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I lifted my brows, having no idea where he was going with this. He was breaking up with her when she got home from France in a week, I was fairly sure. Or maybe it was ten days. I didn’t keep track.
“She’s pregnant.”
What?
I swallowed a sudden burst of nervousness and shock, and I stared at Roe. I knew that look. I’d seen it in the mirror once the nausea had faded three years ago. The apprehension, the worries, the fear, the excitement. Roe had reached that stage.
Holy fuck.
Warmth slithered in slowly, as did my own stupid smile. Roe was gonna be a dad. Sweet mother of—how long he’d wanted this.
“You’re gonna be a dad, buddy.” I grinned widely and hauled him up off the bed and into my arms. “Why the fuck would you wait to tell me? This is incredible.”
He exhaled a shaky laugh and squeezed my middle. “I’m a nervous wreck, but I’m happy too.”
Of course he was. I knew the feeling very well.
“We’ll get some drinks in you soon.” I clapped him on the back and eased off. “Christ, I definitely didn’t see this coming. Now we have two reasons to celebrate tonight.”
Colin wouldn’t be that much older either. These two kids would grow up being friends eventually, and nothing made me happier. Three years’ difference, give or take a few months—by the time they reached school age, yeah, thick as thieves.
“I guess so.” Roe smirked nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m still dreading the potential drama, though.”
Right. He’d mentioned something being complicated. “What’s that about? You mean because you were breaking up with her?”
“Well, yeah. I had to do a 180 because she was afraid she’d be raising the baby alone.” He was visibly uncomfortable, and it pulled the plug on the celebration for the moment. “I panicked, Jake. The second she said she didn’t wanna have an abortion, but… I started lying my ass off. I mean, it’s one thing to have an abortion if you don’t want to become a parent—that’s… Whatever, we don’t have to go into that.” No, it was easy to see he had strong opinions on the matter, and they might have a little something to do with his Catholic upbringing. “But she was talking in terms of me not sticking around. Like, if that were the case, she didn’t wanna be a single mom. And that’s fine. Fine, I get it. But I want nothing more than to be a dad, so I was like…” A breath gusted out of him, and he slumped down on the bed again and covered his face with his hands.
Oh boy.
What exactly had he said?
“I made a commitment,” he confessed, and his hands fell to his sides again. “It wasn’t exactly a proposal, but I told her if that’s what it takes for her to believe me—to believe I will be there for her—so be it.”
Jesus.
Before I even knew it was happening, I was sitting down on the edge of my own bed, zero strength left in my legs. He’d fucking marry her? This wasn’t the ’50s, for chrissakes. Why couldn’t they do what Nikki and I were doing? We were acing the co-parenting gig. Sure, it’d been tense and awkward between us for a while, but now we were great friends.
I no longer had to worry about something being missing, like I had when we’d been together. Same old story, the girlfriend at the time said she loved me, and I choked. Thankfully, Nikki hadn’t gotten that far with me either, though I sensed that was because she’d known for certain that I hadn’t been anywhere near in love. But now? What we had was genuine. We could be happy for each other, we could be a united front for Colin…
“I panicked,” Roe repeated.
I coughed and cleared my throat. “I’d say that’s a fair assessment. How did she react?”
He let out an empty chuckle. “She was over the moon.”
I fucking bet.
Goddammit.
Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time for me to brood over what this could mean. Roe was clearly distraught, and he’d been there for me so many times. It was my turn to return the favor and lift him up. I could process later.
“Listen—focus on what’s important, Roe. You’re gonna have a kid.” I rose from the bed and pulled him up once more. “We’ll worry about the semantics another day. All right?” I nudged up his chin and knocked it gently with my knuckles, kinda like my old man had done when I was little. “When push comes to shove, none of this matters once you get to hold that tiny creature in your arms. You’ll look down at your child, and a whole new world will open up.” With it, another universe of fears. But we’d save that for the next pep talk.
