Chapter 16
BELLA
With a sigh, Bella hung up the phone. After almost a month of calls and emails and frantic web searches, Bella had hired a pair of chefs to take over her upcoming events and rescheduled the few they were not able to do.
In the end, she’d even make a profit from those events, though the margins would be narrow once she’d paid for the food, the chefs, and the servers.
For now, though, her business was secure. Once her maternity leave was finished, she could return to her work, perhaps even keeping on one or both chefs to help. It was hard to leave her business in the hands of strangers, but it was the right call for her and, more importantly, her baby.
Feeling a strange mix of happiness and anxiety, Bella put her phone aside and reached for her laptop.
She opened a website where she’d been spending a little too much time lately — the website of a local baby store.
There, she’d bookmarked a crib, a changing table, tiny onesies, a stroller, and a baby carrier.
She hadn’t actually purchased anything yet, though.
It was all so expensive, and she really couldn’t afford more than a few packs of diapers.
Luke had told her repeatedly that he would pay for all baby-related expenses, but Bella was hesitant to ask him to spend that much.
Still, she opened the page with the crib she liked. It had an adjustable cot, which she’d read was important, and a cute little ruffle at the top. It was all too easy to imagine their baby inside, smiling a gummy smile up at her and kicking his tiny legs, like he did all day in her stomach.
“Oof, we shouldn’t get that one.”
Bella twisted back to see Luke standing behind her. “When did you sneak up on me?”
“No sneaking.” Luke came around to sit beside her on the couch. “I just came to see how things were going with work. You’re done with all the arrangements for maternity leave, right?”
“I suppose.” Bella sighed. “It feels very strange that I won’t be working at all for the next few months, beyond checking in with the chefs now and then.”
“I can imagine.” Luke nodded. “Giving up your work, even for a little while, is hard, but it’s the right call.”
“Thanks.”
“That crib, on the other hand, is not the right call. See that ruffle? It’s a suffocation hazard. We need something a little plainer and safer.”
Bella rolled her eyes. “Sure, sure.”
“No, I’m serious. I work in an ER. I’ve seen enough parents come in with their children that I know we should be careful.”
“Fair enough.” Though Bella pretended to find his suggestions unreasonable, secretly she found his protectiveness sweet. He wanted the best for their baby, just like she did. “Want to look at the other things I picked out and offer your feedback?”
Luke chuckled. Then his expression grew serious. “Actually, yes. Can I?”
Grinning, Bella opened her cart and showed him the items she’d picked out.
“Most of this looks great,” he said. “But we should go for a stroller with a better safety rating. I haven’t heard of any particular issues with this model, but there are definitely better ones.
Let me see…” He took her laptop and typed into the search bar, then pointed to one of the results. “This one is really secure.”
“All right.” Bella clicked to replace the stroller she’d chosen with the one Luke had picked out.
“Is the list ready?” Luke asked. “Can we go ahead and buy everything, or are you hoping to get some things at your baby shower?”
“Baby shower?” Bella asked. Luke frowned.
“Your baby shower.” His frown deepened. “You know, where you celebrate becoming a mother. Am I missing something?”
“I’m not having a baby shower.” Bella looked away. “I only told my best friend about the pregnancy last month. She’s been great, though. You met her last week when she came by to drop off a card from her class — you know, Stacy.”
“She was nice,” Luke agreed. “But she seemed very interested in figuring out whether we were dating or not.”
Bella flushed. “She was.”
“What about the other woman who came by, the cheerful blonde who brought all those cookies and news about your business?”
“That’s Callie,” Bella explained. “She was one of my servers. Well, she’s still a server for The Cherry on Top. We aren’t close friends, but she was the one who brought me into the hospital when I started having the Braxton-Hicks contractions.”
“Then she’s my favorite,” Luke said, smiling.
“But I can’t have a baby shower with just two people, and those are basically all my friends,” Bella finished. “It would be silly.”
“Maybe we can have a little celebration, just us,” Luke suggested. Bella smiled at him.
“Sure.”
“We can go right now.” He stood, took the laptop off her lap, and shut it. Then he held out his hands to help her up. “You need a break, anyway, and a walk is just what the doctor ordered.”
“Fine, fine.” Bella let him pull her to her feet. “So much for bed rest.”
“You’re out of the danger zone now,” Luke told her, “since you haven’t had any more practice contractions. And I’ll keep an eye on you.”
They headed out. Luke’s beautiful house was in Southeast Portland, an area filled with leafy parks and wide boulevards for bikes. They strolled down Luke’s street towards Laurelhurst Park, their steps slow and relaxed.
“So, how exactly is this a celebration?” Bella asked teasingly. “Because it just feels like a walk.”
“First, we’ll talk about baby names,” Luke informed her. “Then, when we get home, we can play some baby-shower games.”
“Like what?” There was a smile in Bella’s voice.
“Like… pin the tail on the baby. I don’t know. But I’ll figure it out. Oh, and then, in the evening, we can order the baby supplies. You’re in your seventh month now, so we’ve really got to figure all this stuff out.”
“Sounds good.” They entered the park, where kids were riding pushbikes, families were eating on blankets on the grass, teens were sitting around taking pictures and laughing, and a few dogs tussled in the off-leash area. A man rode by on a unicycle, and Bella smiled.
“Keep Portland weird,” Luke said, nodding his head in the unicyclist’s direction.
“I don’t know if you’re allowed to say that, seeing as you aren’t from around here.”
“Hey, I’ve lived here for five years.” Luke nudged her with his shoulder. “I’m basically a local.”
“Say that again when you’ve donated the umbrella in your hall closet,” Bella told him. “You know real Portlanders don’t use them.”
Luke rolled his eyes. “We need to focus. What baby names do you like? We know we’re having a boy, so that narrows it down, at least.”
“I like classic names with a bit of a twist,” Bella told him.
“Oliver?” Luke asked, his eyes flashing with warmth as he teased her. Bella punched him lightly on the shoulder.
“I mean I like names like Thomas or Alex or Benjamin.”
“Those don’t really have a twist,” Luke pointed out. “But they are good names. Except Benjamin. I knew a Benjamin in elementary school.”
“And you weren’t friends?” Bella asked.
“No.” Luke shook his head, making a face. “Benjamin was the class bully. He was always putting thumb tacks in people’s seats and gluing their fingers to their pencils.”
“When did you go to school, the 1970s?” Bella asked, giggling. “Those are such old-fashioned pranks.”
“Hey, they hit home,” Luke said. “You don’t know the pain of sitting on a thumb tack.”
“This was back in Pittsburgh?” Bella asked.
She was making an effort to tell Luke about herself and learn about him.
He’d been right that getting to know each other was the best thing for their child, but beyond that, she enjoyed finding out more about him.
Most of their conversations were still easy and light, but now and then, they actually shared something real — and Bella’s life hadn’t fallen apart.
Yet.
“Uh-huh. I went to school there from when I was a kid until I left for college.”
“Harvard, right?”
“That was for medical school. First, I did my undergraduate degree at UPenn.”
“Wow, and then Harvard for grad school?” Bella raised her eyebrows. “And then you went to Minnesota, right?”
“Yes, for residency.” Luke glanced at her. “Where did you go to college?”
“UCLA,” Bella told him. “I had big dreams about going to LA, surfing every day, and maybe finding my way onto a film set or two. Plus, they gave me a great scholarship.”
“That was part of my decision to go to UPenn, too,” Luke told her. “And I wanted to stay close to home. How did it go in LA? Did you ever learn to surf and find your way onto a film set?”
Bella chuckled. “Not exactly. But I did learn that I don’t like the weather being sunny all the time and that LA traffic is just too much for me, which is why I ended up back in Portland when I graduated.”
“I was in LA for a conference once and sat in my car for almost two hours trying to get across the city at rush hour.” Luke gave an exaggerated shudder. “So, I understand what you mean.” He gestured to a bench. “Shall we sit for a bit?”
“Sure.” They wandered over to the bench and sat, Bella a little gingerly. Maneuvering with a heavily pregnant belly was not easy.
“Okay, so Benjamin is out,” Bella said once she was seated. “What other names do you like?”
“Hmm…” Luke leaned back, putting one arm over the back of the bench.
It was close enough to Bella’s shoulders that she could feel the warmth of his skin, and she leaned a little closer out of instinct.
It was almost like they were a real couple preparing for their first child. “I’m not a fan of names from movies.”
“Agreed.” Bella smiled. “I’ve had enough of people asking me about Twilight. Those books and movies came out way after I was born, but somehow people still think it’s funny to ask if my parents really loved vampires or if the reason I like rain so much is that I’m secretly a vampire myself.”