Page 32 of The Single Father Upstairs

Everyone filled their glasses, and I poured Miles and my daughter a soda. The three of us held hands and Marmalade held up a paw.

“To Stellan, Miles, Indigo, Marmalade, and the new baby.”

“I foresaw all of this,” Emerald whispered.

She hadn’t, but we didn’t challenge her.

Jon knocked over a table as he toasted us and told Mrs. Munro the money he owed her would have to go toward buying a new one.

“That was interesting.” Indigo was ahead of us as we climbed the stairs to the third floor. “Marmalade says she wants to meet Blizzard at the next barbecue.”

“Not happening.” Blizzard had that name for a reason.

“I didn’t expect to enjoy the evening as much as I did. The tenants consider you and Indie family.” Miles had his hand in mine.

I pulled him close. “And you too.”

I’d spent so long expecting things to be taken away from me that I’d nearly forgotten that they could sometimes be given.

Miles belongs here with us, my bear told me.

We all do.

16

MILES

I’d been sleeping horribly. All that extra sleep I got when I was in my first trimester must’ve been some sort of sleep bank to reserve my energy for now. And for once, it wasn’t that my brain was in hyperdrive.

I’d get a leg cramp, or my shoulder would fall asleep, or I was thirsty, or I had to pee for the forty-seventh time that night. My poor mate had to deal with my tossing and turning. He swore he didn’t mind, but I still felt bad.

Today was different than most. When I woke up, instead of being groggy and begging for just one more hour, I was wide awake and ready to go. I had this sudden urgency to get things done, and I was taking full advantage of it. Who knew when I was going to be able to do more than just make it through the day again?

Taking the first few steps each morning was rough. The baby had been playing games with my sciatic nerve. Once I got going, I was good, but I looked like a little old man on my way to the bathroom for my shower.

The hot water felt amazing on my back, and I stood there for a few minutes before grabbing my loofah on a stick to give myself a good scrub. Best invention ever. I could reach my ankles and shoulders despite being off balance with my huge belly shifting my center of gravity. My mate had found it and also got me a special mat on the floor to help me clean the bottom of my feet. Stellan would gladly help me in the shower every day, but I liked having the ability to do things on my own.

As I scrubbed my hair, I thought about all the things we still needed to do before the baby arrived. We had some diapers people at work had given me at my shower, but nowhere near enough in the smaller size. We didn’t have any wipes. Ordering them would be easy, but knowing where to put them when they arrived, not so much.

My mate and I had gone back and forth on whether we were going to get a designated changing table. I was leaning toward no. They took up a lot of space. But without one, we would need diaper storage. Stellan suggested a diaper cart, and at first it sounded like another big thing taking up space, but this morning, I was leaning on ordering it, too. The baby was coming soon, and all this back and forth on what to get was going to result in us being unprepared if I didn’t hurry up and make some decisions already.

Our little one kicked. It was my absolute favorite. There was something reassuring about feeling them move, and I liked to think it was their way of communicating with me. I rubbed my hand over my belly. “Hey, you. Could you maybe wait till I’m sitting down?”

They kicked again.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

Stellan’s apartment was bigger than mine. It wasn’t too small for us, which was great. I didn’t want to move. We could easily fit there as a family of four, but it wasn’t ready for our little one yet. That was on me. I stayed at Stellan’s place every night, but not all of my things were here yet. I’d had a year-long lease and hadn’t really worried too much about it, but it was getting to the time where I needed to. I didn’t want to have to stress about moving after the baby came. There wasn’t much left to bring upstairs.

I probably needed to just have a yard sale or a giveaway and be done with it. The thing about merging households was we didn’t need more dishes or pots, an extra couch, or any of that. Once I brought the rest of my personal items up here, the rest needed to go.

“You’re up early.” Stellan was at the stove cooking up some eggs for Indie. Marmalade was rubbing against his leg, knowing that he would definitely cave and give her treats, whereas I was more likely to stand firm. She’d gotten chubby since we moved her up here and was living her best life.

“I couldn’t sleep, and I realized there’s a lot to do, so I might as well start today.”

“How about you start with breakfast?”

I padded over to him and kissed his cheek. “Breakfast will do.”