Hans calledher immediately after their meeting to confirm the logistics of a “Dimefront is officially moving operations to Denver” announcement. The two new guys—Tanner and Mach—were initiated as bandmates. Linx wasn’t sulking, Knox wasn’t complaining, and Bax didn’t look like he’d eaten a ghost.
The chat was not of the breakup variety. As Courtney had hoped, Hans worked his magic.
All in all, things looked promising for the band.
Linx even invited Bax back to the house after their studio chat. Bonus—this time he wasn’t looking at him like he was going to murder the guy in his sleep with a swizzle stick. They gathered around the kitchen island—Tanner, Mach, Bax, Knox, Linx, Becca, Courtney, and the parents (even Cherie on video call)—the marble counters and travertine tile floor a far cry from that first meeting they’d had in the garage at her parents’ old house.
“Everything okay?” Linx asked, just for her to hear.
“Uh-huh.” She pulled the photos from her purse. “Baby’s totally healthy, and we got pictures.” No one else seemed to have aholy crap, this is happeningreaction. Ah well, they weren’t the one growing this tomato plant.
“I don’t get it.” Knox picked up the photo and turned it upside down. “Where’s the kid?”
Bax pointed to the bean-shaped fleck in the center of the image. “There.”
“You sure? That looks like Courtney ate a funky-shaped gummy worm.” Knox handed the photo back. “Congrats all the same.”
The kid did kind of look like a funky-shaped gummy worm. Courtney turned the photo right side up. Yup, still gummy.
Gah, now that she’d seen it, she could not unsee it. She frowned because, damn, she didn’t really want to see it. The photo was better when the kid was just a kid.
“Have you ever seen a transvaginal internal ultrasound? Because I did today, and I did not know that was a thing.” Bax tipped back his cherry seltzer water like he was gulping beer.
Make no mistake, the other guys drank beer, her mom was drinking beer, even Bax’s mom on the iPad video call was drinking a beer. But he’d asked to have what Courtney was having.
She wasn’t sure how to feel about Bax and his seltzer. The gesture was sort of sweet, since she really couldn’t have a beer. But also kind of off because it wasn’t like they were a couple, and he’d been dishing out a whole lot of sweet lately. The kind of sweet that made sense for a girlfriend or a significant other, but not for Courtney.
So, instead of choosing one of those options, she elected to feel nothing about it and let Bax drink whatever he wanted. If that was cherry-flavored seltzer, then she’d just buy more.
“I have not seen one of those ultrasounds.” Mom held up the iPad. “Cherie, have you seen one?”
“It’s sick,” Bax said, getting animated again with that explosive energy taking over. “They just put it on up there, and then boom”—he smacked his hands together—“kid.”
“Isn’t that sort of what happened when you made the kid?” Knox asked under his breath.
Thankfully, everyone ignored him. His mom, however, looked seriously confused.
“Sick?” she asked, leaning into the camera.
“By ‘sick,’ he means ‘awesome,’” Courtney replied. “No one has an infection or anything like that.”
“I checked out car seat options today.” Bax pulled up a browser on his phone and held it up for Courtney. “Wanted to get your opinion before I make a purchase.”
She hadn’t even gotten to picking out maternity pants, and he was already at the car seat level?
“Bax.” She took the phone and thumbed through the options. “This is a little premature, don’t you think?”
“We already ordered one,” Mom said, holding up Cherie on the iPad. “Cherie and I bought it when we bought the crib.”
So they had a car seat and a crib and absolutely no maternity pants?
“Mom.” Bax leaned in so his face filled the iPad. “Wait until Courtney chooses. She has to say what she wants because, well, she’s… the mom.” He stilled. “Can I say that? You good with that?”
Courtney was having squishy inside feelings again, and warmth seemed to settle her nerves. “I am the baby’s mom, so yeah.”
She was totally having a moment here over Bax and car seats and cribs and moms overstepping and—
“Okay, good. I wasn’t sure after the entire conversation today.” He took another pull of his seltzer. “Don’t want to fuck it up again.”
