9. Aiden #2
“I get it,” Cora said. “That’s a lot to be dealing with, and Dominic needs your support right now. If you really can’t make time for the reunion, I understand. I can handle it on my own.”
I ran my hand down my face. “No, wait…”
She tilted her head, her expression hopeful. “It really shouldn’t be that much work if we’re both there,” she said hesitantly.
My hands dropped to my hips. “Tell me again what Trish said.”
“Everything’s booked and paid for,” Cora said, counting the points off on her fingers.
“Trish already has volunteers to help with setup; we just need to be there to oversee the decorating and food delivery. And, if Trish doesn’t make it back from her cruise in time, we might have to spend a few minutes playing host at the event. ”
“It does sound manageable,” I said. Cora stared at me, her bottom lip caught between her teeth in a horribly distracting way. She was close enough I could have counted her freckles. Did I want to do this? No. Did I have time? I supposed I could make time. “Fine. I will do my part.”
A smile bloomed across her face. “Good. Great! I haven’t been back home for a while. My mom will be ecstatic.”
“I haven’t been back in years,” I admitted.
After my parents split when I was in college, my mom moved to Ohio to be closer to my grandparents.
My dad hung around until he’d hit his thirty years with the paper mill and retired.
Then he’d made the move to Manhattan. There hadn’t been any reason for me to go back. “Might be nice to visit the old place.”
Revisit some memories.
Cora was rambling again, talking logistics, but my mind was running back over some of those memories.
High school. The football team. Cora. Especially Cora.
As I looked at her now, I couldn’t help remembering what we used to get up to.
A very vivid image surfaced—us tangled in the backseat of my pickup—and I swallowed hard, pushing it away.
That was a long time ago.
And we weren’t those kids anymore.
I rubbed my eyes, taking a break from staring at my emails.
There were still a million things to do to get Elixir Free off the ground—besides the work Cora and her team were doing—and every time I responded to an email, five more appeared in my inbox.
I leaned back in my chair, staring out across the city, wondering if I’d made a mistake agreeing to help with the reunion.
I really didn’t have time for it. But it was too late now.
I couldn’t back out on Cora. My phone buzzed, and I pulled it from my pocket, finding an all-caps Snug message from Vincent.
@AidenC IT’S HAPPENING!!?!?!!!
@VinForde What’s happening?
@AidenC THE BABY!
I perked up, replying so quickly the words were hardly legible at first. Thank God for autocorrect. @VinForde Holy shit! What can I do? What do you need?
@AidenC Rally the guys. We’re already at the hospital. I’m gonna be a freaking dad!
@VinForde What hospital?
@AidenC Lenox Hill.
I grinned down at his response and sent him a thumbs-up, immediately dialing Trent.
He picked up on the third ring. “If you try to sell me on the strippers one more time—”
“No time for that,” I interrupted. “Baby’s coming.”
“What?”
“Piper’s in labor.”
“Oh!” Trent said. “That’s…Wait, did I miss a message in the group chat?”
“No. I just got a Snug message from Vincent. They’re at Lenox Hill. Told him I’d rally the group. Can you get a hold of Paul and Chloe? I’m gonna go grab Dominic. He’s got Hailey here with him today, but that should be fine. Kids like hospitals, right?”
Trent laughed. “I mean…she’ll probably be bored as hell if this is a long labor. But I’ll see you guys there.”
“Yeah, see you soon.” I hung up, grabbed my things, and hurried out of my office, calling over my shoulder for Connie to push the rest of my meetings today.
By the time I’d rounded up Dominic and Hailey and gotten us to the hospital, it was almost an hour later.
We walked into the waiting room, Hailey running ahead with a CONGRATULATIONS balloon I doubted she’d want to hand over to the new baby when the time came.
“Uncle Trent!” she cried, running up to him. “Look at my balloon!”
“Wow! That is so cool!”
“Uh-huh,” she said, getting distracted by a TV mounted on the wall. It played some cartoon with dogs, and Hailey ran over, parking herself in a chair in front of it.
“Perfect,” Dominic said, watching her.
“How’s it going?” I asked Trent.
“Well,” he said. “Vincent keeps running out here to update me. So far, Piper’s eaten some ice chips and threatened to chop his balls off. That led to him terrorizing the nurses until they got the anesthesiologist up here to do the epidural.”
Dominic laughed. “This all sounds so familiar.”
It had been over four years since we’d rallied together for Hailey’s birth. I still remembered getting that three-in-the-morning phone call. At least this baby had the decency to wait until regular business hours. “Did they say how far along she is?” I asked.
Trent shrugged. “Like six centimeters?”
I had no idea what that meant in terms of timing. We glanced at Dominic—the only one who’d been paying attention when we’d gone through this before. “Hard to know,” he said. “Hailey came really quickly, remember? Amanda didn’t even have time for an epidural.”
I winced. Dominic was right.
“And this is Piper’s first,” Dominic continued. “Could be a couple hours. Could be much longer.”
A door flew open at the side of the waiting room. Vincent appeared, looking frazzled. He glanced around, spotting us. “Eight centimeters,” he yelled. “Eight!” He gave us a giddy little smile before disappearing back through the door.
“Okay then,” Dominic said. “I’d say this baby is showing up this afternoon.”
I chuckled. Vincent’s whole life was about to change, and I couldn’t have been happier for him.
“Did we miss it?”
I turned around, spotting Chloe practically dragging Paul down the hallway.
Trent shook his head. “Just in time, probably. Piper’s at eight centimeters.”
Chloe squealed and squeezed Paul’s hand before going over to say hi to Hailey.
Over the next couple of hours, we paced the waiting room, talked about new, potentially baby-friendly ideas for Vincent’s bachelor party, and took turns entertaining Hailey until she passed out on a chair to the lullaby of a bunch of cartoon dogs serenading her on TV.
As we waited, groups came and went from the waiting room.
Healthcare workers cut through on their way to and from their shifts.
Proud parents emerged to update elated family members.
Every time the door opened, my pulse skyrocketed.
Geez, this wasn’t even my baby, and my heart was racing.
I glanced over at Hailey, remembering how excited I’d been when she was born and how tiny she’d been in my hands when I’d held her for the first time.
Finally, the side door opened again, and Vincent stood there, clad in one of those disposable hospital gowns. He beamed, his eyes glassy. “I’m a dad,” he said, his voice thready, like he was on the verge of tears.
I jumped to my feet, walked over, and dragged him into a hug. “Congrats, man!” As soon as I pulled away, everyone else crowded around. Chloe gushed her congratulations, pulling Vincent into another hug.
“How’s Piper?” Trent asked, giving his shoulder a congratulatory shake.
Vincent stepped back and rubbed his face with both hands. “She’s good. She did so well. No complications.”
“That’s great news,” Paul said.
“Well…” Dominic said. “Are you gonna leave us in suspense? Or you gonna tell us what it is?”
“Oh, right!” Vincent laughed, blinking at us like the news had only now settled. “A girl. We had a baby girl.”
“I want to see the baby!” Hailey bellowed across the room, startling us since we hadn’t realized she’d woken up from her nap. She stood up on her chair, her hair stuck up in multiple different directions, the balloon now tied to her wrist.
“Me too!” Chloe said.
Vincent grinned. “Nurses said two at a time.”
Hailey jumped down from the chair and tore across the waiting room. “Me first!”