30. Leah
30
Leah
I peer around Lucy’s big dining room table. So, this is what a Bailey family function looks like. A Bailey family function plus Leah Bradford, of course.
A nervous spark runs its way over my back and shoulders. I rest my hands in my lap and squeeze them together. I drop my gaze to my empty plate. Lucy is a good cook; her street tacos are some of the best I’ve had. Like mine, everyone’s plate is empty, but we’re still waiting for Cooper’s one last sister-in-law to arrive before the big reveal.
It’s kind of sweet how they won’t tell her later. Everyone has to be here, together . Mom would like that. My grandparents would have liked that too. Family is the most important thing, Abuelo always told us.
It’s also sweet how Cooper is sandwiched right between Lula and Alice. Man, those girls like their uncle Coop—or, as Lula likes to call him, their “Muncle Poop”.
Alice is talking a mile a minute, and Lula has a small plastic teacup she keeps pouring her own water into and then forcing Coop to drink .
I press my lips together, smothering down a laugh as the little girl’s chubby fingers force Coop’s lips open for a third time. She dumps the murky water inside his mouth—water she’s stirred and drank from herself.
Coop makes a show of a satisfied “ahh” after she’s done. He wipes at the liquid dripping down his chin. Drops splatter onto his shirt front. “Thank you, Lula.”
Lula bounces in her seat at his praise, then dumps more water from her own cup into the plastic toy teacup. She’s beaming while her uncle gives a forced smile. She stares at Coop while stirring the water with her spoon.
“Oh, Uncle Coop is full,” he tells her while rubbing his stomach. His eyes dart down to the cup with an anxious stare.
She shakes her head no, her brown curls bobbing, and shoves the cup to his lips once more.
“Okay, one more sip,” Cooper says. “And then I’m all done. Okay?”
Lula bounces in her seat, then once again forces Cooper’s lips open.
A laugh bubbles from my lips—one that refuses to be smothered.
Lucy settles into the chair beside me. “He’s a good sport, that’s for sure.”
“He is.” Taking my eyes from Cooper across this long table in Lucy’s quaint dining room, I turn to Coop’s mother. “Are they always like this?”
She chortles. “Yes. Those girls have each and every one of their uncles wrapped around their fingers. But Coop has always kind of been like a big child—so they really love to play with him.”
“I can see that.” I glance back at Cooper, his steel-blue eyes on Lula. The little girl runs her fingers lightly over his trimmed beard, wrinkling her nose with the feel of the bristles.
Lucy and I watch as Cooper takes her little palm and rubs it back and forth across his beard. Lula screeches out a laugh. Cooper drags her into his lap, kissing her face and purposely rubbing his beard over her little cheeks. Lula wraps both arms around his neck and wails with breathless delight.
I giggle and Lucy joins me. My heart flutters inside my chest—very different circumstances, but I remember the coarseness of that beard. And I might be a little jealous of Lula at the moment. She’s getting her kiss.
Being a grown-up is pretty annoying at times. But stopping my kiss was my grown-up, responsible choice. Right? Because Cooper and I are friends. New friends. It’s a huge step compared to where we were not that long ago.
I swallow and distract myself with conversation. “The lunch was wonderful,” I tell Lucy. “Your carne asada is delicious.”
Her grin stretches wide. “Oh, Coop made that.”
Dang it, Lucy—you’re not helping my friend cause. Cooper cooks? He helped make this meal. And he’s currently puffing out his cheeks and letting Lula pop them with a smack to his face. And dang it, I have never been so attracted to a man and his puffed cheeks in my entire life.
There’s a twinge inside of me, and I think for the second time in just a matter of days that my ovaries are telling me we should consider reproducing. That it would be a shame if we didn’t. And it would be totally fine if all those babies had Cooper Bailey’s eyes.
I blink at the thought.
Whoa .
Hello, ovaries , those aren’t exactly friend-zone thoughts. Help a girl out and simmer .
“So, Leah,” Coco says. She sits across and to the left of me, next to her daughter. I look at her. My eyes don’t dare stray to the man one child down from her. Nope, I am focused.
I am concentrating on the woman talking. I’m just not sure why it’s so darn difficult.
“We’re all waiting for the big reveal, but you actually know the gender of the baby. Right?”
The chatter around the table quiets and all eyes focus on me. Even Lula stops pounding her flat hand to Cooper’s face to look at me.
Spotlight. Awesome .
I clear my throat. “Yes, I do.” And because I need to throw the attention elsewhere, I add, “Cooper knows too.”
“Coop!” Coco yells. She leans around her daughter to give him a small glare. “You know?”
Cooper grins, and I swear his white teeth sparkle with joy. “Yep, beat you all. I know what the baby is. And you don’t. Ha!” He points right at Levi.
Aw , there’s the competitive Lake City High Cooper Bailey the world knows and loves so well.
“You looked? We gave you that card to give to Leah, not to peek,” Annie grumbles, while Owen looks down at his watch.
Alice smacks Coop’s shoulder. “You haven’t told me!” The girl may only be ten years old, but she can glare like no other.
“Or any of us,” Miles says. “That’s impressive.”
“I didn’t peek,” Cooper says, his tone full of defense. “I helped bake the cake. And when we mixed in the dye, Leah and I had our own private reveal.”
“Private reveal?” Coco says, brows rising as if that means a whole lot more than it does.
“You baked?” Lucy says, unable to hide her surprise .
“Sure. I can bake.”
“No.” Coco shakes her head. “You can cook. Tacos, yes. Lasagna, yes. Cake? I don’t think so.”
“Is this cake going to be edible?” Levi grunts.
I nibble on my lip; it might be time to save Coop. “It’ll be delicious. I promise. He helped, but we used my abuela–my grandmother’s–recipe. Mostly I let Coop mix in the dye.” He was delighted with the job I’d given him our second go around. And he got to take the first cake, the one he dipped his fingers in, home. “He got to turn the cake blue, but I did all the actual measuring and baking.”
The family chatter and complaints about Cooper knowing Owen and Annie’s big secret go silent. Like deathly silent. Cooper’s lips are pinched and he’s staring at me, his brows raised.
“Blue?” Owen says.
“Oh no,” I hush, slapping a hand over my mouth. “No, no, no.” I did not just do that. I did not. I did not.
“A boy?” Annie peers over at her husband—who already has tears streaming down his cheeks. “A son.”
“It’s a boy!” Coco cries, clapping her hands.
“Oh, great .” Alice’s eyes flutter to the ceiling and her head lolls back. “Another one.”
“I’m so sorry,” I say, but my voice is strained, just above a whisper, and completely lost on this crowd. “I’m—” Cheeks flushed, heart thundering, I look at Lucy, but she’s holding a hand to her heart, her tear-filled eyes on Owen.
The chatter is tenfold, the room boisterous with love and celebration.
None of us even hear the door open, but it must have because a petite blonde bursts into the dining room without any of us having heard her arrival. “I’m here!” she says, breathless. “I’m late, but I’m here! Let’s do this.”
Wonderful. Meredith has arrived.