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“Or drop it all on him at once like a bomb,” I said. “Over the phone. While in another state.”
She laughed. “Are you scared?” she teased.
“No,” I said, laughing. “Maybe. He’s not going to be pleased, I don’t think, but then again, maybe he will be. At least he’ll know that you aren’t with some shmuck.”
“You are some schmuck,” she joked. “But I like you.”
“Good,” I said.
It was three hours later, and Carmela was dozing in my lap. It was barely evening, but I figured that with the changes going on in her body, taking a nap once in a while was completely reasonable.
I leaned back into the couch, slowly letting her slide onto my stomach as I shoved a pillow behind my head and made myself as comfortable as I could on the couch with both of us stretched out on it. She made a cute little sound in her sleep and nuzzled into my chest, pushing herself up a little more. I stroked her hair and grabbed the remote.
The television had been playing a comedy-cooking show for the last couple of hours, and the screen had a prompt asking if we were still watching. I clicked it and put the remote on the back of the couch, relaxing again. There was no way I was changing anything about this. It might not have been what I planned for celebrating a new life with her when I pictured how things could go if they went perfectly, but it was somehow even better.
Slowly, my eyes closed too, and even though I knew it would mean being up before the sun tomorrow, I dozed off too, listening to the sound of her breathing as she curled up on my chest.
21
CARMELA
It had been a few months since Mark and I had started the experiment of seeing each other, and in all that time he had yet to meet any of my friends from out of town. Jess, in particular, was excited to meet him since she and her husband Ronnie had just returned from Ronnie’s deployment to Japan. It was Jess who was at that moment on her way over to our place to help get ready for the big party.
“You’re sure you don’t mind the guys being here?” Mark asked as he hung a banner from the doorway.
“Yes, silly,” I said. “I couldn’t imagine leaving my brother out, and if I am going to have a rugged cowboy in the building, I might as well have you and the other guys too.”
“I just don’t want to step on your toes is all,” Mark said. “Did you say Ronnie was coming too?”
“No, he couldn’t make it,” I said. “Jess said he was still laid up in bed. Poor guy.”
“Breaking your ankle sucks,” Mark said.
A knock on the door interrupted us, and I crossed the room to open it.
“Mela!” Jess said, dropping a bag and a wrapped gift on the porch and wrapping her arms around me tightly. She always gave the best hugs.
“Jess!” I exclaimed. “It’s so good to see you. Come in, come in.”
“Nice to meet you, Jess,” Mark said, coming up behind me and offering a hand. Jess took it and shook, grinning wide.
“Nice to see you, Mark,” she said. “I guess you don’t remember me without the glasses and the braces.”
“And the blonde hair,” I said.
“Oh, right,” she said, flipping her dyed red hair over her shoulder.
“Wait, Jess Montgomery?” Mark said.
“It’s Neilson now, but yes,” she laughed.
“Oh, yeah, hey,” he said. “I don’t know why I never put that together.”
“I probably only ever mentioned her married name,” I said.
“That’s probably it,” Jess said. “So how much time do we have?”
“Guests get here in two hours,” I said excitedly. “If I know the boys, they will be here early though.”
“Which boys?” Jess asked.
“Well, Ryan Beasley is coming with his wife Allison, Camden will be here, oh, and Graham Miller and his wife Mallory.”
“Graham Miller?” Jess asked. “The baseball player?”
“Retired,” I said. “He’s one of Mark’s old buddies.”
“Ronnie is going to kill me,” Jess said. “He’s missing out meeting Graham Miller because I let him move that bookshelf by himself.”
“Why would you do that?” I laughed.
“Well, Ronnie was insistent he could do it, and frankly, I wanted it in my parlor. He blames me for owning all oak bookshelves.”
“Yeah, boo on you for wanting bookshelves,” I said.
Jess went about helping us continue to put together the party, and not long later, the guests began showing up. Camden was first in the door, expecting that he would be early to help out and finding himself walking into a finished room to wait for twenty minutes. It had been a rough few weeks after we’d told him the news, but eventually my brother had come around and was genuinely happy for us. Allison and Ryan showed up next, and the boys slowly started forming their own pod slightly off to the side.
