Chapter Ten
“I thought baby showers were just for women,” Levi said when he got to Dana’s apartment that evening.
Dana had gone home to get ready for Savannah’s baby shower. Since it was at Harlan and Savannah’s apartment, it made sense for Levi to come to Dana’s place. But she hadn’t realized Levi was going to be such a pain in the ass about it. He’d been complaining for two days now and had stepped it up the closer the event came. “Not anymore. Nowadays they’re for couples.”
“I just think it’s weird. I don’t know anything about babies, or showers, or pregnancy or any of that crap.” He stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets and looked out her window overlooking the Square.
At least he’d put on a decent button-down shirt, Dana thought. She’d wondered if he’d wear his standard T-shirt. “Harlan and Savannah are your friends, aren’t they?”
He turned to look at her in surprise. “Of course.”
“And they’re having their first baby. A little boy. You’ve seen the two of them. Aren’t you happy for them?”
“Of course I’m happy for them. But what does— ”
She held up a hand, interrupting him in mid-question. “Then get over yourself. I’m going and I’m not covering for you.”
“I didn’t ask you to cover for me.”
“You were thinking about it.”
He shrugged, proving her point.
“Did you bring a book? For the baby?” she added.
Levi rolled his eyes. “Yes, I brought a book. For the baby. Although I have no idea if it describes my personality. I just bought one that looked interesting. I think it’s for a kid who’s a little bit older, though.”
“That’s all right. They’ll read it eventually. Besides, it will be good to have a mix of ages.”
“I guess. Why do you have two presents?”
“Because I wanted to get them something else besides the book.” All the baby clothes were so cute she’d had a terrible time deciding on what to get. She’d gone in with Laurel, Avery and Rachel on a high chair but she’d wanted a little something else. Maybe she’d gone a bit overboard but baby stuff was so fun, she didn’t really care. “Are you ready or are you chickening out?”
“Damn, Dana, cut me some slack. I’m going.”
“It will be fun. You’ll see.”
“They’ll probably have all girlie food and drinks,” he grumbled as she locked her door.
“Cheer up. I’m sure they’ll have a manly beer or two for you.”
*
Levi had to admit, the baby shower was turning out to be a lot better than he’d expected. The food was good. They had the makings for sandwiches—turkey, ham and roast beef, cheese and lettuce and condiments. There were also chips and dip and other snack-type things. And finally, desserts. Since Rachel Wood, owner of Cookies and S’more(s), was a good friend of Savannah’s he’d bet she’d handled the desserts. There were mocktails, cocktails and, thank God, beer. Not too shabby.
“We’re going to play a game,” Laurel said. “Savannah is going to guess which guest brought which book, according to his or her personality. Whoever brought one she can’t guess gets a five-dollar gift certificate to the Whiskey River bookstore. And also they get to pick a mocktail, cocktail, or dessert.”
Since there weren’t enough chairs to go around, Levi stood beside Dana, who sat on the couch next to Rachel and Siobhan.
Laurel handed each book to Savannah. The first was Pat the Puppy . “Too easy,” Savannah said. “That’s from Tobi.” She laughed and added, “I was waiting for a doctor one from you but this one fits too.”
“She is crazy about that dog,” Levi said to Dana.
The next book was The Very Hungry Caterpillar . “That’s obviously Rachel’s,” Savannah said .
Rachel laughed. “Guilty.”
Savannah picked up Levi’s book, which was Go, Dog, Go! “I swear, none of you are hard. This must be Levi’s.”
“I like cars,” Levi said.
“No kidding?” Savannah said, and everyone laughed. She went through several others, including Travis’s Archibald the Airplane , and finally came to one that stumped her. “ Five Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed ,” Savannah read. “I give up. Who gave us this one?”
“Me,” Dana said. “I picked it because it rhymes and is orderly.”
“Your personality is rhyming?” Levi asked her.
Dana flicked him a glance. “I’m orderly. And I like rhymes. And I want cookies.”
More laughter and the game went on.
After that game and a couple of others, Savannah and Harlan opened the gifts. Swings and a high chair and clothes and there was even a thing called a diaper cake. It was made out of diapers, naturally, with all sorts of rattles and spoons and other baby stuff attached and hanging from it. Once that was accomplished, Levi wandered over to talk to Harlan. He was looking at some of the gifts and seemed a little shell-shocked. “Getting a little too real?” Levi asked him.
He shook his head before looking at Levi. “It’s not like I’ve never been around kids. Or babies. I have a niece and nephew. But this—” He looked over at Savannah. “This is different. I’ll be responsible for him. A whole little person who Savannah and I made. She doesn’t seem worried at all.”
“You’re worried?”
“Petrified.”
“About anything specific or just in general?”
Harlan laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m worried about everything. Especially worried about whether I can be a good father.”
“There’s no reason you won’t be. You love Savannah. You love the baby. You’ll be good to them. Stop worrying.”
“What if I screw up?”
Damn, expectant fatherhood sure made men question themselves, Levi thought, remembering his conversation with Zack.
“Everyone screws up. That doesn’t mean you’ll ruin the kid. Besides, you have Savannah. Anything you mess up she’ll fix.”
Harlan’s expression cleared. “You’re right. I hadn’t thought about it that way. Thanks, Levi.”
Levi watched him walk over to Savannah and say something to her. She looked up at him and reached for his hand. Levi could almost feel the love flowing between them. God, how sappy is that?
He looked for Dana and found her talking to Laurel and Zack. Zack had his arm around his wife and was looking at her like she was the most precious thing in his world. Damn, more sappiness. What was with him?
What would Dana look like when she was pregnant? Beautiful, that was a given. He imagined her with a rounded stomach, happy and satisfied, carrying his baby. He shook his head, hard, dispelling the illusion. He’d never thought it through before. Could he have a child, knowing there was a chance he’d be like his parents? He didn’t really believe he would be. For one thing, he wasn’t a drunk. Still, it was something to consider. Something more to worry about.
And why the hell was he thinking about having babies? He and Dana were supposed to be enjoying the present and not worrying about the past or the future. To him, babies meant marriage and he wasn’t even sure that Dana would stick around for another six months, much less marry him.
Say he did ask Dana to marry him. Would she say yes knowing he wasn’t sure he should have children? Or was he overreacting? After all, he’d just finished telling his friends there was no reason to think that they could or would screw up enough to ruin their kids.
But they’d both grown up in decent families. Not with nightmare parents.