so I got the chance to play nice.”
“You pulled that off?”
“Hey, I can be charming when I want,” I said, nudging him with my elbow.
“Well, you certainly have someone’s attention,” Bones nodded toward the mirror behind the bar. “There’s a woman over there that can’t seem to focus on her darts game since you came in.”
I glanced into the mirror and jolted in surprise. “Holy shit. That’s her.”
“The baby mama?”
“Naomi,” I corrected. Turning around on my stool, I made eye contact with her, wanting to chuckle when her blue eyes widened and she looked away quickly, like she was trying to pretend that she wasn’t caught looking my way. But she quickly shook her head, and I could almost see her debating with herself before turning back to me. She gave me a cute little wave, then cringed at the action, like she immediately recognized that it was slightly awkward.
I never realized how easy she was to read before now, but I could see she was feeling unsure of herself, so I decided to help her out by waving her over.
Naomi turned to Bear, speaking for a moment before handing over the darts in her hand and walking my way.
“Hey stranger,” I said, taking a sip of my drink.
“Hey yourself. So, this is where your gang hangs out?”
“Club,” I said. “Motorcycle clubs don’t like being called gangs. It’s too negative.”
“This is my place,” Bones said, leaning back on his stool to look around me at Naomi. “I’m Bones, President.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Naomi.” She sat her glass on the bar.
I saw it was nearly empty. “Let me buy you another drink,” I offered.
“Thanks,” she said and took a seat.
Bones finished his own drink and stood. “I’m going to head upstairs to the office and do some paperwork. You kids have fun.”