Change of Heart (Fostering Love 2)

“You think?”

“Yep. Went with yellow when we had Katie—back then you didn’t know what you were having until they came out—and her room was damn near blinding.” He laughed. “Green’s better. Works for a boy or girl.”

“Yeah, okay.” I nodded in relief. “We’ll get the green then.”

We were back at the house with my freshly mixed paint within twenty minutes, and by then the entire family had descended like a pack of wild dogs.

“Let’s get painting,” Dan said with a smile as he parked behind my Toyota.

* * *

“You’re here!” Katie yelled as we walked back in the house.

“Well, I live here. We considered heading for the border but decided against it. Painting’s easier than living on the lam,” I replied drily, making Dan chuckle.

“Okay, well the boys are all ready to paint so we’re going to leave them to it and go get furniture!” Kate said excitedly, throwing her purse over her shoulder. “Shane’s got all the kids at my parents’ house. I have the whole day!”

“Uh—” Frankly, I’d rather paint.

“No arguing,” Liz ordered, coming down my hallway. “Take that bandana off your head, and let’s go.”

I reached up and pulled my painting bandana from my hair. “Okay, well I need to show them where the trim paint is. I figured we’d just use the stuff left over from the living room. It’s white, so—”

“Bram already got it out,” Kate said cheerfully. “Let’s go!”

I gritted my teeth at the sound of his name.

I let them usher me out of the house without argument. It wasn’t like I’d wanted to spend the day with Bram anyway. Hopefully the guys would be done by the time we got back.

* * *

For as much as I’d dreaded the shopping trip, by the end of the first hour at Ikea, I was as excited as Katie. We’d found a crib and a changing table that were thankfully much less expensive than I’d been imagining, and I’d let Aunt Ellie and Liz pick out a bunch of small stuff like towels and baby spoons.

“You’re not paying,” I argued with Liz as she pulled out a credit card. “No way.”

“Well, you didn’t get a baby shower so this is my gift,” she said with a sunny smile, swiping the card before I could stop her.

“I can pay for this stuff,” I said in exasperation as Katie pulled out a reusable bag from her purse and started loading up the purchases.

“I know you can,” Liz huffed. “I’d kick Dan’s ass if you couldn’t.”

I snorted. She wouldn’t need to be kicking anyone’s ass. Dan and Mike paid me well over what any of my office manager counterparts were making. I’d argued when I first started, but they hadn’t budged, and each year they gave me a cost-of-living raise that was way more than average.

“Okay, now we need to go get a car seat, diapers, clothes, and stuff like that,” Kate announced as we walked the big cart out to the truck. “Sound good?”

I looked at my phone to check the time. The guys were going to be at my house for hours still, and the thought of seeing Bram made my stomach knot up.

“Yep. Sounds good to me.”

“Since we don’t know if the baby’s a boy or girl yet, I figured we could just buy some gender-neutral stuff—just enough to get you guys home from the hospital,” Aunt Ellie said with a grunt as we lifted the box of crib parts into the truck bed. “We can get you more clothes and things after we know.”

“Good idea.” I nodded my head.

“Have you thought of any names?” Liz asked as she closed the tailgate and we walked around to our doors.

Names? Shit.

I hadn’t even thought about it. Whenever I thought of the baby, I still considered it Bethy’s. I’d unconsciously assumed that she would name the baby, and I guess there was a chance she still might.

But I was adopting the baby. I would be his or her parent forever. If I wanted to pick a different name, I could do that.

“I hadn’t really thought about it,” I said as I buckled up. “I guess I probably should.”

“Do you have any ideas?” Katie asked, checking her phone and then stuffing it back in her purse.

“Not really.”

“Well, I think you should use an A name,” she said, dropping her purse on the floorboard as Liz pulled the truck out of the parking lot. “Since you and Abraham are both A names.”

“Katie.” I drew out her name, sighing. “Bram’s not a part of this.”

“Of course he is. You guys are together and—” she argued.

“He doesn’t want to be a part of this,” I said flatly, cutting her off. “So it’s just me, okay?”

The inside of the truck went completely silent, letting me know that Liz and Ellie had been listening to our conversation.