“About getting married so we can adopt Isaac?”
Finally, he couldn’t take it. He took hold of her wrists and leaned in until she opened her eyes. “Say something.”
“I… I really wasn’t expecting that. At all.”
“When was the last time I brought something up with you that you were expecting?”
She seemed to think about that for a second. “The sex,” she finally answered.
He gave a little laugh. “Okay, fair enough.”
“But you’re right,” she added. “I never know what’s going to happen when I answer my door.”
“So this being unexpected should not be a reason to say no to it.”
Harper took a deep breath.
“We have a little situation.” Kylie breezed back into the front of the store just then, Isaac in hand. In both of her hands. Which were outstretched, holding him away from her, and the baby puke that was covering the front of her. “I didn’t burp him soon enough.”
“Oh my gosh!” Harper rushed forward.
The moment was completely shattered, and James pulled in a deep breath. Holy shit. He’d just proposed.
But as he watched her scoop Isaac up and apologize to Kylie, who laughed it off very nicely and said she didn’t live far and could easily go home and change, James realized he barely remembered a thing about his night with Kylie. But he remembered every smile Harper had ever given him.
Before Isaac. All these things he felt and thought about her were pre-baby. Had it all come rushing forward now that they were doing this huge, crazy, over-the-top thing of caring for a newborn together? Yes. But it had all been there before.
Now he just needed to figure out what to do about Emily, and everything would be great.
He needed to call a lawyer.
And maybe buy a ring.
No, for sure buy a ring.
“He proposed,” Harper said to Celia. For the third time.
“You mentioned that,” her friend said dryly.
“I mean, that’s insane.”
Celia shook her head. “I’ll give you that it’s a little crazy, but it’s not insane. You’ve known each other for six months. As he said, you like each other. Now you know the sex is amazing. You practically live together. There’s a dog and now a baby.” Celia took a sip of her tea. “It’s not really insane at all.”
“So that’s all you need? To like each other, have great sex, and get a dog and baby?” Harper asked.
Celia seemed to think about that. “Well, I’d say those are a pretty great place to start. I mean, there’s also stuff like kindness and trust and respect, of course.”
They already had those, too. Harper realized that she was not winning this argument. Why was she arguing again? She looked down at the stroller where Isaac was reclining, happily watching the brightly colored stuffed lion toy that hung from the stroller’s canopy. She wanted this little boy, and surely her and James being married would make that easier. The state or a judge or whoever decided these things probably liked giving babies to married couples. Right?
“Are you hung up on the fact that James is young?” Celia asked, sipping again.
“He is young,” Harper said.
“He’s not young,” Celia disagreed. “He’s younger than you. But it’s not like he’s barely legal.”
“He’s…” Harper trailed off.
“He’s what?”
Young. She’d been about to say young. But it wasn’t true. She sighed and looked at her friend. “He used to seem young. I wanted him to be too young. I thought he was this party guy who just went out all the time and loved to joke around and didn’t take things seriously. But he’s none of that.” Which meant all her excuses to not fall for him were gone.
Probably a good thing. Since she’d fallen for him about three months ago.
“He does hang out at the jazz club a lot,” Celia said.
“He plays there,” Harper said. “I think just because he really loves it. I’m guessing it’s the people as much as the music. There are probably guys there who he buys meals for or waitresses he overtips to help them out with their bills or something.”
“I was trying to be helpful,” Celia said with a little laugh. “But yeah, he’s a great guy. So for the record, I’m on Team James.”
“Team James?” Harper said. “Who’s the other team?”
“Team Stay Single and Celibate,” Celia said with a grin. “I guess I could call James’s team Team Orgasm Central or Team Happily Ever After.”
Harper shook her head. “Those seem like two kind of different things.”
Celia gave her a look that said she knew Harper knew better. “But they’re really not, are they? They’re the perfect combination.”
Harper stirred her now cold tea. Finally, she nodded. “Yeah, they are.”
“Is he the forever type?” Celia asked. “I mean, that’s really the question. Can all of this stuff… the stuff you’ve fallen for and talked about a lot over the past six months… last? Is this the real him, or do you think it will change?”
Harper knew the answer immediately. “It will last. It’s the real him.” She sighed. “But this is about Isaac. And the idea of losing him. He’s thinking this will make it easier to keep him.”
“It probably will.”
Harper nodded. “He wouldn’t have proposed without the baby in the picture.”
Celia shifted forward in her chair to rest her forearms on the tabletop. “Well, so what? It’s not like you’re a total stranger. It’s not like you don’t already like each other. You have chemistry. The baby has fast-forwarded things. So what? 'Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.'”
Harper rolled her eyes. As a planner, she’d always hated that quote. “You think it’s okay to get married because of the baby?”
“I think there are worse reasons to get married.”
Harper sighed. “I’m not sure you’re being helpful.”
Celia laughed. “It’s incredibly helpful to tell you to relax and to follow your heart.”
“Unless it ends up getting broken.”
Celia reached out and grabbed her hand. “Honey. Look at that baby.”
Harper looked down at Isaac.
“How is that baby going to break your heart?”
Harper shook her head. “Not him. James. I’ve never felt this way about a guy before,” she told Celia. “I’ve never been in love before.”
Celia rewarded her with a bright smile. “Well, I have a feeling being in love with a hot, charming, funny firefighter and jazz musician, who’s a softie for dogs and babies and who knows how to find your G-spot in point three seconds is going to be really, really easy.”
In spite of the butterflies swooping in her stomach, Harper nodded. “You have a point.” Too easy really.
Celia gave her a sly smile and leaned in farther. “So he did find your G-spot in point three seconds?”
Harper couldn’t have hidden her satisfied grin if she’d tried. Which she didn’t. “Point two seconds.”
Celia sat back with a sigh. “Oh my God, that’s awesome.”
“It really was,” Harper agreed. “I’m starting to understand why new parents don’t have a lot of sex, though.” She shot the baby an affectionate look. “It’s been a whirlwind, and I don’t think we’ve slept more than about five hours at a time.”
“Then it’s extra good that James can find that spot so quickly. No need to waste time looking around.”
Harper couldn’t disagree. They both laughed and sipped their nearly cold beverages, and Celia turned the conversation to wedding venues.
But Harper couldn’t ignore the little niggle in the back of her mind. She was falling in love with James. But he was in love with the idea of… them. But them as a group. Making this work. Making this family happen. For Isaac.
She loved Isaac, too. Yes, being a family with him, for him, was great. But she would love James without the baby in the picture. Was that true
of how James felt about her? Had he even thought about that?
That question was easy to answer.
No.
He hadn’t really thought about how he was feeling, or why. James just rolled with things as they came. He charged through doors in buildings that were, literally, on fire, not knowing what was on the other side. He came home to a door that often had surprises outside of it. Surprises that never made him even blink. Not really. No matter how he tried to pretend when he knocked on her door. He was fine with spontaneity and surprises and adventure.
This might just be another surprise that he was dealing with as things came. Like Henry outgrowing his first tank and Ami needing major bathing after he’d gotten off the leash and rolled around in a pile of trash. James grinned through it all and just dealt with it.
A baby showed up on his doorstep? James took him in. The baby has an explosive poopy diaper? James jumped in the shower. The baby needs a mom? James marries the woman who's already coming into the apartment to feed the lizard and dog. Pretty efficient, really.
Harper fought the urge to laugh hysterically. Suddenly she leaned in and unstrapped Isaac, lifting him out of the stroller and cuddling him to her shoulder, rubbing his back. He nuzzled in against her neck in a way that was becoming very familiar and felt completely natural.
“Professor Broussard?”
Harper looked over her shoulder. The one not occupied by a baby who needed help holding his head up but who was checking the world out from his perch.
“Sophie. Hi.” She gave one of her favorite students a smile. “How are you?”
“I’m fine.” Sophie was staring at Isaac. “You, um, have a baby?”
Harper had known bringing Isaac to campus today would be cause for some questions. But she hadn’t wanted to leave him with Bea today, after all. The other woman was available, and Harper had been in her car with him on her way over there, but with every passing block she’d been less and less okay with the idea. He’d been with Bea the other night, and everything had been fine. Harper and James were both going to continue working, so they’d have to figure out a plan with care for Isaac during their work hours.
But today Harper had wanted him with her. It was the first time she’d had him on her own. This was all still new. And it was the first time she’d really, truly considered the idea that he could be hers long term. In her mind, he’d been James’s son all along, but she hadn’t really let herself think about how she fit into it beyond the next day or so. Now she had. And she wanted the baby with her. She knew her boss would be okay with it. She had a class and then a long break, then another class, then a break. Isaac was still young enough that he was sleeping a lot, and if she planned feedings and changings just right, he might sleep peacefully to the side of the classroom while she lectured.
The first period had gone perfectly. She just had two more to get through.
But now she had to answer the question about who he was. Celia knew. Her boss knew that she was dating Isaac’s dad—she’d given her department head that much information, at least. She supposed she could tell Sophie the same.
“Kind of,” she said with a smile, turning him so Sophie could see him better. “This is my… boyfriend’s son.” Nope, she just couldn’t use the term fiancé yet.
Sophie looked surprised then frowned. “Oh. You’re dating someone with a baby?”
Harper had recognized early on that one of the things that had drawn her to Sophie was how much she’d seen herself in the girl. Harper had appreciated Sophie’s color-coded planner and that she’d attended office hours nearly every week and had volunteered to tutor other students. Harper had found her intense and interesting and incredibly relatable.
But in spite of her buttoned-up, perfectionistic, clearly ordered personal priorities, Harper was sure Sophie knew people sometimes got pregnant without meaning to, and she knew that people who made babies together didn’t always stay together. She surely knew lots of kids had four parents because of divorce. Or grew up in foster care. Or were adopted. While Sophie clearly avoided all things unpredictable herself, she had to know that life sometimes threw curveballs that people couldn’t dodge.
There was something about making Sophie understand this fact that suddenly seemed important to her.
Because Harper was Sophie. Or had been. And she would have been very judgmental about a favorite professor, a woman who had worked for a doctorate degree and had her eyes set on a department head position and authoring research papers and getting tenure, who suddenly found herself tied to a jazz musician with a baby who had been dumped on his doorstep.
“Yes. I’m dating his dad.” Harper gave Sophie a smile. She shot Celia a look. Her friend was watching with interest. “It’s a little complicated,” she told Sophie.
“I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend,” Sophie said. But then she smiled. “Not that I expect I would have known, I guess. It’s none of my business.”
Harper didn’t share things about her dating life with her students, but she had shared where her love of languages came from and her family history. She’d thought it would make them feel more able to connect with her if they understood her passion for what she taught. So yes, she’d been a little personal with them and had encouraged them think about what the class—what all of their classes—really meant to them and how their chosen major mattered and was influenced by their personal stories. That was how Sophie had ended up in her office sharing about her dedication to her education and how hard she’d worked to get where she was.
“Oh, I don’t mind you knowing,” Harper said. “It’s all kind of new.”
Sophie took a step closer to their table, and Harper turned more fully in her chair.
“He seems really little,” Sophie said. “How old is he?”
“Only a couple of weeks.” If James and Isaac were going to be a part of her life then she needed to get used to telling people about them.
“What’s his name?” Sophie asked.
“Isaac.” Harper felt that same surge of pride and love go through her saying his name.
“Oh.” Sophie gave her a smile. “I like that name.”
“It means ‘God laughed,’” Harper said. “Or, ‘He laughed.’ And that makes me think of words like ‘joy’ and ‘happiness’ and ‘delight.’ Those are all things he makes me feel.” James did, too. She couldn’t avoid that thought.
“Wow.” Sophie nodded. “I should have expected you to know the meaning of a name.”
Celia gave a soft laugh at that.
Harper smiled at them both. “I helped pick it out.”
Sophie smiled again. “I’m glad.”
“You are?” That seemed like a strange thing to say.
“That means you’re really involved, right? That’s great. You’ll be a great mom.”
The compliment shocked Harper. No one had ever said that to her before. People rarely asked her about having kids since she wasn’t married. Her parents didn’t even ask. She supposed they just assumed it would come up when it was time. But she hadn’t been around kids much in her life, so she’d never had anyone comment one way or another about how she’d be with one. “You think so?”
“Of course. You’re so patient,” Sophie said. “And, of course, a great teacher.” She smiled. “But you’re also so smart and clearly driven and goal oriented. Those are important things to pass on to a kid. And you have a steady job and a family you care about a lot who are really supportive and all of that.” Sophie shrugged. “Seems like you’re in a great place to be a mom now.”
Harper looked at Celia again. Celia nodded with a smile.
Harper thought about all of that. It was all true. She was stable in her job. She wanted more out of her career, but her goals were things that would take years, and that could be accomplished while having a family. Many women had done that before her. She did have a supportive, loving family. They were far away, but she could imagine that her parents would fall in love with Isaac right away a
nd would be emotionally supportive even from a distance. And her propensity for organization and planning would only be an asset when it came to being a working mom. She’d have to be organized to handle work and soccer practice and sleepovers. But she and Isaac could sit at the table at night and work together—him on his homework, her on grading her students’ homework.
And it didn’t surprise her at all that the table which came to mind when she pictured that was James’s.
“Thank you, Sophie,” she said sincerely. “That is really nice of you to say. I didn’t realize that I needed that little confidence boost.”
Sophie smiled. “I can’t imagine you ever feel less than fully capable.”
“Oh, I do.” Harper laughed. “I definitely do. But—” She looked down at Isaac’s head and ran a hand over his hair. “I think when you do something that you really care about, then your love for it helps make up for the nerves about doing it.”
Sophie nodded. “I like that.”
Harper smiled. It was good for young women to see women a bit older, women they admired, dealing with real life, and she was thrilled to be able to do that for Sophie. Harper did know that Sophie was from South Dakota so was far from home and any positive female role models or support she might have there. If there were any.
“How many brothers and sisters do you have?” she asked on impulse.
Sophie seemed surprised, but she answered, “An older sister and a younger brother.”
“Are they back home in South Dakota?”
Again, Sophie seemed surprised that Harper had remembered that. “They are,” she said. “My sister is older than me, but she… needs a lot of help from my parents. She makes a lot of bad choices.” She sighed. “And my brother is still in high school and at home. But he’s a handful. So my mom is pretty busy worrying about them.”
“Meaning she doesn’t worry about you much?” Harper asked.
Sophie pulled herself up straighter. “I don’t give her anything to worry about.”
“You’re far from home, in college, working hard. I’m sure she worries some,” Harper said.
Sophie shook her head. “Really, no. It’s a relief to her that I’m gone, and she has one less kid around.”
Getting Off Easy Page 17