I said nothing but chewed on the inside of my cheek.
“You’ll see. And I’ll wait.” He pushed onto his feet and pressed a kiss to my head in a way he’d gotten way too comfortable doing. I never said anything about it.
“So can we please do it, please? My plan?”
I sighed a long dramatic sound and nodded.
“Fine. But if you offer to pay rent again after this, I will punch you, and I’m stronger than I look.”
“I don’t doubt that,” he said, already getting out his phone, presumably to start calling in contractors. He was nothing if not efficient.
CHAPTER 28
HOCKEY HURTS
A few days after I started staying in Barry’s apartment, the team left on a quick three-day road trip. Kate and Jeremy came over with burritos and Chinese food (I needed both) in hand to watch the game on Barry’s huge TV.
“We gotta beat Vegas tonight,” Jeremy said as he walked into the apartment donning full team apparel—beanie included. “They play fuckingdirty, I hate them.”
“Vegas seems fine,” I said. “Good jerseys.”
“No, Jer’s right. Fuck Vegas,” Kate said. I was under the impression that she knew less about hockey than me, but maybe she’d been researching.
“Damn, noted.”
I was surprised to find that I didn’t mind watching the games—not in person or on TV. It was fun, actually, and the more I learned about the game and the team, the more I liked it. I hadn’t seen Jeremy this much since we were both living at Mom’s house before I moved out for college. It was fun to hang out with him more, and Barry was always nice to humor him.
Jeremy whistled as he did a 360 spin, taking in the apartment. “Yo, this place is way nicer than Grandma’s.” I glared at him and he shrugged, waving his arm in the direction of the flat screen TV as exhibit A. “That guy fucking loves you to live in the murder basement over this place.”
“He does not love me.” I hadn’t told Kate or Jeremy that Barry was no longer sleeping on the blow-up mattress but in the same bed as me. They’d get their hopes way up. Too messy.
I tugged my sweatshirt away from my neck, another team-branded one from Barry’s old team. Even if I wasn’t stealing his clothes all the time, he’d gotten me enough team clothes to have my own wardrobe of fan gear, and he looked too pleased when I wore them. Anytime I showed up to a game in one of the jerseys, he practically preened on the ice, grinning up at me during warm-ups way too obviously.
“He loooves you and wants to have your babies.” Jeremy poked my baby bump lightly, and I swatted at him.
“Gross,” Kate and I said in unison.
“Plus, he’s already done that,” Kate said, and I glared at her too. “I do agree that he probably does love you, though. If we’re thinking about the facts here.”
I piled more rice on my plate next to the burrito and kebabs and brought it to the couch where Junior was already sniffing Kate’s plate, hoping for a morsel.
“He loves the unborn baby growing in my uterus, he’s not in love with me.”
“Babies grow in uteruses?” Jeremy asked with a full bite of burrito in his mouth.
“Yes, dude.”
“Where’d you think they grew?” Kate demanded.
“I don’t know, but like, notinthe uterus. The womb?”
“Same thing,” I said, though I didn’t know this until I got pregnant either. Public school failed us both. “Either way, he loves the baby, and any feelings otherwise are likely just confused by said love for the baby.”
I took a big bite of my burrito. Halfway through chewing, when there was no banter back at me, I turned to see both siblings staring at me like they were trying to decide what was wrong with me.
“What?”
“You really think he’s not into you like that?” Jeremy asked.
