“Too soon, honey.”
Her laugh fills my ears. “I couldn’t help myself.”
Chapter 20
Mia
Day two of knowing I’m growing a baby in my belly, and it’s still insanely weird to think about.
“What are you writing?” Adam asks from his kitchen.
I already wasn’t really feeling this idea, but getting a distraction from a shirtless Adam would have pulled me out of my deepest thoughts.
“I’m honestly not sure. Wyla gave me this journal at the game last night. She said writing really helped her throughout her pregnancy and after, so she thought I might want to give it a try.”
I shut the journal, despite only writing that one sentence, and toss it on his coffee table.
“I’m used to writing lists and business plans. It feels weird to write out my feelings about all of this…but the gesture was nice so I wanted to give it a shot. I just don’t know if it’s my style.”
“Yeah, I remember Jett reading the journals Wyla kept up before they found each other.” Adam hums softly, making his way over to me on his couch with a glass of water and toast.
It’s honestly the only thing I can stomach right now, especially knowing we’re going to be meeting my parents for brunch in two hours.
“Maybe, instead of using it solely for emotional stuff, you just add some of you to it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, like…you could still put how you’re feeling on one page, but maybe the next is a brain dump of baby names. And another is our to-do list or the date you first feel the baby move, then the very next page there could be something the doctor tells us to remember.”
“I like that idea.” A warmth fills my chest, and I try to hide the bandwidth of my smile with my drink. “Look at you, knowing me so well.”
Adam snorts a laugh. “You could add a list of grievances, like how you can’t seem to drink anything other than water.”
That would be my number one, actually.
“The irony is not lost on me, considering the crap I gave you about your favorite drink being water. I’ve been too afraid to reach for my Andes chocolates. My foundation has been shaken enough in the past two days. I’m not sure I can handle another blow like that right now.”
“Gotta admit”—Adam holds his hands up—“it now makes sense why you left your eggs untouched that morning. I might never be able to make you an elaborate meal, but I can scramble eggs.”
“To your credit, I also found it very weird that I couldn’t stomach them. Considering how in tune I am with my body, it still shocks me to think about how I didn’t realize it right away. There were so many signs, and it didn’t even cross my mind. I didn’t even want to wear heels, for Christ’s sake.”
“Mia, honey, I know I can’t say anything about women’s bodies, especially the health aspect, but I would’ve bet my entire contract that we were just going to be told you were coming down with the flu or some shit like that.”
There’s a knee-jerk reaction to sayyeah, I wish, but the words get stuck in my throat. This baby was definitely not the plan, and I’m still struggling to come to terms with it, but I don’t know if I would wish to change it.
Maybe this is something that actually goes in the journal.Day two of being pregnant and the first hints of excitement about the baby have been felt. Still scared shitless at the same time.
“So, how are you feeling about telling your parents today?”
“The thought of telling them makes me nauseous,” I mumble, reaching for the journal again.
It’s not like we’re irresponsible kids; we’re adults in a serious situation and acting accordingly. Even though I’m a little worried my parents may categorize this on the same level as a teen pregnancy. Despite how lucky I feel to have Adam in all this—we’re not married, we don’t live together…hell, we haven’t even had a six-month anniversary.
“It would honestly kill me to not get their support. I don’t want to lose the relationship I have with them, and I don’t want our baby to not have their grandparents either.”
The realization of the last few words has this sickly feeling rolling through my body. The intensity I saw on Adam’s face when he said his parents didn’t need to be in our child’s life took me back a bit. I can’t fathom the idea of not speaking to my parents—as nuts as my mother drives me sometimes—but I trust him.
“I didn’t mean for that to come off as me pressuring you to tell your parents. I won’t push the subject today, but maybe we could…”
