Chapter 9
nine
Henry
Before I fall asleep in my seat, I text Jade to see if she’s home yet.
My phone vibrates a minute later. I slide my thumb across the bottom to start a FaceTime with her. She’s in the kitchen, eating something.
“Craving?” I ask.
“No, just hungry.” She chomps down on a chip. “You guys do know you’re crazy, right? You should’ve just waited and flown home with the team.”
“Who knows when they’re gonna leave in the morning? You should be swooning right that I’m going to these lengths to get home to you.”
“I am swooning, believe me.” She laughs.
“Hi, Daddy!” Bodhi calls in the background, then I hear the freezer shut.
“He’s still awake?” I’d assumed he’d spend the night at Jade’s parents’.
“Yeah, he really wanted to come home, but he’s hungry, so we’re having a late night snack.” She turns the phone so I can see him.
Bodhi’s in his plaid pajamas with his hair perfectly combed, which tells me he took a shower and got ready for bed, but his head never hit the pillow.
“It was a lot of excitement,” Jade says, getting closer to him. “Tell Daddy about your night. I have to get my Chapstick out of my purse.”
Bodhi doesn’t need to be asked twice before he takes the phone and positions it in front of him, spooning his ice cream.
“Uncle Waylon had us go down the stairs on pillowcases. He made a big stack of pillows at the bottom of the stairs so we’d run into them.
It was so fun! Uncle Owen pushed me one time, and I went so fast.”
“So we should be happy you didn’t break a bone?”
“There were pillows,” he says as if that makes a difference.
“I told them when this baby comes, no more horsing around like that,” Jade says from somewhere in the kitchen. “Huh.”
“What’s going on?” I ask Bodhi, since I can’t see Jade.
“What is it, Mommy?” Bodhi turns away from the phone.
“I can’t find the envelope.” She sounds frantic.
“The gender reveal envelope?” I frown.
Bodhi hops off the stool to help, leaving me with a view of neither of them. I can only hear their voices.
“No, Henry, the electric bill. Yes—the gender reveal envelope.” I hear a scattering of items hit a hard surface. She must have dumped her purse. “Where could it be? Bodhi, you don’t see it, right?”
“No,” he says.
“Bodhi, come and grab Mommy’s phone and take it over there,” I say, desperate to see what’s going on.
“Hold on.” He comes back over, turning the phone away from him.
Jade shakes her head at the mess on the kitchen table. “It’s not here. I mean, we went shopping, but I would’ve noticed it fall out when I took my wallet out my purse. I mean, Henry, it was a big envelope.”
“Do you remember the last time you saw it?” My forehead creases.
Bodhi positions the phone again and walks away, probably to eat his ice cream.
“No. I showed my mom when I got to the house after the appointment. Told her she’d find out at Christmas, when we were going to surprise them. Bodhi, you remember that, right?”
He comes into view, not really searching for the missing envelope—too distracted by his ice cream.
“Yeah. I saw it then. But I don’t see it here.
” He slides into a chair at the table. “Anyway, Daddy, Grandpa said some big school is coming to Uncle Waylon and Uncle Owen’s game after Christmas.
That if they want them, they’re going to be moving.
” He frowns and buries his head in his ice cream.
Jade ruffles his hair. “We’ll visit them, and the boys will come home if it happens. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” She shoots me a look to say it’s probably happening.
Her brothers have made a name for themselves on the hockey circuit and will most likely be going to play in college soon, which will mean a big change for Bodhi. He loves Jade’s brothers.
“Let’s wait and see what happens. No matter what, we should be happy for them. They’ve worked really hard to get that opportunity,” I say.
Bodhi doesn’t respond.
Jade sits down next to him and rests her hands on her stomach, shoulders sagging. “I lost it.”
“I’m sure we can call the office tomorrow, right? I can pick another envelope up as soon as I get back.”
She doesn’t say anything. I’m pretty sure she’s retracing her steps from today in her head. “Yeah, that’s true. It’s not the end of the world. We probably lost the ultrasound pics, but maybe they have some way of retrieving them.” She smiles at me, then looks at Bodhi. “Okay, bud, time for bed.”
He groans, but when she gives him the I’m serious look, he slides off the chair and slides up on Jade’s lap, placing his hands on her belly. I tear up from the emotional turmoil of seeing my entire world through the phone.
“I’ll be up in a minute. Say good night to Daddy,” she says.
He hugs her tightly around the neck, then leans down, pressing his lips to her belly. “Good night, baby.” Then he turns to me and picks up the phone. I’ve never wanted to reach through a screen as much as I do right now. “Love you, Daddy. See you tomorrow.”
“Night, Bodhi. I love you.”
“I know.” He passes the phone to Jade, and I hear him run through the house toward the staircase.
“You must be exhausted.” I frown.
“My ankles are swollen, and my foot massager is on a Greyhound bus.” She smiles, and it lights up every cell in me.
“He’ll be there tomorrow night, and he’ll massage more than just your feet.”
“Careful there—you’re on a bus and I heard Conor’s seatmate doesn’t like him much. Someone will think you have a foot fetish and report it to the press.”
I chuckle. “Tweetie’s seat partner has been feeding him nonstop.” I glance at my seatmate—a guy who looks as if he’d rather sew his own lips shut than speak a word to me, which is fine with me. “Go get some sleep. I’ll fill you in on when I’ll be home in the morning.”
She sighs and runs her hand over her stomach. “We love you.”
“And I love you both. Sweet dreams, baby.”
She blows me a kiss. “Only of you.”
“Better be me.”
She laughs. “Well, I will say Hayes is kind of a charmer.” She gives me a saucy grin.
“Is he now?” I arch an eyebrow.
She nods. “A little too pretty-boy for me though.”
“Aren’t I a pretty boy?”
She scoffs. “You’re a hockey player. You’re rough and tumble. You play the hardest sport.”
I seesaw my head back and forth. “Hayes is the catcher, so he’s pretty badass and tough too.”
She laughs again. “Are you trying to pawn me off on him?”
“Never. You’re mine until my last breath.”
“Better be. Good night, baby. See you in the morning. Safe travels.”
“Love you, Jade.” I hang up reluctantly, keeping my AirPods in and turning on some music.
Three hours later, I wake to Tweetie tapping me on the shoulder.
I pull out my AirPods. “What?”
“I clogged the toilet,” he says, eyes wide.
I bolt up. “You what?”
Conor must’ve heard because he turns around in his seat to face us.
“What is going on?” Rowan leans in.
I squeeze the bridge of my nose. “Tweetie clogged the toilet.”
We all file toward the bathroom.
“Only one at a time,” the driver calls back to us.
Rowan looks at me, and we both nod. He heads to the front. I open the door, and sure enough, water is about to tip over the rim.
“Fuck, Tweetie,” I say.
“I couldn’t help it. I don’t know what was in that food. It was great, but it messed with my stomach.”
Conor shakes his head. “This is your problem.”
Rowan walks back down the aisle toward us. “They have to stop the bus at the next station. And this is going to delay”—he looks around—“everyone.”
“Seriously, man.” Conor shakes his head.
Tweetie continues to make excuses as we all sit down.
The driver makes an announcement over the speaker, and everyone from our rows turns to look at Tweetie because they know it was him.
His seatmate pulls out a container of cookies and Tweetie actually takes one, but Conor slides over and knocks the cookie out of his hand. “He’s good, but thank you, ma’am.”
Tweetie narrows his eyes at Conor. “I’m not a child.”
“You’re acting like one.”
Rowan sticks his head between their seats. “Stop it, guys, we need to figure out a step two.”
I rock my head back. I’m starting to think Jade was right. We should’ve waited until the morning.