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“I want to see my parents, and not to tell them any news. Just my weekly visit. Then I have to grocery shop and do laundry and all that good stuff. Tomorrow’s work.”

“Can you squeeze me in?”

“Sure. Do you want to shop with me?”

“I can do that. I need to shop myself.”

“I’ll swing by after I see Mary and Gerald.”

They liked to shop at a store in Jake’s neighborhood.

“Text me when you’re on your way over,” he said.

The plan was she would ask him not to worry about her sleep or eating because it felt a little controlling to her. He would not take it well. They were pushing separate carts in the aisles when he brought it up.

“You must be exhausted. Try not to stay up all night. It’s bad enough that we have to do that when we’re working.”

“Exactly, Jake. I’m just keeping the same schedule I had at work last week. Don’t worry about it, okay?”

“I’m going to worry because you’re having my baby,” he said.

She looked at him carefully. He’d used a tone with her she’d never heard before, and she was trying to determine if he was serious or teasing her. The expression on his face was serious, his mouth set in a grim line, jaw jutting out slightly.

“What?”

“I’m trying not to be a prick.”

“Just don’t be one, then,” she replied, pushing her basket by him. “I’m me and you’re you. You worry about Jake and I’ll worry about me and the baby. As long as it’s in my body, it’s my concern. We won’t last if you take that tone with me, Jake. I’m just letting you know. I won’t stand for it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted. Let’s move on. We’re just getting to know each other,” she said. “We’d be dating and having fun instead of talking baby. Let’s not let it become a downer, okay?”

“I’ll try. I’m just scared, I guess. My brother’s little girl has Down syndrome. It makes me nervous about doing everything right.”

“Bridget and Tony didn’t do anything to make Isabella have Down syndrome, Jake. You know that, right? It’s chromosomes. If our chromosomes mix a certain way, we could have a baby with something, too. It’s a risk you take when you conceive. The chances are rare that a problem will arise.”

“You’re such a planner, though. If we plan…”

“No, that’s not the way it works, okay? Issues come up in the best planned pregnancies. If you start this now, it will be unbearable by the time it’s due.”

“Jeez, all I did was tell you to get some sleep.”

They stood in line at the checkout. “Yeah, don’t worry about my sleep. I’ll sleep when I’m tired.”

He chuckled and agreed. “You’re tough.”

Shewastough. But that was what he liked. He might complain if she stayed up all night, but he trusted her that she’d do what was right. Looking at him sidelong, she gave him a look that he would soon find meant he needed to lay off.

“Did we just have our first fight?”

“That wasn’t any fight I’ve ever seen,” she said. “That was me clearing the air. If we ever have a fight, you won’t have to ask if we’re fighting, okay? You’ll know for sure.”

Laughing, he loaded his groceries onto the conveyer belt. “That’s not making me feel any better.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that was the goal here. Jake, chill. I’m a firefighter, for God’s sake. Do you think I’m going to sit around the station with my feet up when there’s a call? I should never have told you about me being pregnant.”

The cashier looked up from the register, grinning.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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