“Jacob.”
“Maybe.”
“How about Stanley?”
“Stanley Alexander,” he says, scrunching up his face like it leaves a bad taste in his mouth.“What?No.”
“Does sound kind of old, doesn’t it?”
“Sounds like the Planter’s Peanut man.All he’ll need is a monocle and a kick-me-in-the- ass sign on the playground.”
“No one’s going to do that to him.”
“They will if we name him after the peanut man.”
“Hardy har.What do you have?”
“Cassandra.We can call her Cassie for short.”
“Cassandra Alexander.It’s okay.”
“You know it’s good.I have another one.Reese.”
“Like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.”I make a face and say, “No.”
“Like Reese Witherspoon.I had a girlfriend named Reese, she was cute.”
“Hell no!We are not naming our child after any girlfriend you’ve had.That’s enough names for you, I have one.”His chest rumbles with laughter, and I push back against him.“Jace.I’ve always loved that name.Jace Alexander sounds nice, doesn’t it?”
“Jace…it doesn’t sound like an Alexander name.”
“When did you become traditional?”I turn my head to the side to look up at him.
“I can hear my dad now; he’s going to hate it.”
“No offense, but your brother is named Gage.Isn’t that an instrument?”
“Gage is his middle name.His mother wanted that name.My father wasn’t going for it, so they compromised and named him Gabriel.Gage doesn’t like it, and no one calls him by his first name.”
“Well this is not your father’s child, and I like Jace.”My phone rings and I look over at it.Oh no.I’m going to ignore it.“That’s my first choice.”
“You’re not going to answer your phone?”
“No, it’s your turn, what’s your next name?”
Dammit.He reaches over me and picks it up.
“You still talking to him?”He looks at me eyebrows raised.
“He texted me to say hi and I texted back.Nothing more.He only wanted to know how I was doing.”
“Answer it, he’s desperate.”
“I’ll call him back later or tomorrow.”
“No, talk to him now.You can tell him the good news.Here.”He swipes his thumb across the screen and hands it to me.
He can be annoying at times.I’m surprised he doesn’t insist I put it on speaker.“Hi, Matt.”
