And I missed you then too.
You’re too much.
You love me.
I do. Wait. I didn’t think I was going to get to talk to you until tonight?
We’re finishing up lunch. I only have a few minutes before I have to go back to playing football. Blah.
Don’t pretend you aren’t having a blast. You were a kid skipping out of the apartment today on his first day of school.
You’re right. I am. There’s an energy here today. Everyone came to camp in amazing shape and ready to go. I can’t describe it. And it’s not because we won last year. It’s something different. I have a good feeling about this year.
I love that for you. And the Fury.
Thanks. Doesn’t hurt knowing that you’re going to be in the stands this year.
Pregnant as hell scarfing down nachos.
So fucking hot.
Go back to playing football with your friends. Be safe. Love you.
Love you too.
The smile on my face is ear to ear as I set down the phone, doing my best to try and get comfortable on the stool that I now use every day when I bake. I mean, what’s there not to smile about? My pregnancy has been as smooth as it can be, despitethe early sickness I felt in the first trimester. We have the keys to the new house and move in is going to happen once Maddox gets back from camp. And the best news that I didn’t think I’d be as excited about but I am? Beau forcing me to hire that second baker. Josie—a.k.a. my angel—has become my godsend. Not just for her baking skills. But because she asked to work the four a.m. shift.
I love her almost as much as I love Maddox and these brownies.
“What’s the pregnancy craving of the day?” Josie asks as she tosses her apron into the laundry hamper I keep near the office. “Oh! Brownies!”
“Not just any brownies,” I say, holding up my piping bag so I can give her a little taste of the drizzle. “Chocolate peanut butter brownies.”
She takes a lick of the peanut butter sauce off her finger and the sound she makes is one I hope all women in their lifetime make—but not from brownies. “Those are fucking amazing.”
“Why thank you,” I say as I set them aside. “You taking off?”
“If that’s okay?” she asks. “I’d like to run a few errands before school pickup.”
“Absolutely,” I say as I wave her away. “And you’re one thousand percent, absolutely sure, you’re good with coming in at four each weekday?”
“Are you kidding me? It’s the best schedule I could ask for,” she says as she digs for her keys out of her massive purse. How she doesn’t lose them in there I have no idea. “It helps me get my eight-year-old to bed at a decent hour, especially with summer coming to an end. And since I live with my mom, I won’t feel guilty about not being there for the mornings and I’m back in plenty of time to pick him up. It’s wins all around.”
“I’m glad,” I say as one of my favorite songs of all time comes on over the Bluetooth speaker. That’s the other greatthing about Josie—we share the same musical tastes. She might be a few years younger than me, but it’s nice to have someone who appreciates my millennial music. It makes for fun mornings when I get in around nine and we have a few hours baking away together. “Again, I know I’ve thanked you?—”
She holds up a hand. “I should be thanking you. Seriously. I was suffering at my last job waiting tables. The schedule sucked and the money was worse. Being able to do a job I love and not feel like I’m the worst mom in the world? It’s more than I could ever ask for.”
“Damnit Josie,” I say, wiping a tear away. “You know I’m not stable enough for words like that.”
“Sorry boss,” she says, walking behind me and giving me a small hug. “I’ll leave now so you can stop crying.”
“I appreciate it.”
I turn my attention back to the brownies, which are ready to be cut and plated, as another one of my favorite songs comes on. My playlist isn’t missing today. Before I realize what I’m doing, I hear myself singing along. Not loud. The walls aren’t that thick and I’d hate to interrupt anyone’s experience with my renditions of 2000s pop ballads. But how loudly I’m singing isn’t the point. It’s that I am.
Because I’m happy. Happier than maybe I’ve ever been in my life.
I stand up to get a better angle to slice into the brownies when my phone vibrates on the counter.
