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“What are you doing?” I ask him, chuckling a little at how cliched and ridiculous he looks. “You better not make it a habit to be kneeling in front of me unless it’s with my pants off.”
“I was going to talk to the baby, but maybe that is a little over the top, huh?” Nick chuckles, standing up, as he pulls me back into his arms. “I can’t even believe this is happening, but holy shit?—”
“Seriously guys, we know you’re home. We can hear you talking. Let us in!” Max’s voice calls out as he pounds on the door again. “I’m just going to come in through the garage if you don’t let me in.”
“He sounds serious, and I should probably go so I can tell Harper. She’s going to be pissed I didn’t tell her when she was fishing for information about us.”
“Too late!” I hear Harper’s sweet voice call out, and she has me laughing. She’s standing outside the door with Max, listening to us.
“Would you open the damn door, Nick!” Max calls again, and he finally makes his way over there, pulling the door open to find Max and Harper standing on the porch.
“Oh my god, I knew you were lying!” Harper squeals, scampering over to me and throwing her arms around me in a huge hug.
“Okay, it wasn’t so much that I was lying, it was just that we were keeping things quiet until…” I stall out, realizing Nick and I never figured out what is happening with him going back to Park City.
Harper pulls back, beaming, and she lets out this adorable high-pitched screech of excitement before she says, “We’re going to be pregnant together!”
She’s practically jumping up and down, and I have to say her excitement is contagious. It is going to be amazing to be going through this with my best friend who is also pregnant.
“We are,” I say, and now I can’t even imagine not living here. How can I leave my best friend who is having a baby too, my mom who will be who I turn to when I need help or advice, and my job that has been an amazing support when I needed it most?
But I also never want to hold Nick back. I don’t want him thinking I got pregnant on purpose to make him stay here. If I had it my way, I’d tell him to go, to pursue his dream and come back to us when he’s done. That’s never going to happen though.
“When did you find out?” Harper asks, weaving her hand through my mine as she tugs me into the kitchen where the guys are standing at the counter, a beer in their hands.
“When did you find out?” I ask, echoing her question, and she giggles. I’m so glad she’s not mad at me. She could have easily been with the way I kept everything from her.
It still feels shitty that Nick and I did that, but we had our reasons even if they do seem stupid and petty now. Both of us seem to have done a lot of secret-keeping that has only led to confusion and arguments. It stops here.
“I would guess the second the words slipped out of your mouth in front of your staff,” Harper jokes. “You know no one can keep a secret around here.”
“I did ask them to wait until I told Nick, and I guess they did since I came here right after I got off.” I shrug, realizing I wasn’t all that specific about when they could say something.
“Maybe they listened since I didn’t hear anything about it until about twenty minutes ago. They at least waited until you left the building,” Harper says, giggling again. “Oh my god, I’m so damn excited. And Sammie, she’s going to lose it. Two babies!”
“Two hot dads too,” I tease, tossing a thumb over my shoulder to where Max and Nick are talking. “Nick as a dad, holy shit,” I now mutter, shaking my head.
“He’s going to be great, Elissa,” Harper tells me, and all I can do is nod. I don’t doubt he’s going to be a great dad, it’s more about how we are even going to do this. I don’t want Nick feeling stuck here just because the baby and I are here.
Like my mom said, people travel for work all the time, and we could just look at it like that. Nick traveling around with the US team, coming home when he has some free time. But maybe that’s just entirely unrealistic.
I hate that we’re trying to be excited about this, but it’s being overshadowed by something as big as Nick’s career. Would it be unheard of to take a baby on the road, touring with the ski team? I remember my mom telling stories about me crying for three months straight as a baby and it was the hardest thing she’s ever dealt with in her life.
This is still such a fucked up mess.
“You okay?” Nick asks me, coming up from behind and slipping his arms around my waist. “You look deep in thought.”
“I am, but I’m fine. We can talk more later,” I reply quietly, not wanting Max and Harper to think they’re interrupting us. They are our best friends and it’s nice to be able to share the news with them, even if the Badger Creek gossip mill already did it for us.
“How about we go celebrate this news?” Max suggests. “We get everyone together and meet up at The Matterhorn.”
“I think that sounds great,” Nick replies, and I smile at him, enjoying this blissful moment of peace before we have to make some hard decisions.
When we arrive backat Nick’s parents’ house it’s well after midnight and I’m exhausted but feeling happier than I’ve felt in years. It felt like our old life, the one where Nick and I were together, and it felt like it would last forever.
“I’m so tired,” I moan, dragging myself up the stairs. “I have to work at like six tomorrow morning, and I’m pretty sure this baby is sucking the life out of me.”
“You want me to go in for you?” Nick asks, and there’s a seriousness to his question. He knows the job as well as I do, but there are things he can’t do, things that went into place when the renovation happened, but it is hard to turn down his offer.
