“Too much information,” I blurt out and cover my ears.
“I can’t be.”
“You can be,” I argue. There’s a storm brewing in her big brown eyes as hope and fear swirl behind them.
“I have a test upstairs,” she explains. “I bought a bunch.”
“Okay then.”
The front door opens suddenly and Devin walks in with a pint-sized version of himself. “Hey Rue,” he says, sniffing deeply. “Something smells incredible.”
“I…” Callie’s face is still a swirl of emotions and Devin takes it in and looks instantly concerned. She tries to smile down at Conner. “Hey, Con! How was hockey?”
“It was awesome. I scored,” he announces and then turns his attention to me. “Do you play?”
“Yep. With your dad. I’m Alex,” I say and he extends his little hand. I want to laugh but I don’t want to offend him so I extend mine and we shake.
“Nice to meet ya. I’m gonna play with my iPad now.”
He marches to the back of the house and I watch him go in amusement. Devin is looking at Callie. “You okay? You don’t look it.”
Callie smiles. “Fine. I’m just going to run upstairs for a second. If the oven dings take out the lasagna okay?”
She charges up the stairs. I follow Devin into the kitchen again. He sees the wine and heads to the cupboard to grab another glass. “Should I be worried about her?”
“I think she’s just trying to figure out if she has the flu,” I explain as he pours himself a glass.
“That bug is back? Damn.” He shakes his head. “I’m going to make her go to the doctor this time. She hates doctors but I’ll carry her there if I have to.”
“Devin,” I say his name and he looks up at me. “You’ve been through this before. How are you not getting it?”
And then he gets it. Instantly. “No. She’s…?”
I shrug but nod because if I had to bet I’d bet yes. He puts his glass down on the counter again and his eyes shift toward the family room, where Conner is and back. “With Ashleigh we had to try forever. But Callie and I…we were just going to see what happens.”
“Babies.” I grin at him because he’s a doofus right now. “Babies are what happens, Captain.”
“I have to go check on her,” he whispers, his voice excited and a giant smile spread across his face. “We were going to start trying the minute we got married but decided to wait to make sure Conner was settling into the stepmom thing and then she didn’t want to be pregnant for Jessie’s wedding and well, now I guess maybe she’ll be pregnant for Rose’s.”
He moves toward the hall, but the oven beeps so first he pulls a bubbling, hot, gooey, delicious-looking lasagna out and places it on top of the stove. It smells so freaking good I already regret the next words that are about to come out of my mouth. “Is it okay if I bail on dinner?”
He’s making his way toward the hallway again, to head upstairs and check on Callie, but he stops and gives me a remorseful smile. “You don’t have to.”
“Dude, this is a family moment.” I tell him what I know he already knows. “It’s fine. Tell Callie I’ll take a rain check on that lasagna.”
I walk to the family room archway, lean in and ruffle Conner’s wheat-colored hair. “Nice meeting you, hockey star. See you soon.”
“Bye, Alex who plays with my dad,” he says, eyes never leaving the iPad in front of him. He’s got some game going with loud, annoying music.
I walk to the front hall with Devin and grab my coat off the banister. Devin still looks remorseful. “Call Luc and Rosie. They’re just down the street and they’re always up for guests.”
“Maybe.”
“Devin!” Callie’s voice sounds urgent as she calls his name from somewhere upstairs.
I smile as the excitement in his eyes grows. I remember Jordan telling me years ago how badly Devin wanted to be a dad. How excited he was when Conner was born. “Go. And Devin,” I pause as he stops two stairs up and looks back at me. “I hope you knocked her up.”
He grins. “I hope I did too.”
