Chapter Seven
Evie
Mrs. Duncan is running a little late for LRG class this afternoon, which means more time for me to sketch.
Most of the other kids are chatting or getting a head start on their homework—well, it’s really just Noah getting a head start on his homework.
Though Mallory keeps trying to pull his attention in her direction.
I’m nearly a third done with my sketch when Mrs. Duncan finally shows up. “Good afternoon, everyone. I’m super happy with how well you are all doing with your marriages. I think it’s time for you to move on to the next stage in your life. Can anyone tell me what that is?”
“Getting a divorce?” a kid calls.
Everyone laughs.
Mrs. Duncan shakes her head with a smile. “We’re not holding there yet,” she jokes. “And I just told you how successful all your marriages are, so no divorces yet.”
A girl’s hand shoots in the air. “Are we ready to have a baby?”
Mrs. Duncan grins. “Yes, Shawna! After a few months or years of a happy marriage, stable jobs, and a lovely place to live, you guys have decided you want to have a baby. So, congratulations, everyone! You are now parents.”
None of us seem surprised or shocked by the news, but some of the kids look excited to start this next journey of their married life. Like Noah. Not that the guy ever shows much emotion, let alone exuberant joy, but he has a small smile on his face, which is pretty rare.
Shawna’s hand shoots in the air again. “Do we get babies to care for?”
“Only on paper,” Mrs. Duncan clarifies. “Everything you need to know will be written on the assignment sheet.” She starts handing them out to us.
“I want you to complete the baby assignment today as well as revise your budget. Now that you have a baby, you’ll have many more expenses and might need to adjust the way you spend your money.
Based on your salaries, you may need to cut out some of the luxury items you used to spend money on.
Every couple’s situation will be a little different. ”
She hands Noah and me an assignment and we waste no time looking it over.
The first thing we need to do is focus on the baby, then we’ll need to revise our budget.
The last part of the assignment is to list any issues that we feel might come up now that we have a baby, since our lives will be completely changed now.
“Look at you,” I joke to Noah. “A father at seventeen. Never thought squeaky clean Noah Barrington would find himself in this kind of situation.”
“Haha. Technically, I’m older than seventeen, since I’m a pro football player.”
“And you have the audacity to leave me all alone with a newborn when you go out of state to play.”
Noah’s eyes widen. “Hey, that’s a problem we’re encountering with a baby!” He grabs his pen and jots down the problem on the bottom of the paper, next to where it’s listed “possible issues that may arise.”
I give him a look. “Are you seriously happy that we’re having problems? What’s the problem anyway?”
“Well, I’m just starting my football career and have a newborn baby. It’ll be extremely hard to leave you alone with the baby, but I can’t quit my job when we need the money…”
I hold up my hand. “One step at a time. Let’s first pick a gender and a name.”
“Okay, that’s smart.”
I raise a brow. “Did you just call me smart? Must be my lucky day.”
He sighs heavily. “You’re very smart, Evie. You’re just lazy.”
“Moving on,” I say. “I want a girl.”
“I’m totally fine with that. I have two sisters, you know. I’m down with having another girl in my life.”
I circle “girl” on our assignment sheet. “Now we have to choose a name.”
We both try to wrack our brains for a good name. Every name he suggests sounds so odd or old-fashioned and he says my suggestions are too bizarre or out there. I mean, I don’t think Palette is so bad for a girl’s name, is it?
“Well this is going great,” I grumble sarcastically. “We can’t even compromise on a name for our kid.”
“What about Melody?” he asks.
My mouth opens to once again tell him no way in heck, but my brows lift. “Hey, that’s actually not bad. It’s pretty.”
“And we can call her Melly for short.”
“That’s cute.” I write that down on the assignment sheet. “Looks like we’re all set. Now it’s time for us to revise our budget.”
We both write down the most important things we’ll need in life, eliminating some of the luxurious items now that we’ll need to spend a ton of money on baby stuff, like diapers and clothes and formula and toys. Since we’re both not rolling in dough, we don’t have a lot of opportunity to splurge.
Noah glances at my list. “I hate to say this, Evie, but I don’t think we can afford your expensive art supplies.” He totals our expenses and sighs. “We make it, but barely. I wish I got paid more, but I’m only starting my football career. I think we have no choice but to let it go.”
“I think we should look at it as an investment. With state-of-the-art supplies, I’ll paint beautiful paintings and will have a higher chance to sell them. Ergo, more money.”
Noah rubs his chin. “Yeah, that’s true. And you paint from the heart, right? You’d definitely sell your paintings.”
“Except my career apparently has no growth,” I mutter.
“How about this. Next week, your paintings will be featured in a gallery and someone will buy a few of them.”
My eyes light up. “I’m liking this scenario. So what do we spend the money on? Ooh, a trip to Paris? I want to see all the famous paintings.”
Noah frowns. “I was thinking more along the lines of saving for Melly’s future? We can start a college fund for her.”
Now I frown. “Just like you to suck the fun out of everything.”
“I’m focusing on what’s important here, Evie. I don’t need a trip to Paris. But I would like to start a college fund for our daughter. You know I’m right.”
Fine, I do. But this isn’t real life. Noah’s taking this way too seriously.
“Even so, we can’t make decisions based on a gamble. We’ll save some money every month for your art supplies. Even if you don’t sell any paintings, I’d still like for you to be able to do what you love.”
I just stare at him, not sure I heard him correctly. Did my arch-nemesis say something sweet to me?
“Careful, hubby,” I say. “If you keep that up, we may find ourselves with another kid.”
Noah’s eyes get so huge they nearly take over his face, and his cheeks and neck go red.
I laugh as I slap his shoulder. “Lighten up, dude. I’m just kidding. One kid is enough. So we finished our budget. Let’s work on the last item on the list.” I scan the words on the sheet. “Possible issues that may arise now that we have a baby to care for.”
“Right. So what about what I mentioned earlier about my football career? I wish I could stay home and be with you and Melly, but I don’t think we’d be able to afford it. That sucks.”
He frowns and seems to be in deep thought, like he’s trying really hard to come up with a solution.
“Okay, this is what we’ll do,” he says. “I’ll request to go home for a week. I’m sure they’ll let me, right? They’re reasonable. Then I’ll travel back home as often as I can and I’ll make sure to video chat every day. I won’t miss a single milestone in my little princess’s life.”
It’s kind of cute how seriously he’s taking this. I mean, I don’t mean Noah’s cute because ew. I just mean it’s cute how dedicated he is.
“I may not like hanging out with you,” I say. “But I’ve got to hand it to you, Noah. You’ll make a great dad one day.”
He gapes at me. “A compliment from Evie Hastings? Must be my lucky day.”
I roll my eyes. “Haha.”
“Thanks,” he says, offering me a small smile. “This exercise is great because it shows me what I might be dealing with if I have a football career.”
“If?” I ask. “You have another career in mind?”
He shifts in his seat. “No. Of course not.” He clears his throat. “I only meant…I mean…”
Why is he getting so bent out of shape?
“Anyway, this is good practice for when I’m really a dad,” he says. “What other situations do you think we might encounter?”
We spend the remainder of class coming up with different scenarios.
Then we hand in our assignment. Before class is over, Mrs. Duncan tells us that throughout the next few weeks, she’ll throw various challenges and obstacles our way that we’ll need to overcome.
Some may be good, some may be bad. Life is so unpredictable and full of surprises, and we’ll need to find solutions that work best for us and our growing family.
“Well, I’m so looking forward to that,” I say sarcastically as I stand and start packing away my things. “I mean, I know life is hard, but Mrs. Duncan can give us a little break.”
“I disagree,” Noah says as he gets up and lifts his backpack off the floor. “This will help prepare us for life. You never know what will happen. It’s good to be prepared.”
“Like I told you during our last class, you can’t prepare for everything, Noah. That’s not how life works.”
He shrugs. “I can try.”
“Oh, before you kids leave,” Mrs. Duncan says.
“I want you to schedule a date over the weekend. Now that you’re new parents, you’ll find it difficult to have alone time.
But spending time together as a couple is very important for a marriage.
I’ll email you a reminder to make time for a date.
Please email me a summary of where you went for your date and what issues may have risen.
For example, were you able to find a babysitter?
Did you feel guilty for leaving your baby at home?
I want you kids to delve into this and see what you can come up with. ”
“Mrs. Duncan, do we really need to go on a date?” I ask.
She chuckles. “It doesn’t have to be a real date, Evie. You can go out for pizza or go bowling or catch a movie. I want you guys to spend time together and really work on your relationship.”
I turn to Noah. “So I guess I’m picking you up tomorrow night?”
“Yeah, that’s—actually no. I can’t do Friday night.”
“Why?” I playfully jab my finger into his arm. “Hot date? I can’t believe you almost forgot about it.”
“No, I don’t have a hot date. But I do have plans. We can go out on Saturday.”
I’m so freakin’ curious what he’s so busy with, but I doubt he’ll tell me. So I shrug and say, “That’s fine with me. I need to finish my painting anyway.”
“Okay. See you later, Evie.”
“See you, Shnookums.”
He gives me a look before walking out.
Mrs. Duncan walks over to me and smiles. “I’m glad to see you guys getting along much better now. I have to admit, I wondered if I’d have no choice but to let you guys get divorced.”
I hold up my hand. “Don’t jinx it, Mrs. Duncan. With me and Noah, you never know. I can’t make any promises.”
“I know you’re not thrilled about being in this class, Evie, but I’m asking you to give it a serious chance.
This class does a great job of preparing students for their future.
You might feel like it doesn’t apply to you now, but you’ll see years down the road how much you gained from this class. And you’ll appreciate it so much more.”
I raise my shoulders. “If you say so. Have a great weekend, Mrs. Duncan.”
When I leave the classroom, I find my husband texting on his phone.
“Need a ride?” I ask.
“I wouldn’t get in your biohazard car even if you paid me. Wyatt’s driving me.”
“Suit yourself. Just know that you could have exchanged some smooches with your wifey in the car.”
“Evie,” he groans.
I laugh as I walk away. It’s so darn fun to get under his skin.