After thanking his brother again, he went inside and grabbed two coffees. He didn’t have a text update from Rachel, but he still took the more direct route back to Labour & Delivery—until he spotted Kerry sitting at a table in a nook, halfway down an empty hallway. She was nursing a coffee of her own.
He stopped in front of her. “Can I join you?”
She gestured to one of the chairs. “Be my guest. I just got off the phone with the charge nurse upstairs. She says Becca’s having a cat nap.” She beamed at him. “She’s progressing well. The baby will be here by morning.”
“I just promised my brothers that, so that’s good to hear.”
“Everyone’s excited.”
Everyonewasexcited, even him. Especially him. But Owen also felt alone in his worry. Rachel had shared it in the early days, but then she’d gotten on board and was Team Baby the whole way. Why hadn’t Owen been Team Baby?
Because he’d been Team Great Bachelor Plans, and full of resentment.Resentment and worry took up a lot of space inside a human body, even one as big as his.
Kerry tipped her coffee cup at him. “How are you doing?”
“Hanging in there.” He shrugged. “You know.”
She shook her head. “I don’t.” He blinked in surprise, and she smiled. “Why don’t you tell me?”
Emotion clogged in his throat. “Uh…”
“Come on, Owen,” she said softly. Teasing. “Don’t be a Neanderthal.”
He grunted for effect, then shrugged again. “I think I worry too much. I’m excited, of course I am, but I’m scared for her, too.”
“She’s a rockstar.”
“They’re so young.” It wasn’t anything he hadn’t said before, but this time it sounded to his own ears like more of a confessional moment.
Which meant, of course, that Kerry’s pager had to go off in that moment. She glanced at it, then stood up. “She’s awake again, let’s go.”
His heart pounded in his chest as he grabbed the coffee cups.
“I like the labour playlist, by the way,” Kerry said as they got on the elevator. “I’m guessing the old school country songs are your influence?”
“She was humouring her old man. Besides, it’s so easy now. Any song you want at the touch of a button, so I think the playlist is like ten hours long. Once upon a time, I agonized over the exact number of songs to fit into—”
“Forty-five minutes per side?” Kerry’s eyes twinkled.
“Surely mixed tapes were before your time.”
“Not at all.” The corners of her mouth turned up. “When I was little, my best friend and I would record our favourite songs off the top forty show every week.”
Owen chuckled. “That takes me back. Listening for just the right moment.”
“Had to catch the start of the song thesecondthe intro stopped!”
“It took me weeks to get the perfect recording of ‘Tears in Heaven’.”
“For me it wasLivin’ la Vida Loca.” Kerry sighed happily. “I had the biggest crush on Ricky Martin.”
The elevator stopped and the doors opened with a soft ding. At the entrance to Labour and Delivery, Owen stopped Kerry and handed her the second coffee. “Can you give this to Rachel?”
“You aren’t coming in?”
“There are a lot of… The two people rule…”
Kerry glanced over at the nursing station, then back at Owen. She stepped in close and lowered her voice. “It’s a big room, and most of the time, I’m the only one around. Nobody will kick you out. If Becca wants all three of you in there, it’s fine by me.”
