“Shit, Pinkie, calm the fuck down,” Rowan says. “You’ll wake the guys next door and we’re here, so we might as well win this game tonight.”
“True. Okay, I’m napping.”
“And there go the pants,” Rowan says.
“Night night time, Ky, time to kiss and hang up,” Conor shouts from what sounds like the other side of the room.
“Take a picture for me? Something for me to look forward to coming home,” Rowan says.
“Sure, what do you want?”
“You holding Parker in our bed?”
“Done.”
“Thanks.” I hear the smile in his voice.
“Say bye bye now,” Conor says.
“I love you,” Rowan whispers. “Don’t forget my surprise.”
“Fucking hell,” Conor yells.
“I love you. Good luck tonight. We’ll be watching.”
We hang up and I hold the phone to my chest for a second, knowing at some point in the middle of the night, I’ll be in Rowan’s arms.
My phone vibrates again, this time with Eloise’s name.
I slide my thumb over. “Hey, you.”
“I’m personally offended you didn’t answer for me, but you did for her,” Jade says in the background. Clearly, I’m on speaker.
I could tell them what I just found out. Say I’m processing, I’m freaking out, I’m about to have a mental breakdown.
“Have you gotten your hubby a gift yet? We’re thinking retail therapy is in order and maybe Peeper’s after,” Eloise asks.
She sounds happy. That has to be a good thing, right?
I think about Parker in the other room, asleep, and run through my list of options for a babysitter. “Let me see who I can find for Parker.”
“It’s already been taken care of. We’ll meet you at my parents’,” Jade says.
“Really?” A smile forms on my face.
Reed and Victoria have become the street babysitters for all of us.
“Call us your fairy godmothers for the day. We’re on our way, so get some stain-free clothes on. Girls’ day out,” Jade says.
The phone clicks, and I shake my head.
The test in the bathroom grabs my attention again, those two pink lines vivid in my mind as though they were in neon. But all the unanswered questions and concerns will still be there after a day with the girls.
So I do what my friends suggest. I take off my stained sweats and sweatshirt, fixing myself to be as presentable as a mother with a young baby can be.
Then I do what no one would ever suggest, and I wake my sleeping baby.
“You’ll have fun with your friends,” I say to myself as guilt rips through me. I should be loving being a mom, not be in need of a girls’ day out.
