He rubbed my back with his hands and held me close. “Good job playing it cool,” he murmured against my hair.
I pulled back and scowled at him. “It’s so weird because I’m so good at everything else.”
He laughed a real, deep, lovely sound. “I know. I love it. I’ve never seen you do something so badly before. It’s the best gift I think you could have ever given me.”
“We should tell them, yeah?”
He nodded. “Sure. As soon as you’re ready.”
A spiraling feeling of dread brought out goose bumps all over my skin. “Let’s just not like... I don’t want to overshadow the baby or anything. We’ll just let it simmer for a bit. We can tell them...”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he reminded me. “You’re not going to get out of this because you think we’ll break up and you’ll be able to avoid the whole conversation.”
“No, yeah, I know.” I was really bad at lying.I mean, gosh, Ada, can’t you tell just one little half truth?For Pete’s sake.
“You sound really confident.”
I kissed him. It was the fastest way to shut him up.
When I pulled away, he held my hands, reluctant to let me go. “Want to ride to the hospital together? Either tonight after work or tomorrow morning?”
“You’ll have to spend the night then, probably,” I said, sounding thoughtful. “I mean, it only makes sense.”
He nodded, blinding me with his full breathtaking smile. “You’re right. It does make sense.”
When I turned around to track down Eliza again and actually do work this time, he slapped my ass so loudly the sound reverberated through the bar. Or at least it felt like it did.
I screamed a sound I was not proud of.
“Charlie!”
He just kept smiling.
I would have his handprint on my butt for a week, which was probably what he wanted.
The baby arrived a little after midnight. We got the text along with a squishy-faced picture of an adorable baby girl named Eloise Edison English.
The alliteration was a little much for me, but it was cute that they’d named the baby after Lola’s brother.
We’d celebrated at Craft with a free round of champagne for everyone. And we’d all taken a moment as a staff to toast the happy family in the kitchen.
Eliza had been hanging around so we could celebrate together, but as soon as the baby was announced, she took off for the hospital. Will had mentioned they’d hoped for privacy for a while. But Lola’s family was basically circling the birthing suite like vultures at this point, so Eliza planned to sneak in with them.
Charlie and I closed down the bar together. We’d really become the best team Craft had. I wasn’t sure Will and Eliza had noticed. But we’d gotten so good at closing together that they'd stopped sticking around for it.
So even though they didn't notice how good we were at our jobs, the fact that they could spend so much time with their significant others was proof enough for me.
“Maybe you should text Will before we head up. It’s super late,” I suggested as I climbed onto the back of Charlie’s vintage motorcycle. I’d only been on the back of this thing a couple of times, but I knew it was special to him. And one of the only things his dad had left him that he actually liked.
Aside from the money for the bar.
“I already did,” Charlie said, handing me a helmet. “He asked me to bring him food.”
Ah. The packed saddlebag with sandwiches, sides, and a bottle of whiskey made sense now.
The hospital was quiet when we arrived. Visiting hours were definitely over. But leave it to Charlie to charm the night nurse at the reception desk and get us a badge. He also handed over one of Case’s gourmet sandwiches. So that helped.
We crept through the sleeping maternity ward with quiet nurses tiptoeing from room to room only to find Lola’s suite alive with activity. Her brother was there along with Eliza. Her dad was tucked into a chair in the corner, snoring. But the lights were on, and Lola was wide awake with Will at her side holding baby Eloise.
