Big Man For Christmas

I moan in pleasure as I drink the chocolate and lick a little bit of whipped cream. “That sounds like a fun project. I could do that.”

“You know what I was thinking about today?”

“Hmm?” I’m a little distracted by the delicious gift he’s given me.

“I was thinking about names.”

The best kind of chill runs down my spine. “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, I know that we don’t know yet, but I was just trying some on for size.”

I turn on the swing, sitting cross-legged in front of him with my hot chocolate. “Tell me.”

“Lily or Samantha for a girl. Nicolas or James for a boy.”

The fact that those might be the names of our child hits me. Holy shit, we’re going to have a baby. I mean, of course I knew that, but talking about names makes it so real that tears come to my eyes.

Casey looks at me, concerned. “Are they really that bad? If you don’t like them, we can choose other ones.”

“No,” I say, brushing away the tears. “It just really, really hit me.”

Leaning forward, I kiss his shoulder. It’s the only place that I can reach right now without spilling the chocolate. Of course Casey tilts my face up to his and kisses me properly. Deeply. The way that still makes me dizzy after all this time.

Life wasn’t perfect, it never is. But right now it is doing a pretty good job at pretending to be, and as Casey picks me up and carries me inside, I know that it’s good enough for me.