“Because they cost five thousand dollars?”
“Oh, right. That would be why. Yeah, no, I’ll come out to you.”
“Do you want me to just run by and pick you up?” Raven asked.
He put on a soft pair of super loose pants, laughing softly as the first contraction hit him, and he hummed through it.
His baby was coming.
“Surely Laird will actually get his head out of his ass in order to drive me. I think he’ll be fine. I think he’s just a little stunned. Maybe he’s cleaning right now as we speak, mopping the floor.”
Raven cracked up. “You’re adorable. Does Laird know how to mop?”
“Oh, I’ve seen him mop up blood all over the place. He’s really good at cleaning. They teach them that at EMT school.”
“Oh, neat. Well, that will also serve him well in physio, right? There’s some goo involved in that.”
“There can be, for sure.” Devon had already packed his go-bag, so he just grabbed it and put it on top of the bed so Laird would remember it. Then he sat for a moment, because he was breathing hard.
“Okay, well keep me informed via text and call me if anything changes. When you’re ready for me to meet you at the birthing center, if I’m not still here, I’ll come on.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He grinned because Raven was always so calm and controlled about everything, and it made it easier to just take a deep breath and remember that this was going to take a while. “I’ll be a couple of hours, for sure. I can let myself in.”
It was his building after all.
He didn’t bother to go back downstairs in any sort of hurry. It was kind of nice to just sit for a second, experience this, and think about things.
Things like he needed to make sure that everything was put together in the nursery.
Devon frowned and headed in to look, stopping in the hallway to breathe through a contraction for a minute, and then going to check his supplies.
He had everything he could think of—a diaper service, all things ready for the little one to come home. Rows and rows and rows of little socks, bibs, onesies. A teeny tiny pair of jeans.
The bed was ready.
The bassinet, on its rollers, was ready to come back and forth from their bedroom.
He even had a swing.
This was a perfect place to raise his son. He wiped off a smudge on the switch plate on the wall with his shirt.
Then he went to straighten a picture.
By the time Laird found him, he was sitting in front of the changing table, counting diapers. It was imperative to be sure they had enough diapers and covers to make it through the first few days of their little one being home.
“Babe, what are you doing?”
He shrugged. “I’m just messing with things. I want to make sure everything looks good. Did you get everything cleaned up downstairs?”
“Yeah…” Laird blinked at him. “Seriously, what are you doing?”
“I’m getting things ready for the baby.” Surely that was obvious.
“Are you figuring this is the appropriate time?”
“When is abetter time? By the time we come home? There’s going to be a baby.”
“I mean, it just seems like—” Laird shook his head. “You know what? Whatever makes you happy. Do you want some help?”
