Chapter Thirty-One
Melonie
W e signed all the paperwork, and the agent gave us a move-in date two weeks away. It seems a little fast, but a quick move in won’t give me space to change my mind. As we leave the office, my stomach growls, and suddenly I need food.
“I’m starving.”
“We can go up to mine and order lunch. I know today has been crazy, but I would really like to talk about telling people. It’s been really hard for me to keep this from everyone.”
“Food, then talking.” I smile at him.
“Done. What sounds good?”
“I want a cheeseburger and a milkshake,” I answer quickly.
“What Mama wants, Mama gets.”
Linc pulls up an app and orders food on the way up to his apartment. I start feeling a little anxious that I’m about to see his place for the first time. I’m about to find out what his home looks like, feels like, which also means I’m about to get a glimpse of what our place could look like. It also hits me how fast we’re doing all this. I just signed a lease with a person when I haven’t even been inside their current space. I try my best to silence the alarms going off in my head.
We step off the elevator and walk to his door. He unlocks it, opening it for me to enter first. I step in and I’m pleasantly surprised. It looks like a grown man’s home, fully furnished, and it smells good. It smells like him, and it pains me to admit it, but it’s a little comforting after the morning we’ve had.
“This is really nice. You have pictures on the walls and a color scheme.”
He laughs. “Did you expect me to live in a cave?”
“Most bachelor’s don’t really decorate.”
“I admit, my mom helped me when I moved in here, but I picked the colors.”
“You did well. Will you be okay if I add my girliness to our place?”
“You can have complete control over decorating. I just ask that we keep my TV so I can watch games.”
I grin. “You got it.”
The food arrives, and we set up camp in the living room. I rustle through the bags of food and pass him his items. I quickly unwrap my burger and let out a contented sigh as I take a bite.
“Anything you want to watch?” Linc points to the TV.
“Doesn’t matter to me,” I answer with a mouth full of food. This child has already stolen my manners.
“Sorry I let you get so hungry.”
I shake my head. “Not your fault. I should have eaten breakfast.”
He looks at me with concern on his face. “You didn’t have breakfast?”
“I was too nervous about our appointment.”
“I get it. Just don’t make a habit of that. You and the baby need food.”
I take another bite and turn to him. “Okay, Daddy .”
He shifts in his seat beside me. “Told you not to call me that.”
I smirk. “Just trying to get a rise out of you.” I crumble up the empty wrapper and throw it in the to-go bag. I grab my milkshake and lean back on the couch. “So, telling people.”
“I’m ready if you are. It’s been really hard not to tell my parents. And I’ll be honest, I have no clue how the crew is going to react.”
“I think they’ll be shocked, but they love us, so hopefully they go easy on us. Now that the doctor’s appointment is over and we have our place locked down, it’s real. Like really real. I want to tell them.”
“Your parents are still in Philly?”
“They are. I was thinking about inviting them up next weekend. We could tell them then.”
“Sounds good. We could make a weekend of it. Tell your parents on Saturday and mine on Sunday.”
I snort. “What a fun-filled weekend.”
“What do you think about telling everyone else tonight? We can wait if you’re too tired. I know today has been a lot.”
“We could do that. Want to invite them over here? You have more room.”
He grabs his phone from the coffee table to send a text to the group chat. “That works. I’ll just tell them to come over for the game, and then we can drop the news.”
“Sounds like a plan.”