“I thought you were asleep,” I say, lifting my arm so she can cuddle into me.
“I was, but Little Bean is sitting on my bladder.”
“Go pee then, goofball.”
“I will in a minute,” she sighs, snuggling impossibly closer.
“Now that we know Little Bean is a girl, we should probably start thinking more seriously about names. I like Summer.”
“She’s gonna be born while it’s still summer. That’s too on the nose, even for me. What about Seraphina?”
“Oh, like that ballerina we saw in The Nutcracker when we visited San Francisco? That’s a good one.”
“It doesn’t have to be an ‘S’ name, you know. Me, you and Sadie all have nature-y names. We could go with a flower.”
“Rose?”
“Nah. Lily?”
“Nope. Violet?”
“That’s a maybe. Iris?”
“Oh no. I had a one-night stand with an Iris in Chicago that did not end well.”
“Ugh, definitely not Iris then.” Delilah rolls out of bed and I can’t tear my eyes off her as she waddlestowards the bathroom. “You keep thinking, I’m gonna pee.”
“Beans grow on plants. Maybe we just commit to calling her Little Bean and call it a day?”
Something heavy hits the closed bathroom door, but I can hear Delilah’s musical laugh carrying through all the same.
My phone dings and I open it to another text from Dottie.
Dottie Lynn:
Phase Four of Operation Goodbye Earl is a-go. James has everything he needs. He can be here in two weeks.
Ivy:
Hell yeah. Let’s take this mother fucker down once and for all.
On the morningof Phase Four, I do my best to keep my cool even though I am buzzing with nervous anticipation. Dottie swore that her friend James has the entire situation under control and in the unlikely scenario that the plan doesn’t work, he won’t allow the blame to fall back on me and Delilah.
Still, I can’t help but wonder if we’ve taken this revenge plan too far. Not because I give a shit aboutwhat happens to Earl. He can eat poisoned black-eyed peas and die for all I care, but because Leonard told us specifically to stop with the petty revenge schemes at least until after the custody and divorce situations are settled.
Fucking with Earl’s hair is one thing, but if we get caught trying to pull off today’s plan, we might actually risk losing this beautiful little life we’ve been building for ourselves.
But Delilah is excited, and she believes in the man with the plan whole-heartedly, so I keep my anxieties to myself. Like any other Wednesday, I woke Delilah up by licking an orgasm out of her and that happily sat on her face while she returned the favor. Then I came downstairs and got started on breakfast while she showered and woke Sadie up. With only a few weeks left until school starts again, Sadie’s summer activities have dwindled to a close, so after breakfast Suzanne picked her up and took her to Knoxville to shop for new school clothes.
Stephen and his team are deep into the construction of the nursery now, so the house is noisy and filled with working people every day. Even the backyard is rendered useless while the guys and gals tear down and rebuild the fence (and the treehouse that Sadie sweet talked her uncle into building). Usually, Delilah and I take a morning walk around theneighborhood before it gets too hot and then head to Miss Pattie’s for iced coffees and pastries before getting any tattooing or jam-making done and taking Sadie to the local pool to cool down in the afternoon.
But today, the two of us sit at the kitchen table, adding to the list of potential baby names and waiting for the arrival of our guest while drills whirl and hammers bang in the background.
“Juniper?” I ask, scrolling through the list of names on my tablet.
“I still like that one. Keep it for now.”
I nod and scroll.
