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Joel studied the box he’d picked up from the garage floor after the handle tore on the paper shopping bag and sent everything sprawling.
“Ayesha,” he raised his head, “you’re not…you can’t possibly be…you’re not pregnant, are you? Actually, let me reframe that.”
It wasn’t the right moment to smile, but she came close. Reframing his thinking was something they’d talked about together. Something she did multiple times a day. Still, negative thoughts fell through the cracks, but the point wasn’t to do it perfectly.
“Are you pregnant?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No.”
She swore she heard him quietly sigh in relief, but even if she was, there was no guarantee her third child would be another Theo. Theo was sweet. A sweet ball of energy. An adorable, sometimes trying ball of energy that had developed the ability to get out of all diapers, regardless of whether she’d strapped him into suspenders.
“Then who’s pregnant?”
She squinted at the test. “Wait, did I pick up a pregnancy test? Let me take a look at that.”
“Ayesha, either you’re a terrible liar, or I’m really good at reading you for some reason.” Joel tapped the box against his palm. “Let’s see, it can’t be Larke—wouldn’t make any sense. Tayler justhad a baby. It could be Mo, but I don’t think she’d send you if she’s still lying about her and Giorgio. So, that leaves Ari and…” His eyes opened wide. “Ayesha,who’spregnant?”
“Ari.”
“Ari’s pregnant?”
“She might be. That’s what the test is for.”
“I mean, it would make sense. Those two are always at it, and they did say they wanted another kid.” He stared at the test a while longer and then bent to pick up the rest of the spilled contents. “Does Julien know?”
“No, and don’t say anything. Please.”
“Of course.”
One crisis averted, she followed him inside, put the food in the pantry, and went in search of Ari. When she heard Ari’s moans from behind a closed door and down the hallway, she searched for Mo instead.
Though muffled, and she’d had to get all the way to Mo’s door before she heard any sounds, it was the same thing. With all the sex going on, known or clandestine, maybe she should have picked up extra tests.
At the end of her search, she’d recruited only Larke. Tayler fell asleep, which was par for the course with her and Gage being first-time parents, and Larke was avoiding what she referred to as “Dez’s acrobatics” due to not feeling seductive. Rather than the truth, which Dez wouldn’t have taken lightly, she told him she didn’t feel well.
They stood outside the door while Sydney took the tests, and Ayesha put herself on Joel-watch. If he saw them, went looking for Sydney, and couldn’t find her, he’d figure it out.
“Hey, Ayesha?”
She jumped, nearly falling down the stairs.
Apparently, she sucked at Joel-watch.
He walked toward her from the other side of the hallway, carrying Theo, who was sucking on his middle and ring finger, a habit she’d been trying to break for months. Upon seeing Theo, her brain momentarily pushed Sydney’s predicament aside.
“Is he okay?” She searched Theo’s face, limbs, and plucked his fingers from his mouth to examine them. “Did something happen?”
Joel gently tickled Theo’s stomach. “He’s fine. I was walking by and heard him playing, so I went in and got him before he woke Josiah up. We’re gonna take a walk on the beach, if that’s okay with you, Mama.”
She pressed the back of her hand to Theo’s forehead. “And you’re sure he’s okay? Did you take his temperature?”
“Ninety-eight point six.”
“Diaper?”
“Changed him.”
“Is he hungry?”
