Page 54 of Full Strength

“Is this the first time he woke up?” Grant turned suddenly, looking surprised.

“I think so.”

There’s no way that I could’ve slept through him crying in the middle of the night. My body was used to it. I automatically listened for him.

“Do you know what this means?”

He shook his head.

“This is the first time.”

“What?” Grant looked confused, but I was so happy.

“That was the first time he slept through the night.”

He looked down at Eli, smiling. “Good job, little guy.”

I couldn’t believe this. It finally happened. I’d been working on sleep training for a while but he still woke up at least once around two or three. This is the first time that either of us got a solid night’s sleep. Grant handed him over to me and I went to the changing table to change him.

“You are such a big boy.” I murmured as Eli cooed and smiled up at me. I was so proud of him, and just hoped this wasn’t a one-time thing.

We all went into the kitchen and I heated up a bottle for him. Grant took the bottle and Eli from me to feed him. It happened so naturally that I didn’t think twice until I was in the midst of making breakfast and realized how nice it was to have both hands free.

Grant went to the sofa and turned on the TV to the local news. They were still discussing the storm.

“I forgot about that.” I hurried over to the windows leaving behind the eggs and a bowl I was about to use. There was even more snow than there had been when we went to sleep. “This is out of control.”

I turned to see Grant nodding while looking at the TV screen. There were shots of downtown around the arena and you could see his apartment building.

“Oh my gosh.” I said slowly. It looked like the snow was halfway up the doors. There were cars parked on the street that were almost completely covered. They looked like mounds or maybe igloos. The news reporter went on to say it has been a record-breaking storm.

Grant rolled his eyes. “Well obviously.”

I laughed and looked back at the screen. There was a woman out next to the Great Salt Lake talking about how for the first time in recorded history the lake was frozen to new depths.

“Hey wait a minute.” Grant shouted, startling Eli. He looked down and made sure Eli was situated before continuing. “I know her.”

I looked back at the beautiful blonde on screen. My stomach turned. Of course, he knew someone like that. She was stunning, blonde, skinny, and tan. Basically, every guy’s dream.

“Oh really?” My voice cracked.

“Yeah we met her in Mexico.”

I shook my head, but stopped before he noticed. “Oh yeah? I tried to sound interested not like my stomach was dropping out.

“Yeah she’s friends with Lucy.”

“Oh yeah? I didn’t realize that that’s where you guys met.”

He nodded and told me a brief story about Brassard running into his ex while she was on a bachelorette trip in Mexico. It was all so serendipitous. I knew that Lucy and Brassard had reconnected recently but I didn’t know the full story.

“I wonder why she never told me that story.”

Grant shrugged. “Maybe she thought someone else had already told you.”

It was so cute I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t ever heard about it before. I’d have to ask her for more details the next time I saw her.

“So, this is her friend?”