“But messing around is so much fun…”
She just shook her head, the way she did with the boys sometimes.
“I had a nice night,” he said. “A great night.”
She gave him a tender hint of a smile. “I’m glad. And me, too—mostly. It was tough, telling you about the baby…”
“But we got through it,” he reminded her.
“Yeah,” she said. “We did.”
He wanted to kiss her so bad, but the boys were waiting. The longer he put off going down there, the more likely one of them would come running back up the stairs.
He pulled open the door again, found the upstairs hall empty and stepped out of Riley’s way. She zipped out the door and into her room across the hallway.
He waited until she disappeared inside to head downstairs.
The rest of the morning went by pretty much according to the original plan. They had breakfast. They fished in the pond for a couple of hours. He cleaned the catch and put three fish in a cooler for Riley to take home.
She and Dillon left before noon. Josh stood in the gravel driveway with Shane, both of them waving as their guests drove away.
“It was fun.” Shane looked up at him, a wistful kind of look. “Fun things are always over with too fast.”
Josh nodded. “Yes, they are.”
Then Shane grinned. “But Wednesday, I get pizza for dinner.” Wednesday, he would officially be a five-year-old. “And next Saturday, I get my party at Mom’s. I can’t wait.”
Josh put his hand on Shane’s shoulder. “You think you’re going to like being five?”
Shane’s grin turned into a great, big smile. “Yes, I am! I’m going to like it a lot.”
* * *
Now she’d finally told Josh about the baby, Riley felt better about everything. She had lunch Monday with Macy. They met up at Henry’s for sandwiches.
“I’m proud of you.” Macy raised her glass of iced tea. “Here’s to you and Josh and baby makes…five? I mean, counting the boys…”
Riley leaned across their booth and spoke in a low voice so only Macy would hear. “It’s not like we’re getting married or anything.”
Macy leaned in, too. “Did I say the M word? I don’t think so.”
“Great. Just don’t. Because we’re not.”
“So you’ll be…co-parents?”
“That’s right.”
“Got it. And again, I’m glad he knows. How about Annette? Have you told her yet?”
“No. I keep meaning to, but somehow I never get the words out.”
“Are you worried about how she’ll react?”
“A little, maybe. She’s very…traditional. But I do need to tell her what’s going on. One way or another, I’m breaking the news to her this week.”
“Don’t look so grim, Rile. Annette adores you. It’s going to be fine.”
“Yeah.” She put on a bright smile. “Annette’s one of my favorite people, and she needs to know that her grandson is getting a little sister or brother.”
