Chapter Thirty-One
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Eugene was in the midst of an awesome virtual reality sequence when his phone buzzed. He decided to ignore it, until it buzzed again. He ignored it again because he needed to get through this section of the ride to make sure it was cohesive. But then his phone buzzed for the third time.
Dammit. He paused the VR and pulled off his goggles, checking the missed call log. Frowning, he saw all three calls were from his oldest brother, Warren. Hoping nothing was wrong with their mom, he punched the number and Warren answered immediately.
“Were you busy?” Warren asked.
“Yeah, I was. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. But I have news. Really good news.”
Eugene grinned. “Tell me.”
“Louisa is pregnant. We waited to tell everyone until she was well through the first trimester, so she’s sixteen weeks now.”
“Wow.” Louisa was the surrogate Warren and his husband, Joe, had contracted to carry their baby. “Dude. That’s awesome. Congratulations. How’s Joe?”
“He cried when we found out the pregnancy test was positive.”
“Oh, and you didn’t?”
“Pfft. I never cry.”
Eugene took a seat on the sofa in his office. “Bullshit. This is a big deal, Warren. I’m so stoked for you guys. Did you tell Mom? How did she react?”
“Oh, you know Mom. She’s already out buying baby stuff even though it’s early and we told her not to.”
Eugene laughed. “Yeah, she’ll be an unstoppable grandma, you know that.”
“I do know that.”
“Man, I’m gonna be an uncle. This is so cool.” It was going to take a minute for that to sink in.
“Anyway, that’s only the first part of my call,” Warren said. “I have a deposition to do in Ft. Lauderdale next week, so Joe and I thought we’d fly in early and drive over to visit with you and Linc.”
“Oh man, that’d be awesome. I’d love to see you guys.”
“Yeah, it’s real convenient that you and Linc live in the same city now.”
“For now, anyway.”
“Whatever, Eugene. Eventually you should consider settling down and staying in one place.”
“I’ll give that all the consideration it’s due. So text me details on when you’re gonna be here, okay?”
“Will do.”
“And congrats again, bruh. Really excited for you and Joe.”
“Thanks, man. Talk soon.”
“See ya.”
He hung up, then stood and paced his office while he texted Linc about Warren and Joe.
We’re gonna be uncles!
Linc texted back. I know! So awesome. I’m stoked.
Ditto , he texted back to Linc. And Warren and Joe are coming to visit next week.
It took a minute for Linc to text back, but he said, Yeah. Hazel and I are excited. We’ll have to get together to make plans. How about dinner tonight? See if Natalie wants to come.
I’ll do that and let you know. After putting his phone down, he went back to work, then realized he hadn’t asked Natalie about dinner. Instead of texting her, he called.
“Hey there,” she said when she picked up.
“Hi. How about dinner at Linc and Hazel’s tonight?”
“Hazel already texted me. I was going to call you, but you beat me to the punch. And, yes to dinner. I have the kids, so they’ll be coming along.”
“Perfect. I guess everyone’s coordinating, so we’ll talk later about time?”
“Sounds great. Have a good rest of your day.”
“Okay. Lo…looking forward to it.”
She laughed. “Me, too. Bye.”
He’d almost blurted out “Love you” as if it were the most natural thing in the world. But it wasn’t, and he didn’t. Did he?
No. No, he didn’t. Wait.
He dragged his fingers through his hair, letting what he’d almost said sink in. Did he mean to say it or had it been just some kind of automatic response?
No. Absolutely not. And he wasn’t about to do a deep dive into his feelings for Natalie right now, because he had work to do. He’d deal with his almost verbal fuckup later.
Much, much later.