“You happy, sis?”
I think about his question for a second, realizing I haven’t really thought about happiness in a while. There have been thoughts of love and responsibility and the future, but not really of my happiness. Huh.
“Yeah,” I say with a light-as-air smile. “I guess I am.”
He nods as if understanding before tugging me into a side hug. He doesn’t aim any anger at me for lying to him about Connor. I think it’s slightly unfair, and I tell him I was equally to blame for everything while we have a moment to talk, just him and me.
“It’s not as simple as you probably think it is,” I say in defense. “It was kind of a mess.”
He frowns. “Yeah, exactly—that’s the issue. I just don’t want you getting hurt in all this.”
“I’m not going to get hurt. At least, I don’t think I am.”
“He’s a good guy. Rock solid. Dependable. Too arrogant, I think. I’d prefer you were with someone a little more…” He struggles to find the right word and then winks at me. “Weak.”
“Yeah right—I’d walk all over a guy like that. I’ve had to grow a thick skin working in medicine. I’m not the easiest person to be with.”
He puffs out a snort.
“He’s good for me, Noah.”
“Yeah?” he asks, thinking it over. “Maybe so. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”
I knock my hip into his playfully.
“And the baby? My little niece or nephew?” He laughs in disbelief. “I can’t believe I’m going to be an uncle.”
I flatten my hand over my stomach and grin. “Well believe it. It’s still early days, but everything is good. We heard the heartbeat this week.”
His jaw drops. “You what?”
I nod. “Yeah, Lindsey did an ultrasound to make sure everything was going okay, and we got to see the little gummy bear.”
“Gummy bear?” he echoes with a little laugh. He shakes his head and glances down at the ground. My brother has never been overly emotional. I think I’ve seen him cry like twice in my entire life, but I swear he sniffles, near tears. “Man, that’s…that’s awesome. I’m happy for you.”
“And Mom? Dad? You think they’ll be happy too?”
He groans and scratches the back of his neck. “Mom? Oh she’ll make some snide comment about how you shouldn’t have let a man interrupt your career or something. It’ll be total bullshit, but that’s Mom for you. Dad will be elated. You know him.”
“Yeah.” I nod, letting his words sink in.
Connor finishes up at the ticket booth and strolls over with three tickets fanned out, one for each of us. “Right behind home plate.”
Noah snatches a ticket out of Connor’s hand and heads for the entrance. “Good, but we’re just getting started. Natalie and I will want something to eat soon. I’m hungry—how ’bout you, Nat?”
I meet Connor’s gaze to find he’s not as upset about all this as he should be. Noah’s really milking the situation for all it’s worth, but obviously I’m happy to go along with it if there’s popcorn involved. And there is popcorn. There’s also hot dogs and ice cream and new matching hats that I force us all to wear so I can snap pictures. They grumble about wanting to watch the game, but then I feign a little bout of morning sickness and they’re more than happy to take a few more. Being pregnant, I’m quickly realizing, is like having a superpower.
A little while later, Connor gets a phone call and stands up to take it.
“Hey yeah, thanks for calling me back. I was wondering if we still had time to make a few changes in that room,” he says before his conversation drifts out of earshot.
I’m intrigued right up until Noah asks if he should make Connor buy us some pizza and then I completely forget about the phone call altogether.
During the eighth inning, we’re all watching the game and having a good time. The Red Sox are up by four and I’m going to town on some pizza. In other words, life couldn’t be better, and then out of the blue Noah asks, “So when are you proposing to my sister, Con?”
The bite of pizza I have in my mouth goes down the wrong pipe and I nearly choke to death while Connor pounds my back.
“You good?”
I hold my thumb up in reply while still coughing uncontrollably. Only when I’ve settled down does Noah glance over at Connor, on the other side of me, and arch a brow.
“So…when?”
Connor laughs, totally unperturbed by my brother’s line of questioning. “I can do it now, if you’d like. Maybe get the Jumbotron camera aimed on us and everything?”
My eyes widen. He can’t be serious. “No! Absolutely not!”
Connor squeezes my hand, letting me know he’s teasing.
“We haven’t even talked about that. That’s…that is way down the line. Like years away.” I emphasize ‘years’ dramatically.