Page 86 of Honest Boys Don’t Play

Bertie shakes her head and then looks down at her breastmilk-stained shirt. “I guess I better change then.

Me: We’ll be over in a few.

When we walk up the steps to the main house, I probably shouldn’t be surprised by how quickly the front door opens and yet I am.

“I cannot believe you had the baby in the car!” Kayla shrieks. “How did that happen?”

Bertie shrugs. “I’m chalking it up to the fact that I’m an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot,” I reply immediately. “Stubborn, but not an idiot.”

“We’ll agree to disagree on that one. I mean, you’re the one who clocked I was in labor right away.”

“Can I hold him?” Kayla asks, motioning for us to come inside.

“Of course.”

Bertie starts to hand the baby to her, but Tanner comes around the corner and says, “Me first,” and snags the baby right out of her hands.

“Tanner!” Kayla runs after her husband.

Bertie shakes her head, stunned. To me, she says, “What is it with hockey players and babies?”

I shrug. “Most of us like kids.”

I put a hand on the small of her back as we follow in the direction Tanner and Kayla went. Neither of the kids are anywhere to be seen until we get to the kitchen and I spy them out back through the window on a swing set.

“Let me hold him,” Kayla begs, trying to get Tanner to pass the baby over.

“You snooze you lose. It’s my turn first.”

“Because you stole him,” she argues back. “That hardly counts as first dibs.”

He sticks his tongue out at his wife. “Deal with it.”

Planting her hands on her hips she says, “Have fun sucking your dick yourself.”

A snort flies out of Bertie, and she slaps a hand over her mouth.

Tanner immediately passes the baby to his wife. “I’m sorry for stealing your turn.”

She juts her chin in the air. “As you should be.”

Rocking the baby in her arms, Kayla turns back to us. “Other than having the baby in the car, how was everything else?”

Bertie twists her lips in thought. “Easier than I thought. Not that it was easy, per se, but I had myself convinced I wouldn’t be able to do it without an epidural and I managed to do it.”

“You’re a bad ass, Bertie,” Kayla says. “You have no idea.”

“You really are,” Tanner adds. He smiles at Rory over his wife’s shoulder.

Rory yawns and reaches up with his fist to grab a strand of Kayla’s hair.

“Dang, little one.” She carefully pulls her hair from his iron clad grip. “You’re strong.”

Bertie laughs as she watches the exchange. “He really is. He tried to grab my earring the other day and I was terrified.”

“Babies are freakishly strong,” Tanner agrees.