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In just a few hours, our life had changed so much. I couldn’t believe how instantly I’d fallen in love with Olivia. It was transference; I loved Emma and I was happy for her, so obviously, I had to fall in love with the thing making her happy. But the little baby hands and the little baby fingers…
“You should stay in the city today,” I suggested as we pulled away from the hospital. “We can come back on my lunch break.”
Neil glanced over at me, and the perma-smile that had been etched in his face all evening grew even wider. “I thought you didn’t like babies.”
“I don’t like babies,” I insisted. “I like Emma’s baby. She’s so sweet, and she smells amazing—”
“Sophie,” Neil cut me off, his brows drawing together. “You wouldn’t… This isn’t making you want a baby, is it?
“Ugh, no! Especially not after I just sat with a laboring woman all night.” I shook my head. “Look, I love Olivia already. But I also love that we’re going to go home and sleep in our silent apartment. Because what Emma and Michael are about to go through? No, thank you.”
“Oh, thank god,” Neil said with a relieved laugh. “I had this nightmare idea that you’d want a baby, and we’d have to use Rudy’s sperm. Which he has offered to do, I’m not just being presumptuous.”
“Wouldn’t that child be the perfect monster? So much snark and fashion sense. She could run New York.” I closed my eyes and tipped my head back with a smile. “No. If we were doing that, we’d pick someone we didn’t know. It would be too weird otherwise.”
“But it wouldn’t matter, because…” Neil prompted me.
“It wouldn’t matter because it’ll never happen. I like to sleep too much.”
“It’s all for the best, anyway. I think I’ll like being a grandfather even more than I liked being a father.” He interrupted himself with a loud yawn. “When you’re a grandfather, you get to indulge all those tyrannical toddler whims and send them home with sugar sludge running through their veins.”
“Wow.” I reached over and squeezed his knee. “You’re a grandfather now.”
He glanced over at me as we pulled up to a red light. “I suppose I am. Do I look grandfatherly? Should I start hitching my trousers up now?”
Ah, there was that mid-life crisis once again rearing its ridiculous head. I shook my head slowly and tasted my bottom lip with the tip of my tongue. “No. You look really sexy.”
I didn’t tell him that he looked so good to me because of how much he cared about his—no, our—family. And the flirting was just a tease. We were both way too tired to do anything tonight. But, when he turned away, I caught a flash of his smug half-smile.
“Come on, Grandma,” he teased. “Let’s go home.”
Damn. I’d kind of forgotten about that whole “grandma” thing.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Having learned our lesson about wedding week hangovers after Holli and I spent our wild girls’ weekend in Vegas prior to her big day, she, Deja, and I planned my bachelorette weekend for two weeks ahead of the wedding.
I’d left Neil at the apartment with a long goodbye kiss and a promise that he wouldn’t have to fly a lawyer in to bail us out. He wouldn’t miss us much; he’d visited Olivia at the hospital almost daily, and when she came home, he’d be making a real nuisance of himself around Emma and Michael.
My car met the limo I’d sent for Holli and Deja on the tarmac at JFK. As soon as the wheels stopped turning, Holli was out of the car and racing toward me as Tony opened my door.
“Are you ready for some illicit substances in the desert?” she squealed.
I waved my hands. “No! No shouting about illicit substances at an airport, for Christ’s sake.”
The last thing I wanted to do was call Neil and tell him, “Surprise, your jet was ripped apart on the runway by the feds, and now, we have to buy commercial tickets for our honeymoon.”
“Whatever, whatever.” She hugged me hard, jumping up and down. “The four of us are going to have such a great time this weekend!”
Mental record scratch. “Um, four?”
“I have kind of a…surprise?” The way Holli’s voice went up at the end did not inspire confidence.
A person who was not Deja got out of the car. An adorable blonde head atop a short, curvy body hopped up and threw her arms out. “Sophie!”
“Penny!” My exclamation was more shock than pleasant surprise. “What a nice…um, what…”
She took over before I had a chance to finish. “Holli invited me. I hope you don’t mind. I told her about what happened with Brad.” Her full lower lip wobbled. “Brad… He…”
