We went through every room in my house. She got pictures and took notes. Then she left so she could start working out all of the ideas she had in her mind.
Later that day, I met up with Beaux to eat. After we exchanged dap and sat down, he started with his questions.
“How’s the off-season going? You resting, or you busy running behind your baby’s mom?”
“I’m not running behind Ryann. I know this because she was getting on me the other day about how I stopped showing up for her.”
“Did you stop showing up for her?” He didn’t bother looking up from the menu. He kept perusing the selections while he confronted me with a casualness that annoyed me.
Sometimes I hated how laidback Beaux could be. “Uhm?—”
He cut me off. “You’re taking too long to respond. So, basically, yeah. Why’d you stop showing up?” He finally looked up from the menu.
I held his gaze. “I wasn’t necessarily trying to stop showing up for her. I was trying to fall back.”
“Why? When we chopped it up in South Carolina, I thought we established that she had your nose wide open.”
“Fuck you.” I chuckled. Before I could say more, the waitress appeared to take our orders.
He continued once the waitress walked away. “You feeling spooked?”
“Nah. I actually overheard a conversation between her and her dad. She thought I was asleep, but I wasn’t.”
“Was Mr. Upton talking shit?”
I told him what I’d heard him say.
“You think he’s right?”
“He could be,” I admitted. “I know Ryann fucks with me physically. I mean…” I gestured up and down myself.
“Facts. You’re not as fucking jaw-dropping as I am, but we favor. You’re not a completely ugly ass dude.”
We both laughed.
“But other than that,” I continued. “She’s pregnant and before that she was on a shitload of hormone pills. She doesn’t know if she’s coming or going. She’s probably feeling vulnerable and a whole lot of other emotions. I can’t take the fact that she likes me holding her while she sleeps or that she likes receiving my massages as proof that she’s into me. Who’s to say that she’ll want something more than just raising this baby with me once her hormones settle and she’s no longer pregnant? I don’t think now is the appropriate time to ask her for a commitment.”
“Bruh, she’s pregnant. She hasn’t suffered a traumatic brain injury. Fuck are you talking about? Of course her hormones are raging, but that doesn’t stop her from knowing if she wants a relationship with you. If you’re too pussy to ask her, just say that.”
“You’re always talking shit.”
“You just hate it when I’m right.”
I didn’t respond to his irritating ass for a minute. “Yo, we did the ultrasound yesterday. We found out the gender.”
“Straight up? What’re we having? Am I getting season tickets to take my little nephew to football games, or am I getting a shotgun to keep YNs off my little niece?”
I snickered. “Make sure your FOID card is registered with the state of Illinois.”
His face broke out into a huge grin. “Get the fuck outta here! A princess niece, just like we talked about. Aww shit. Her and Giselle are about to be keeping their big unc on his toes. Congratulations, bruh.”
“Thanks, man.”
We stood up and exchanged hugs and dapped.
“Damn, it’s really getting real. You’re about to be a father, son.”
“I know.”
