“Let me hear yours.” She sits up.
“Parker and Elizabeth.”
“I don’t like either of those.”
“What? Why not?”
“I dated a guy named Parker in high school, and Elizabeth is the name of the girl I lived next to as a kid who only wanted to be my friend so she could play with my brother.”
“Oh. I guess I better think of a few more.”
“Maybe you’ll like one of mine.”
“Maybe. Let’s hear them.”
“Libby, Whitney, Samantha, Melanie, Meghan, and Darcy.”
Keep a straight face, Mark. Keep a straight face.
I nod. “Ah. Those are wonderful.”
“You hate them.”
“I don’t love them.”
“Well, how do we pick?”
“Do any of those names have a special meaning?”
She shakes her head.
“Mine didn’t either. Okay, how about each night after dinner, until we agree, we share a name we thought of during the day. It shouldn’t take us too long to pick, right?”
“Let’s give it a whirl.”
We both settle back in, her under my arm and nestled to my side as the show comes back on.
“Beth?” she asks.
“No.”
“Monica?”
I laugh. “No. We aren’t naming our daughter after a TV show character.”
She lets out a big sigh.
“What about a middle name?” I ask.
“Sue. Like me.”
“Special story to that?”
“Nope. I just think it would be cute to match our middle names.”
“Okay. Blank Sue Young.”
“Young?” Her brows pinch together. “I guess I didn’t think about that.”
