I put my focus back on the paper, and immediately, as I’m writing Sydney’s name, last night’s conversation comes back to me. Her last name and mine are different. Which one will our baby get? I mean, she doesn’t even have a first name yet. Now we need to pick out her last name too.
“Mark,” Sydney calls out quietly, “come on.” She waves at me.
Her smile is like a sedative, and the worry disappears.
Everything will work out. I just know it.
And the first step is to go all in. Dating, marriage, and everything else that means Syd and I are together at the end.
Sydney
Keeping my mind busy is the best thing I can do right now. I think I’m going through what is called nesting. I want everything clean. All the things. Doors, walls, junk drawers. With that, I want to get a jump start on the baby’s room. That means clearing it out from all these boxes Mark has had in here, taking up space since he moved in.
I stand in the doorway with my hands on my hips. There has got to be twenty boxes in here. Was he ever planning on unpacking them? Probably not, now that I think of it.
I move for the closest stack with every intention of moving them out one by one, but Mark startles me.
“Whoa, no! Don’t touch that.”
“What?” I say and set the box back down. Well, let’s be honest, I didn’t even pick it up. I had only shimmied it to the end of the box under it, thinking it would be easier that way. “Do you have some dark secret hidden in here?”
“No.” He laughs and steps into the room. “They are just heavy boxes. I’ll move them. Actually, let me call Winston or Tripp to help. I’ll have them out within the hour for you.”
“Thanks.”
I start to leave but turn around.
“What’s in them?”
“Books,” he answers with a shrug.
“Just books?”
“Yes.”
“All the boxes?”
“Yes.”
“I know you read, but this much? Really? Tell me what’s really inside them,” I tease.
A slow smile sneaks across his lips. “It’s really all books. Take a look.”
Slowly, as if he’s trying to trick me and something might jump out at me, I open the first box and, sure enough, it’s packed full of books.
“I didn’t realize you had such a big book collection.” I kneel down to open another box. “We should have a room for all these or at least make a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf of some kind. I always wanted a wall like that when I was little.”
“You want me to remodel a wall in this house to match one you always dreamed of having?”
“Why not?” As soon as I ask the question, I panic. “Never mind. That was silly.”
“It’s not silly, Syd. I like hearing about the things you want in a home.”
I grab another book and thumb through the pages, pausing when I catch one with notes written on the inside.
“Did you edit this book?” I ask with a small laugh. “You know they have people who do that before they publish, right?”
“Yes,” he says and grabs the books from me and starts to look through it. I grab another.
