3. Chrissy
3
CHRISSY
I hug my sister-in-law Haven. “I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to drop by. Work has been crazy.”
Haven hugs me back. “Macy is only two weeks old.”
I lean back to look at her. “Yeah, well, two weeks is too long. I’m sorry. Where is she at?”
She points toward the living room. “Right in there.”
“Okay, I’m going to get some lovings, but while I’m here, I’m going to help around the house. What can I do? Laundry, clean bathrooms, kitchen, you name it, I’m on it.”
We walk into the living room, and I gasp when I see Macy sleeping. I whisper and put my hand over my heart. “Oh my God, she’s even more beautiful than I remember.”
“She’s perfect, right?”
I nod and can feel myself tearing up. “Yes, she’s perfect.”
Without taking my eyes off Macy, I ask Haven, “Tell me what I can do. You should have your feet up, resting. Oh my God, go take a nap. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do when she’s sleeping?”
She groans softly. “Chrissy, she sleeps all the time, and I’m tired of resting. King had someone come in yesterday to clean the house top to bottom, so there is nothing to do.” She grabs my hands and pulls me toward the couch. “Come on, she’ll wake up soon. Until then, talk to me. I need some adult conversation.”
I bounce onto the couch, positioning myself so I can keep looking at Macy. “Okay, let’s talk. How are you doing? How you feeling?”
She leans her head back on the couch. “I’m good. But let’s not talk about me.”
I'm feeling a bit tense. One thing I know about this family is we’re all a bunch of talkers. At least when it comes to each other. By now, it’s made it through all of them I want to have a baby. “What do you want to talk about? ”
She smirks at me. “Well, let’s see. We can talk about you wanting to have a baby if you want.”
I point at Macy. “Come on, it’s not that big of a deal. How can anyone meet Macy and not want one?”
She nods in agreement. “Right… so it was baby fever? You’re over it now?”
I fidget in my seat. I already kicked my shoes off at the door, so I pull my socked feet under me on the couch. “Well, I wouldn’t say that. I mean, come on, look at her.”
She laughs. “Well, you can babysit anytime you want to. You know, to feed that baby fever.”
I’m quick to answer. “I’ll take that.”
She laughs, and when she thinks she’s a little too loud, she stops and leans toward me. “I’ll accept your answer, but I think we both know it’s more than that.”
Under her intense stare, I know I can’t keep anything from Haven. From the moment I met her, I liked her. I was a little surprised about that too because she’s nothing like I expected. She was a model, and I didn’t think we’d have a lot in common, but she’s become one of my best friends along with Cat and Lucy. I know I can’t lie to her. “Look, obviously, Dom was the last person I should have confessed to. I got caught up in all of it and just told him. But yeah, you’re right. There’s more to it than just baby fever. I want a family.”
Her forehead creases. “You have a family. We’re your family.”
“I know, and I don’t know how to describe it, but I want my own family. I want a husband I can depend on and grow old with. I want us to have kids and traditions and all the good and bad things. I’ve never had a family of my very own, and well, I don’t know. These feelings are really strong now. It doesn’t look like I’m going to have a husband anytime soon, so maybe I need to have a child on my own.”
She bites her lip, and I can see what she’s thinking before she says a word. I can tell she’s debating whether to say it out loud, and she must decide to because she blurts out, “What about Gabe?”
I roll my eyes. “I guess everyone knows he offered?”
It’s more of a question than a statement, but I know the answer. “Yeah, we all know, but…”
She trails off, and I lean forward. “What? You all know but what? ”
She shrugs. “But none of us were surprised he asked. We were surprised you said no.”
I nod. “Of course I said no.”
“Why?”
“Why?” I blurt out. “What do you mean, why?”
She leans into the cushion with her eyes trained on mine. “I mean, why would you say no? Gabe loves you, and you love him. It actually makes a lot of sense for you two to have a baby together.”
I pull one of the pillows off the couch and press it to my belly, hugging my arms around it. “Because he’s my best friend.”
She laughs, nodding her head. “And?”
“Oh my God, we’re best friends… and I want to keep him as my best friend.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not getting it. King is my best friend.” She points at Macy. “And we had a baby together. I mean, it’s only been two weeks, but so far, it’s working out pretty good.”
She smirks like she made a funny joke, and I just shake my head. “Yeah, well there is a big difference between you and King and me and Gabe.”
She doesn’t make the connection. “I don’t know what you mean.”
I roll my eyes, and I can feel my cheeks get hot just thinking about what I’m about to say. “Well, let’s see. To start with, you and King have sex. Gabe and I don’t… do that. You and King are married, Gabe and I are not. I mean, should I keep going?”
Her eyebrows lift. “Have you ever had sex?”
My stomach drops. “With Gabe? No… never.”
She looks completely surprised. “Really? I would have thought…”
When she trails off, my mind starts going a hundred miles a minute. “You would have thought what?”
She just shrugs. “I don’t know. You guys are so good together. It’s obvious there’s something there.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, we’re best friends. That’s it. I mean, not that’s it, like it’s a bad thing but that’s it, we are not romantically involved.”
She looks like she doesn’t believe a word I’m saying. “I’m serious. Nothing has ever happened between us. I love him, he loves me but not… like that.”
I look over at Macy so I don’t have to look at Haven while I tell her that I don’t love Gabe like that. Heck, the truth is that I’ve loved Gabe like that for as long as I can remember, and that’s exactly why I can’t take him up on his offer. All my dreams would come true—well, most of them—but he’d be the one stranded with his best friend in a platonic relationship. Nope, no matter how much I want to be with Gabe, I’m not doing it.
The baby saves me from further questions when she starts to cry. Haven starts to get up, but I stop her. “Let me grab her. She’s probably hungry. I’ll bring her to you.”
Haven leans back in the couch and puts a pillow on her lap. I pick up sweet baby Macy and start cooing to her. My heart melts as her little lip puckers. “She’s even cute when she cries, Haven.”
I place her in Haven’s arms, and immediately she starts to feed.
Not wanting to stare, I lean my head back on the couch. “Anyway, I’m going to put it off for a while. I’m only thirty-three. I have time.”
“You have plenty of time,” she agrees. “You coming over for dinner tomorrow night?”
I nod. “Yeah, I’ll be here. I want you to know I think you’re amazing. I can’t believe you feel up to hosting all of us for dinner. Haven, you’re only two weeks postpartum. I would be mad at my brother for doing this to you, but I have trouble believing it was his idea.”
She laughs, and I can hear the smile on her face. “Please, King had the house cleaned. He is having the food catered in, and I have to basically do nothing. And you’re right, it was my idea. I wanted us all to get together, you know?”
I turn and lean the side of my face on the couch. I can see the top of Macy’s head, and I’m wondering if she’s already gone back to sleep. “I’m going to leave a little early tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah?” Her eyes light up, and I can’t help but laugh. “Do you have plans?”
I roll my eyes. I mean, I might as well tell her because it will make it through the rest of the family before long. “Yes, I have a date.”
Her eyes practically pop out of her head. “A date? Does Gabriel know?”
My forehead creases. “First of all, I don’t have to ask Gabe’s permission to go on a date.”
She blows a soft whistle and sounds almost aghast. “So he doesn’t know?”
I think about the conversation I had with Gabe the other day and the promises I made. “Yes. Gabe knows. I told him.”
She smiles and shifts in her seat. I lean forward. “Is she back to sleep? Am I ever going to get to hold her?”
She sits up. “She’s sleeping, but you can hold her.”
Haven places the baby in my arms, and I get lost looking at her. She’s so beautiful, and I breathe in her sweet, powdery scent. She lets out one whimper and then snuggles into me.
Haven leans in and whispers, “Don’t think you’ve distracted me. What did Gabe say when you told him?”
I act like I don’t know what she’s talking about. “Told him what?”
She makes a big to-do about rolling her eyes. “When you told him you were going on a date.”
I’m still frustrated about Gabe’s reaction. I’m not sure why he’s acting like he is. He’s always been protective of me, but it’s been different lately, and I don’t know what to make of it. “He, uh, didn’t take it well. He asked me a dozen questions. He wanted to know who the guy is, what he does, where we’re going…”
She claps her hands together without making any noise and then rambles off a bunch of questions. “Who is he? How did you meet him? Where are you going?”
“He’s a doctor at the hospital. His name is Roger Banks. I’m sure my brothers all know him because he’s from Whiskey Run. We’re going to the Whiskey Whistler for drinks…. Keeping it casual. ”
She raises her eyebrows dramatically. “What did Gabe say?”
I blow out a breath, remembering the conversation I had with Gabe. He was not happy, and I had to remind him that he didn’t have a say on who I dated, I was just telling him as a courtesy because I told him I would. “Well, what didn’t he say? He thinks Roger is too old for me. He thinks he’s a player and I’m wasting my time with him—”
Haven cuts me off. “How old is this Roger?”
I scrunch my nose up. “He’s forty-three. That’s only ten years older than me, I mean, that’s not a big difference in the grand scheme of things.”
“Oh shit—I mean shoot. I bet Gabe about had a coronary.”
I laugh because what else can I do? “Yeah, he wasn’t happy. He tried to forbid me from going, and even though I was actually thinking of canceling, I’m definitely going now.”
“Why were you going to cancel?”
“Roger and I had lunch in the cafeteria at the hospital the other day. This was after he’d asked me out, and lunch was painful. We didn’t have a lot to talk about, and he was a little… arrogant.”
Haven sits back. “Hmmm. Can you tolerate one night with him? ”
I lift my shoulder in a shrug. “Yeah, I guess.”
She nods. “You should go then. This will be good for you and Gabe.”
“Good for me and Gabe?”
She nods. “Yep, you all need to shake things up a bit.”
Before I can ask her what she means, Macy starts to squirm in my arms and wakes up, blinking up at me. And as she looks up at me with her big blue eyes, all I can do is stare back at her.
Haven leans toward us. “Awwww, she likes you.”
My heart is racing in my chest. “You think so?”
“She’s not crying. You have officially made the list of babysitters, Chrissy.”
I swear it feels like she just told me I won a million dollars. “Just call me. I’ll babysit anytime.”