“Yeah, waffles and ice cream solve shitty feelings like nothing else,” Phantom promised as he went to get the other plates. “Try it with the syrup. You’ll be like ‘Byron who?’”
Phantom was just talking, but maybe there was some truth in his words. A smile had returned to Eric’s face by the time Phantom sat down with his and Olivia’s waffles minus the ice cream.
“I just want to settle down with someone who loves me and gets me,” Eric said after he finished inhaling his extra sweet breakfast. “Like you two. You’re hashtag couple goals.”
Phantom exchanged another look with Olivia. They smiled at each other, even though they hadn’t officially said I love you yet.
And Phantom told her best friend, “Okay, now I think you’re ready to get my brother’s digits. Take a couple of months to get your mind right, then I’ll send it to you.”
“Are you serious?” Eric asked, his whole face lighting up.
Phantom shook his head. “Why would I joke about that shit? He’s my little brother. I don’t set him up with just anybody.”
Eric cheered. “Yes! Come through, Thanksgiving Weekend! See, this is why you two are my new favorite couple of all time.”
Olivia and Phantom just laughed. And no, they hadn’t said they loved each other yet or officially agreed to get married.
But he had a feeling that both those conversations would be had before the end of May.
26
Five months with Olivia. Just five months.
That was all it took to turn Phantom into a whiny bitch.
“I don’t wanna go…” he whined as she rode him—at his request.
With all the baby-making business, he rarely got to watch her do her thing on top anymore. But it was the day right after her period finished, and Olivia had just gotten back from Uganda. Plus, she felt sorry for him because he had to leave in a couple of hours.
Speaking of which, back to whining…
“I’m not going,” he declared. “I’m staying here all day and fucking you instead. Decision final.”
Olivia slowed her roll to a stop. “You have to go to the wedding.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You’re Victor’s best man.”
“Victor? I don’t know any Victor,” Phantom answered. “New phone. Who dis?”
She laughed. Phantom didn’t know why. He wasn’t kidding about not going. Like, at all.
“I’m serious,” he told her. “Why can’t you come with me to this thing again?”
She laughed, “Because if I’m serious about seriously pulling back my work hours at the clinic, I have to train the new doctor we just hired to take my place.”
Okay, that was important, he had to admit. Olivia had worked damn hard to find and hire another OB so that she’d actually be able to take maternity leave without guilt when the time came. He wasn’t going to get in the way of that.
So he circled back round to his original argument. “Then let me stay here. Let me try again to put a baby in you.”
Her face softened a bit. “I know you’re disappointed it’s taking so long. But at my age, we have to lower our expectations. Also, I really like your grandma. I don’t want her to die.”
Phantom shook his head. “Don’t know if you heard about this yet, but she’s ready. And you don’t know it’s you. It could be my swimmers holding us back. I was reading a bunch of articles on male fertility when you were gone, and in general, that shit’s on the downslide. I should stay here to get some test instead of spending ten days in Hawaii alone.”
She crooked her head at Phantom with a bemused look. “By alone, you mean with your friends and family. And I think you may be the only man in history who’d volunteer for fertility tests to get out of going to Hawaii.”
She was still laughing, but Phantom rested his hands on her hips to level with her. “You don’t understand how much I want this for us. This baby—she’s going to be half of me and half of you, and she’ll have both of us in her life growing up. Plus, I know getting pregnant would make the decision about whether to marry me or not easier for you.”
Her gaze softened, and Phantom could tell she got it. They’d both grown up without birth mothers, so starting a family of their own meant something different to them.
But then she told him, “Actually, I’ve already decided to marry you whether we have a baby or not.”
Phantom stilled underneath her, but everything inside of him….everything inside of him vibrated as he asked, “You shitting me?”
She shook her head shyly. “I’d never do that. Maybe we could get married just to satisfy Dad’s conditions when you get back, then have a real wedding so that my mom doesn’t lose her mind later on?”
“No,” Phantom answered immediately—but only because it wasn’t soon enough. “Let’s do it now. Today.”