“You look gorgeous. Radiant. Fucking pomegranate lotus time.”
Shiloh laughed.
Erin had picked Junie up and was holding her on her hip. “How are you feeling, Mrs. Cass?”
“Oh mygosh,Shiloh.” Ms. Grand—Rachel—an English teacher who helped with productions, was standing on the stage. “You look like you’re about to pop.”
“I feel like Violet Beauregarde.”
“I wasn’t even mobile at forty weeks,” Rachel said.
“I’m mobile,” Shiloh said. “I have a team of people who roll me around.”
“Mr. Cass?!” A woman was shouting from backstage. She walked out of the wing. It was Mrs. H, the music director. “Oh, hi, Shiloh.”
“Hi, Naomi.”
“Mr. Cass, when you get a second, we have a trumpet situation.”
“If it’s urgent,” Ryan said, “call 911. Otherwise I’ll see you in fifteen.” He turned to Shiloh. “You want to sit down for a minute?”
She nodded. Ryan grabbed Junie and led Shiloh out to the front lobby, where they could sit and talk while he ate the burrito they’d brought for him.
They were only interrupted twice—by Kelly and Steph, the drama moms who ran the concession stands, and by Cassie, the high school senior who was playing Dorothy.
“Daddy’s sobusy,” Junie said, sighing. Shiloh and Ryan laughed. Everything she said cracked them up. (According to Erin, a preschool teacher, Juniper was very advanced, both verbally and socially.)
Ryan finished his burrito, then rubbed Shiloh’s shoulders and neck for a few minutes. “You want to stay for the show?”
“I can’t sit that long,” Shiloh said.
He kissed her, still rubbing her neck. “Okay.”
“I get kisses, too!” Junie said.
“Yeah, you do!” Ryan scooped her up and kissed her neck like Cookie Monster. “Take care of Mommy. She’s about to do something magical.”
Junie’s eyes got big. “What?”
“Have a baby!”
“Oh,that,” Junie said.
Shiloh and Ryan laughed again.
Ryan kissed Shiloh’s cheek. “Love you.”
“Love you, too. Have a good show.”
Shiloh took Junie home and went into labor the next night, without any help.
Ryan always kept his phone in his pocket and slept with it on his bedside table. If he was texting someone when Shiloh walked up to him, he’d put his phone away and give her his full attention. If he wanted Shiloh to see a photo, he’d send it to her.
A few days after Gus was born, Ryan left his phone on the couch while he ran into the bathroom to help Junie.
Shiloh picked it up.
Shiloh would have guessed it was Mrs. H, the music director. But it was actually Ms. Grand, the English teacher. And Erin, his former student. (A recent development, he assured her.) And Kelly, the prettier of the drama moms—but only via text.
