“Can I help you find something, sir?”
Baz didn’t bother to look up when he responded to the polite young woman who was just doing her job. “I … uh … don’t know which one I need.”
She stepped forward. “They’re all pretty much the same. Some have clearer readouts than others.”
He glanced over, his gaze dropping to her name tag. Karen Burke, pharmacist, it read.
“I guess we want the one that’ll tell us the truth,” he muttered, shifting his attention back to the variety of rectangle boxes in several different colors.
“Then I think this one’s exactly what you need.” She chuckled, reached forward, and grabbed a box. She tucked it in his hand and then turned him toward the front.
Half an hour later, after sneaking back and grabbing two more different ones to go with the pharmacist’s suggestion—one could never be too prepared—Baz was standing beside JJ at the bathroom counter, staring down at the little stick she’d peed on.
He had bought three different ones, not sure why. JJ had picked the digital one the pharmacist recommended, and he was grateful for that because it dumbed it down for him. The little countdown window was one bar away from complete, and his breath was already wedged in his lungs as he waited for the screen readout.
“What does it say?” JJ asked.
He glanced over, noticed she was covering her eyes with her hands.
“Nothin’ yet,” he told her, glancing back down.
He waited an eternity, which was probably more like ten seconds, before a word started to appear.
He stared.
One single word. Not two.
Baz gasped.
“Damn it, Baz,” JJ grumbled. “What does it say?”
He snatched the stick, put it behind his back, and turned to face her.
He waited her out until she lowered her hands. Her gaze shot to the countertop, then up to his face. Her glare was adorable.
“What do you want it to say, JJ?” he asked.
Her light green eyes glittered as they skimmed over his face as though she could read his mind. “What doyouwant it to say?”
“Answer my question first,” he insisted.
The words that came out of her mouth next hit him square in the chest, stealing his breath.
“I want it to say that we’re gonna have a baby,” she said in the softest, sweetest whisper.
He brought the stick around and showed her the small readout screen.
“Pregnant,” she read, her eyes darting to his face as tears formed on her lower lashes.
Baz smiled, but it wasn’t just on his face. The feeling consumed his entire being.
“We’re havin’ a baby, Baz.”
He tossed the stick in the sink and reached for her, bringing his mouth to hers in a kiss he hoped expressed how fucking happy this woman made him.
Two hours after they’d learned they were going to be parents, Baz was walking through Bristol’s childhood home, listening as JJ talked to herself, outlining what was what. He heard her voice but barely processed the words because he couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she was pregnant.
He honestly thought he couldn’t be happier than he was right then. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve sworn he was walking on clouds, his head dangerously close to a rainbow as he moved from one room to another. He expected a unicorn to peek out from somewhere and smile.
