23. Liam
LIAM
I knock on Chloe's door early the next morning, hoping that she is in a better mood than what she was in last night.
And if she’s not I’m hoping that my surprise will get her there. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll make her pancakes that seem to work.
“Chlo? Are you up?” I say against the wood door, knocking again.
“Yeah.” I hear her say from the other side.
She sounds calm.
Taking my chances, I open the door to her room and step inside.
In the time that she has lived her, she has really made this space her own and the second that I walk in, I’m surrounded by her scent. I keep my nose from not taking a big whiff and do what I came here to do.
“You doing okay?” I ask the woman that has captivated my thoughts since I first laid eyes on her.
She gives me a nod and sits up. Her bump is definitely a lot more prominent than it was a few weeks ago. But I guess that’s what happens when you’re close to being seven months pregnant.
“I’m fine,” she says, leaning her head against the headboard. “Sorry, I freaked out on you over pants.”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry that I was such an asshole to you.” I say to her, meaning every word. “You mind if I sit?”
She shakes her head and I make my way over to her side of the bed, taking a seat on the edge.
I fight with myself to lean over and brush away the few strands of hair that block her eyes, but I keep control. I don’t need us crossing the line again and suffering from blue balls for another two months.
Instead, I place the gift bag that I walked in with on the bed in front of her.
“You got me a gift?” she asks, not taking her eyes on the pastel pink bag.
“I did. I thought it would be fun if we did something today.”
“Something?” she asks, looking back at me. “Like the two of us?”
Why does that sound so shocking?
We do stuff together.
Right?
I try to think of something that we did together that doesn’t involve food, going to her appointments or even attending one of my games and I can’t think of anything.
The only thing that comes to mind is the night we met and how we went for pizza and then back to her place, but even then that involves food.
So I guess Chloe and I haven’t done anything much together outside of this apartment.
Time to change that.
“Yes, do something. The two of us. If you’re up for it.” I give her my best charming smile, hoping that she falls for it.
“Don’t you have practice today?” she asks, reaching for the bag.
I shake my head. “It’s Sunday. Coach decided to be nice and give us the day off, but it just means doubles tomorrow.”
“That doesn't mean you will come home smelling like sweat, does it?”
I don’t shower one time and I get reminded to do so if I even want to step foot in my house.
But whatever keeps the mother of my child happy.
“I’ll make sure to take an extra shower before coming home.”
“Please do.” She says, finally reaching inside the pink bag and pulling out the light pink coat that I put on top.
She looks up at me, shocked that I bought her close. Without a doubt, she’s probably thinking I have a death wish and maybe I do.
“Just go with it, okay? I promise at the end of the day, you won’t be thinking about clothes whatsoever.” I say to her, standing up from the bed and start making my way out of the room. “There’s more in the bag. Wear everything. I have a car picking us up in an hour. So be ready.”
I throw one more smile in her direction and leave the room. Hoping that she does as I say and my surprise goes as planned.
* * *
“What are we doing here?” Chloe asks, in a curious tone, a little over an hour later as we sit on a park bench inside of Lincoln Park.
We’ve been sitting here for about five minutes, watching people pass by and enjoying the sun that decided to bless Chicago on this Sunday in March.
I give the woman sitting next to me a smile. “Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough.”
She looks at me like she doesn’t believe me but after a second she gives me a nod and goes back to people watching.
As she watches people enjoy the park, I watch her.
She looks absolutely beautiful and it has nothing to do with the fact that she is wearing the clothes that I bought her. The beauty is all her and if I could sit here all day and watch her, I would. Just like I would spend hours with no end watching her dance.
“That dress looks really good on you.” I say, proud of myself and my early morning shopping spree.
Chloe looks down at the dress in question, running a hand along the fabric that stretches over her stomach and gives me a smile.
“Thank you. And thank you for the dress. It’s beautiful.” She says, her cheeks turning a shade of pink. “You didn’t need to buy me anything, let alone a whole outfit.”
“I wanted to, besides, I wanted today to be special and that dress fit the bill,” I say, reaching over slightly and sliding my thumb against the back of her hand.
“And why is that? What’s so special about today?” she asks.
Before answering her question, I look around the park, hoping I’m able to spot my surprise and sure enough, she is walking towards us.
She’s late but at least she’s here.
“Because my sweet Chloe, today, we are having a photoshoot,” I say nodding toward the woman that is approaching us with a camera wrapped around her neck.
Chloe follows my line of sight and I see her mouth pop open a bit when she see our photographer for the day.
“Photoshoot?” she asks, turning to look back at me with a confused look.
“Yeah, I thought that it would be nice if you got some maternity pictures done. You know, to look back on and maybe show our daughter just how beautiful her mom looked while she was pregnant with her.”
After what happened last night, I wanted to give Chloe a confidence boost and to show her just how beautiful she looks while pregnant. I wanted to show her that even though her body was changing, it was changing for a good reason.
So I called Eliana, an old friend who happens to not only be a photographer but owes me a favor or two.
“I can’t believe that you would do that for me,” Chloe says, giving me a look of disbelief.
“I’d give you the world if you’d let me.” I tell her with every ounce of honesty that I got.
Chloe doesn’t get a chance to respond because soon we are being joined by Eliana.
“Sorry, I’m late. I had to go pick up one of my cameras across town.” Our photographer tells us, not even aware that she interrupted a moment between me and Chloe.
I break my gaze from Chloe and stand up from the bench and introduce the two women.
“Chloe, this Eliana. Our photographer, who apparently doesn’t know how to use her phone to send a quick text message,” I say, narrowing my eyes at the woman with the camera. “And Eliana, this is Chloe.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Chloe,” Eliana says, holding out a hand for Chloe to shake. “I apologize in advance if I try to strangle your baby daddy once or twice during our session today.”
Chloe lets out a laugh at our photographer possibly torturing me. “It’s nice to meet you too. How do you two know each other?” she asks, looking between the two of us.
“We met a few years ago at a team function,” I say, giving her the simplest answer.
Chloe nods and soon Eliana is talking to her about what she wants from the shoot.
The smile that takes over Chloe’s face at hearing every single detail is one that I want Eliana to capture just so that I can have it framed.
It doesn’t take long for the shot itself to start. The two women are laughing and Chloe is having the time of her life.
All the tears from last night about her clothes not fitting have been forgotten.
Somewhere through the halfway point of the shoot, Chloe goes to the bathroom and I’m left with Eliana, who is looking at me like a kid at a museum wanting to ask too many questions.
“What?” I ask, tired of getting stared at.
“How did you two meet?” She finally asks a question that I’m sure she wanted to ask since the beginning.
“At the ballet that you decided to skip.” I say, giving her a pointed look.
Eliana was supposed to be my date for the ballet all those months ago. In the last few years, we have gotten close and have had almost a brother and sister relationship. So when I heard that she was going to be in town that night, I asked to come with me.
Thinking about it now, I can’t help thinking about how different my life would be if she hadn’t canceled on me.
I would have probably spent the majority of the time talking Eliana and not been enthralled in Chloe as much as I had been or even at all.
I probably would have never met her, and there for sure wouldn’t be any baby two months away from arriving.
It’s a mind trip that so much would have not happened had I had a date that night.
“Damn. I shouldn’t have canceled. I could have been the one pregnant with your kid,” she says sarcastically.
Sarcastically or not, that would have never happened.
“Why did you cancel that night, anyway?” I ask.
Eliana is a flake, has been for as long as I have known her, so her canceling on me isn’t surprising. I got my hopes up that that night would have been different but it wasn't surprising.
I thought that she was going to cancel today, but here she is.
“My dad found out that I was in town and forced me to go to dinner with him,” she says with a tinge of anger in her voice.
Eliana and her dad have an interesting relationship, one that I’ve been pervy to since her dad is the Dark Knight’s head coach. I’ve gotten both sides of the story and the only thing that I can say is that they are both so damn stubborn it’s no wonder that they bump heads.
Not only does Coach have to get his personal shit together, so does his daughter.
“Does he know that you’re in town this time?” I ask curiously. Coach didn’t say anything.
Coach’s daughter shakes her head. “Nope but he will tomorrow. I have a meeting with the Knight’s marketing team. You’re looking at the team's new head photographer.”
Great.
Coach is going to be pissed all the time.