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And best of all? I get to share every second of it with Mia. We moved into a small house downtown just a few minute’s walk from the restaurant. We’ve talked a little about building ourselves a dream home in Frosty Harbor, but I think the unspoken agreement is we’re going to save that for after I pop the big question.
“Amelia,” Andi warns. “If you put that in your mouth, Mommy is not going to be–Hey!”
A very pregnant Andi gets up and waddles after Amelia, who is cackling and toddler running away with a napkin she found on the ground in our air-conditioned booth.
I grin. Amelia has been walking for a few months now, and I can tell her increased abilities are just making Andi’s life that much more challenging. I still can’t believe she’s pregnant again, too. Based on my rough math, I think Jesse and Andi must’ve started trying as soon as the doctor’s gave them permission to sleep together again after giving birth.
“Any texts from Paisley?” I ask.
Mia checks her phone. “Nothing. She must be doing okay.”
We’ve left Paisley in charge a few times now, but I’m always a little nervous when we do. I received a tip that a relatively big food critic was planning to come sometime in the next week, and I’m a little worried something could go wrong with us here at the game. Still, I promised the guys I’d keep supporting them, even if I wasn’t on the ice. I’m not going to go back on that.
Andi sits back down with a sigh a few minutes later. Amelia won the battle and got the whole napkin in her mouth. Andi had to turn her sideways and dig it out. Now Andi looks tired and Amelia looks pleased with herself as she sits on Andi’s leg, gnawing on the keychain I gave her forever ago. Andi says Amelia has to have it in her crib every night or she throws a full-blown tantrum.
Even though it sounds like a bit of a pain in the ass for Andi and Jesse, I have to admit I secretly like that the kid is so obsessed with something I got her.
“So,” Andi says seriously. “My current theory is that Caroline’s baby is from that night in Vancouver. We went to this crazy bar and she got pretty drunk. This hot guy was hitting on her all night, and she came home with me. But I could swear I woke up in the middle of the night and didn’t see her in the hotel room. Coincidence? I think not.”
I grin, but Mia looks thoughtful. The girls have all been desperately trying to piece together the mystery of Caroline’s surprise pregnancy. We all started noticing several months ago. No matter how much they asked about it, she wouldn’t budge. She gave absolutely no clues about who the baby’s dad is.
I thought maybe she’d finally spill the secret when it was born. But that happened two months ago and she still hasn’t said a word. There hasn’t been any sign of a dad showing up, either.
I’ll admit I’m as curious as the women are. Mostly because I’ve wondered if the kid is Jake’s. It’s not like Jake and Caroline were ever officially dating, but they always seemed friendly, if not even a little flirty.
But my suspicion felt less secure when I saw how the two of them have gone icy toward each other since the pregnancy.
“Could be,” Mia says. “But I still think it has to be Jake’s.”
I grimace, shaking my head. “I don’t know, Mia. If it was his, Jake wouldn’t ever let Caroline deal with raising a kid on her own. He’d be there for both of them, no matter what.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know it’s his?” Andi suggests.
I cock my head. “How would he not know?”
“I don’t know,” Andi says. “Maybe Caroline doesn’t want him to know. I mean, if you have a kid and the father isn’t around, that’s kind of like… one of two possibilities, right? Either the dad doesn’t want anything to do with the mom and kid, or the dad doesn’t know.”
“Dad could be dead,” Mia suggests.
We both give her a look.
She raises her hands, grinning. “Just saying there’s technically more than two options.”
“Why wouldn’t she want Jake to know if it was his?” I ask. “That doesn’t make sense.”
Andi and Mia share a look, as if they’re trying to decide which one of them gets to explain something obvious to the dumb man.
“Caroline is proud as hell,” Mia says. “And she has always been taking care of herself since she was little. She’s not going to want to drag some guy into helping raise a kid if she thinks he wouldn’t want to. That’s my guess. Maybe it’s not Jake, but I think she probably didn’t tell the guy because she doesn’t think he deserves to be in her and that kid’s life.”
“Kinda fucked up,” I say.
That earns me a slap from Mia.
“What?” I ask. “Doesn’t the dad have a right to know he has a kid?”
“Maybe he does, and maybe he doesn’t,” Andi says. “If it was just a meaningless hookup, she’s doing him a mercy by keeping it a secret. Or maybe she knows the guy well enough to know he wouldn’t want to know. I trust Caroline to be making the right choice, either way.”
I nod thoughtfully. “Yeah, I guess so. Still can’t believe she won’t tell us, though.”
