“Trust me, the kid already has everything it needs. Between Carly, Mia, and Laurel, Sin practically had to build an addition onto his house for all the baby stuff.”
“You are the father,” she informs me, like this is news.
Rearing back in theatrical surprise, I say, “I am?”
Virginia rolls her eyes. “Unbelievable. I’m bringing you artichokes for dinner. Just artichokes. Nothing else.”
“Actually, I think you’ll bring me steak and asparagus,” I tell her, glancing around the empty restaurant. “It’s dead in here tonight. Get yourself some food too, take a break. Eat dinner with me.”
“Really? All right,” she says, after a moment’s hesitation. “While we eat, I can show you some good baby gift ideas on my phone.”
Women and babies, Jesus Christ. I relent. “Fine, you can pick out a baby gift and I’ll give you money to buy it.”
“That’s not what I said.”
Nodding toward the kitchen, I tell her, “Chop chop.”
For all her talk, she doesn’t harass me about the baby immediately upon having a seat. Instead of taking her apron off like a civilized person, she keeps it on, just in case she has to get up and go serve someone else. There’s another waitress who can handle it, so I take the liberty of pulling the string loose and tugging it off her while she reaches for a dinner roll.
“This feels a little light,” I remark, giving her black apron a shake before depositing it on the empty side of the booth.
“Like you said, it’s dead in here. Who do you think is tipping me, the dishwasher?”
“Maybe. How are you passing the time?”
She cracks a smile and grabs a butter knife. “Not by taking my clothes off.”
“That’s the problem,” I tell her. “Can’t expect the kitchen staff to tip you if you don’t take your clothes off.”
“I’ll make a note of that for the next slow night,” she assures me.
“See, I’m looking out for you.”
Virginia peeks over at my steak as I cut into it, making sure it’s cooked right. Seeing it is, she turns her attention back to her own food. She ordered a steak too, and now she smears the butter she didn’t put on her dinner roll all over the broccoli.
“Stop watching me,” she says, cutting a look my way. “I feel like you’re judging my eating habits.”
“I am,” I tell her casually. “You don’t order your steak well done, do you?”
“God, no. I’d just eat my shoe and save the cook the trouble.”
I nod my approval. “Good.”
It’s funny that Virginia and I are even sitting down to a meal like this. We’ve always had a casually pleasant relationship, but it never crossed the line to allow us to do something like this—sitting here at the same table, sharing a meal together.
Laurel’s wrecking ball effect on my whole life changed that, too. Not a negative change, certainly, but still a change.
“So, how are you feeling about the Nicholas situation?” Virginia asks, cutting a glance in my direction.
I have no idea. Seeing Laurel pregnant, watching her stomach grow, even putting my hand there and feeling the movement inside—all things that made it real that I impregnated her. Now the baby part is coming though, and I have no fucking experience to speak of with those.
If things had worked out between us, I don’t know how the hell I would feel, but as it is now, it’s really not my problem.
Spearing a piece of asparagus, I assure her, “Sin and Laurel have it under control.”
“I know, but I mean, are you excited to meet him? I know kids weren’t part of your life plan, but… I don’t know, becoming a parent is a pretty big deal.”
“I’m sure it is, but I’m not really becoming a parent. Sin and Laurel are the parents. It’ll be weird to see a baby that’s half me, I guess. I don’t know.”