“That’s okay. You’re here now. How did the appointment go?”
“Um. Yeah. It went.”
He did the frown/smile thing that was now his go-to look. It was a kind of confusion. Whenever he wasn’t sure what was going on, but didn’t want to be negative, he made that face. “I’m going to need you to give me a little more information. What does that mean?”
“I was waiting to talk to you about all this after the show.”
He narrowed his gaze on my face. “Hmm,” he said. “How about you talk to me about it now instead?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“All right.” I squared my shoulders. “Before he would put me on any birth control, he asked me to do a pregnancy test. Just to be sure.”
“Right.”
“It’s pretty standard procedure, apparently.”
Garrett nodded.
My mouth opened, but nothing came out. It was approximately the third time I’d broken out in a cold sweat in the last half hour or so. No deodorant stood a chance of keeping up with me.
“Are you pregnant?” asked Garrett. “Is that what you’re having trouble telling me?”
I nodded jerkily. “It’s very early days, but ah . . . yeah.”
“Okay.” His forehead furrowed. “We did kind of push the bounds of safe sex there for a while at the start.”
My hesitant smile was at least half wince. “Right? Who could have known there’d be possible consequences?”
“How do you feel?”
“Wait. Tell me first. Are you mad?”
“No,” he said, voice adamant. “Of course not.”
I wrung my hands in my lap. “I just . . . we did start using condoms and I thought . . .”
“That we’d been careful enough with the timing.” He grabbed hold of my hands. “I know, babe. We’re both adults. We both knew the risks we were taking.”
“Then I thought I was just late. So much has been going on lately and I have been a little stressed. Mostly with all the mayor stuff.”
“Do you have any idea about what you want to do?”
I breathed out slow and easy. “Garrett, it’s our baby.”
“Yeah.”
“We barely even talked about maybe having a family. I know this is a lot sooner than we might like, but . . . I want to.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “You know I’ll support you, whatever you decide.”
“I’m sure. My mind’s made up.”
“Okay.” His slow smile was everything. And it just kept on spreading. The delight in his eyes was wild. “We’re having a baby. I’m going to be a father. Fuck. This is amazing.”
I could have burst into tears, I was so damn relieved. He was happy. I was with child. I sort of wanted to throw up, but it was all going to be fine. “You really are fine with this.”
“I’m fucking thrilled,” he said. “Before I came here I was alone. I thought for sure I wouldn’t be starting a family ever. You, babe, are the gift that keeps giving. And I couldn’t be more grateful.”
“Wow.” I laughed. “I see you’re still really not afraid of commitment?”
“Not when it comes to you and ours.” He stood, drawing me up with him. “I knocked up the mayor. How about that. Think they’ll give me a plaque or name a park after me?”
“I’d be outraged if they didn’t.” I let out a breath I’d been holding for approximately forever. Or at least since Doc Singh told me the news. “I love seeing you happy.”
“You were really worried, huh? Come on,” he said. “Let me show you something I planned earlier. It might make you feel a little better about this surprise.”
“What?”
He grinned. “Just come on.”
Back out into the bar we headed, before making an abrupt turn toward the stage. Where the guys were tuning their instruments and waiting. The place was packed, as you’d imagine. But Garrett didn’t leave me in the crowd with Linda and Cézanne and Mike. Nope. He didn’t even give me a chance to introduce my cousin Astrid, who was hanging out by the bar. Instead, he dragged me up the couple of steps onto the stage and went for his microphone. With me in tow.
“Good evening,” he said. Every head in the bar turned in our direction. Cheers and applause filled the room. “One small but important piece of business before we start tonight’s show.”
“What is it, Gary?” asked Claude, who stood with his arm around Lupita.
Without further ado, Garrett fished a ring out of his front jeans pocket. Then he took hold of my left hand and said quietly, “It doesn’t have to go on your ring finger. This can be a commitment sometime down the track if that’s what you’re more comfortable with. But I would very much love to put this on your ring finger and set a date sometime if you’re amenable.”
“That diamond is even bigger than the pendant.”
“I know. I wanted this to be the first rock I gave you.”