“It’s happening,” Cole says in lieu of a greeting.
“What?” I ask, squishing my phone between my shoulder and ear so I can finish getting the kitchen cleaned up after dinner.
“Riley… baby… now…” The disjointed words come out in a breathless mess.
I smile, standing upright. “Cole.”
“Yeah.”
“Take a deep breath.” The line is quiet for a minute before I hear an intake of breath followed by a slow exhale. “Again.” The pattern continues two more times. “Better?”
“A little.”
“Riley’s in labor?”
Mav appears in the kitchen as soon as the question is out of my mouth. He stares up at me with wide eyes.
“Yup.” I nod at Mav, so he knows what his dad said. I would put it on speaker, but I don’t know what the hell he’s going to say right now.
Mav starts jumping around the kitchen.
I expect Cole to give me some more information, but he’s gone quiet again. Geez, getting information out of him right now is like getting the sword out of the stone.
I’ll cut him some slack, though, because he is about to have a baby.
“Is she okay?” I press.
“I think so, yeah. Theo said she was. I’m meeting them at the hospital.”
“I know this is a lot, but you’ve done this before. Just take a deep breath and be the rock Riley’s going to need you to be.” I know he can do it because he was by my side through every contraction when I had Mav.
“You’re right,” he says with a heavy exhale.
“But Cole… I’ll be your rock when you need it through this. All you have to do is ask. Anything.”
“I love you, Abs.” The emotion in his voice is heavy. The enormity of the day is clearly weighing on him.
“I love you, too,” I tell him.
“Love you, Dad,” Mav shouts loud enough for Cole to hear him.
Now, it sounds like he really might be crying. “Tell him I love him, too.”
“Give Riley a hug for me,” Mav shouts again.
Cole’s breaths are jagged at best. I stay silent, giving him a minute to pull himself back together.
“You good?” I finally ask.
“Yeah… thanks.”
“What are best friends for?” I ask, smiling.
“Can you bring Mav to the hospital after?” he asks.
“Of course. Give Riley a hug for me, too.”
Surprisingly, Cole was the polar opposite of a mess when I had Mav. “No, he wasn’t. He was calm through all of it until you got here, and then he cried.”
