Chapter 30 #2
Rebecca tilted her head, considering it, then gave a self-aware, embarrassed sort of nod.
“Yeah, I guess the similarities stop there.”
“Oh my gosh, can we throw you a baby shower? Have you already had one?” Hunter asked. I froze again, a moment too long, because Hunter rushed to add, “No pressure, of course. I just love throwing parties. It would be so fun to do another baby shower, so please say yes.”
“Are you sure? That’s insanely generous,” I said. “Honestly, I feel like I am here on unearned valor. Barry isn’t even my boyfriend.”
They all laughed like I said a joke. Marissa nodded solemnly when I didn’t correct my statement, then patted my arm.
“He is deeply in love with you,” she said.
“Very obviously,” Lucy said.
My heart rate skyrocketed in ways that should concern me, but all I could feel concerned about was the concept of Barry being so obviously in love with me that the entire Utah Raptors hockey organization and the wives and girlfriends therein were privy to this fact.
I knew he cared for me, knew his feelings were getting dangerous, and mine too, for that matter, but “deeply in love” with me felt dramatic.
Didn’t it?
“I would love it if you wanted to host a baby shower for me,” I said. “That’s really kind of you.”
Hunter squeaked and clapped, and I think she might have dived right into planning then if another, older child didn’t run up to her and pull on her arm.
I glanced back in Barry’s direction across the loud room one more time, and he was already looking at me. Smirking, he winked.
I socialized with Barry around the party for the better part of an hour, then excused myself to find a bathroom.
The design of the little bathroom off the kitchen was as gorgeous as the rest of the house; it had these perfect green tiles covering the mirror wall that looked handmade, the dreamiest illustrated greenery wallpaper, every detail made me feel excited about the renovations for my own bathroom—the ones I’d be able to do much sooner than I expected because of Barry.
When I wandered back into the party, I didn’t realize I’d been rubbing the sore spot under my stomach until Hunter found me again and grabbed my elbow with a sympathetic look.
“Getting heavy, huh? Do you wear a belly band?”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t really feel like it’s helping lately,” I admitted. “I’ve been having round ligament pain.”
“Oh, I’m all too familiar,” she said. “Have you tried belly taping?”
I shook my head, the concept foreign to me.
Hunter gave a solemn nod and tilted her head in the direction of the stairs.
I glanced back at where Barry was talking to one of his teammates and followed her through the rest of the pristinely decorated house.
She accepted my compliments and chattered about the quirks of the house as we ascended the stairs and walked down the hallway.
I followed her lead and kicked off my shoes before walking into her bedroom, the carpet so nice and plush beneath my sore feet I had to suppress a ‘fuck me’.
“I like your wallpapers,” I told her in the primary bathroom. “You have great taste.”
“I wish I had this vision,” she said as she rummaged in a large drawer. “Parties are one thing, but we hired a designer for the house for sure.”
“Like an interior decorator?”
“Yeah, this girl’s great. I found her because she was posting DIY videos flipping her house in Lehi and begged her to help me.”
I thought about this concept of doing what I was doing for my house—the designing, flipping, renovating, for someone else. Someone with a bigger budget who wanted the help. It intrigued me.
Hunter told me to lift my dress—nothing she hadn’t seen before, a mother to three hellions herself—and retrieved a roll of bright green tape.
It looked just like the tape Barry came home with on his shoulder sometimes.
She walked me through Kinesio Taping my belly, starting with a strip across the bottom and then two on either side.
“Han? You up here?” Barry called from the hallway.
“In here,” I called as Hunter taped the last piece. “Wow, that is really better.”
“I know, like magic, huh?”
Barry peeked into the bathroom, shoes removed, and startled to see me with my dress under my armpits, green tape on my belly.
“Is that KT Tape?” he asked.
“Yes, I can’t believe Jacob didn’t tell you this trick. Absolute game changer for round ligament pain in the third trimester.”
Barry frowned. I hadn’t told him I’d been having any pain outside of the usual pregnancy aches and pains—generally sore back, tender breasts, etc.
“You can keep this on for three to five days and then replace it. There are other taping patterns to try, too. Here.” Hunter handed me the roll of tape.
“Thank you,” I said, and I was so overwhelmingly grateful all of a sudden I felt like I could start crying.
I pulled my dress back down, and Barry helped me straighten it out over the belly and my ass.
“Yes, thank you, Hunter.”
“I don’t really have any friends who’ve had babies, and my mom was pregnant so long ago, it’s been like…” I trailed off, no word feeling like the right one.
“A little isolating?” Hunter prompted.
I swallowed as to not actually cry and nodded. She squeezed my hand—her skin was so soft, her smile so kind.
“Well, I want you to call or text me any time. No question too small, okay?”
“Sure, yes.”
“Us WAGs gotta stick together,” Hunter said, and winked at Barry, who wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I didn’t chide him for acting like my boyfriend, still too tender from all the nice people and Hunter’s easy help for a problem I didn’t think had a solution other than suffering and birth.
I silently thanked Barry for begging me to come to this party and let myself imagine just for a moment that I really was in this group of WAGs.
What harm would it be just to let myself imagine it?