“You got me notebooks?”
The little hitch in his voice gets me a little choked up. “Surprise.”
“When did you do this?”
“I slid them in when I left for the bakery the morning you left,” I say as I grab my best friend—also known as my pregnancy pillow. “I know you had some, but I thought you might need a few extra.”
“Gabi.” His voice is in awe as he opens the first one. “Wait. Did you…”
“Read it.”
He looks up to me, then back to the inscription, tears pooling in his eyes:
Number #35 on the roster.
Number one in our hearts.
Love, Gabrielle and Tiny Tot
“Gabi… I don’t know what to say… thank you.”
“I know it’s cheesy,” I feel myself quickly saying, but Maddox cuts me off before I can finish the thought.
“It’s perfect. You’re perfect. I love them. Thank you.”
I let his words run through me, hating that even after all these months of healing, from time to time I fall back into habits. But that’s the process, right? As long as it’s two steps forward, and only a step back every once in a while, you chalk that up as a win.
“You’re welcome.” I say, but a yawn follows right behind.
“Get some sleep,” Maddox directs.
“No I’m good.”
The second yawn I let out says otherwise.
“Get some sleep. Plus, I have a long night of notebook filling to do.”
“No weird names. And I’m not naming him Maddox Junior.”
“Noted,” he says. “But I’m going to say I love you and hang up before you realize you didn’t take Maddox the Second or Maddox 2.0 off the table.”
It takes me a second to realize what he said. “Wait. What?”
“Night, Gabrielle! Sweet dreams! Love you!”
Oh this man…
What are your feelings on alliteration?
Out of all the text messages Maddox has sent me since we met, this has to be the most random of all. And that’s saying something. Especially because it’s the second week of camp, which I’ve been told is a big week in terms of play installment. Whatever that means but yay football!
In the right scenarios, the double letters scratch the right itch in the brain.
Good. So you aren’t opposed to baby names starting with the letter G?
Are you spending your lunch break thinking of baby names?
Yes. It’s a free country and this is my free time.
