By knocking down the wall, we’d expanded the kitchen and display to almost double, having plenty of time and room to prepare for what we knew would be our busiest days. I took my wife’s suggestion and put a couple of tables in, but we weren’t a café, at least not now. Hey, Batter still got shout-outs on social media from time to time, and thankfully now that I’d staffed up, it wasn’t the working-all-night panic it used to be.
“There they are!” Javier’s head whipped around to his mother’s voice. He let out a squeal as she made her way over to him and scooped him out of my arms. He kicked against her stomach while she dropped kisses over his chubby cheeks. “My favorite boys in the whole world.”
“One of your favorite boys is waiting for a kiss. My son stole them all.”
She laughed as she leaned in to peck my lips. “I always have kisses for you.” She kissed me again until Javier stirred in her arms, probably annoyed at having to share attention.
That came from his mother.
“How did everything go?” I asked. She didn’t answer as she cooed into Javier’s neck. “Olivia?”
“What? Oh, fine.” Her smile was tight and fake as she looked back at our son.
“I heard he was here!” Tegan rushed over to us, peeling her jacket off and holding out her hands. “Can I take him?”
Tegan was familiar enough to Javier for him to lean into her without much hesitation.
“Actually, can you watch him for a minute?” I asked Tegan while still eyeing my wife. “I’ll be right out.”
“Sure,” she chirped as she tickled his side. Javier was too focused on the new ring in her nose to laugh, and I hoped he wouldn’t rip it out before I got to the bottom of why Olivia was acting so weird.
I took Olivia’s hand and pulled her to the back room.
“Okay, what’s going on?” I folded my arms and leaned against the counter.
“I wanted to wait until you got home.”
“Well, you can’t now. Did they find anything wrong?”
“No, nothing like that.” She shook her head. “Not really.”
“Start making sense, Sanchez. You’re making me nervous.”
She inhaled a long breath, letting it out slowly as she met my gaze. “Remember that romantic weekend when our mothers took care of the baby? We booked that suite in the Poconos with the cheesy champagne glass bathtub and had so much sex that I had to sit on a pillow on the drive home?”
I looked around, something I should have done earlier to make sure we were alone, before I nodded.
“And since I’m still weaning Javi off breastfeeding, the chances of me getting pregnant again, combined with my age, were probably slim?”
“Yes. And?”
“And do you not see where I’m going with this?”
It took a few seconds for realization to spread through me and anchor me to the counter. “You’re…”
“Pregnant, yes. Our babies will be less than two years apart and will have overlapping diaper time.” She inched toward me. “I didn’t want to freak you out at work.”
“I’m not freaked out.”
“You’re not blinking either.”
“I’m just…” I ran a hand through my hair. “I’m surprised, that’s all. I wouldn’t want you to wait to tell me something like this.”
“I told you right here the last time.” A smile danced across her lips. “You handled it well then too.”
I brought her into my arms. “Because it’s not bad news. It’s a—”
“Surprise, yes. And I’ll need more tests since I’m older. But the good news is we’ll know the sex with total certainty since I have to take a genetic blood test. And I think it’s a girl. Just a hunch.”
