That Baby

by Jillian Dodd

  We take a jogging trail that ends up cutting through a portion of our neighborhood that has multi-million dollar homes. A lot of Danny's teammates live here. I've always wanted to drive through and gawk at the houses.

  Although we enjoy jogging together, we really don't talk much. We listen to our own music, Phillip playing pump-me-up rock while I play a wide assortment from rap, to EDM, to country. I'm not sure what Phillip thinks about while jogging. He always says it helps clear his mind, that he doesn't want to think. I'm the opposite. When I'm stuck on a design or a project, a jog helps me figure it out.

  Phillip turns the corner and we end up going down a hill into a large park area. There's a big swirly slide and a bank of swings. I stop running to stare at them. It's been a while since I've been on a swing. My mind flashes back to a few days after my parents' funeral when Phillip took me to swing. Then it flashes to a time in college when I was having a meltdown over failing a test. It was the beginning of my sophomore year and I'd never failed a test in my life. I figured I'd go drown my sorrows at a frat party, but Phillip drove me to a park where we swung and drank vodka out of a flask. We stayed there for hours, playing like kids, until the mosquitos started attacking us. We went back to our townhouse and watched a movie. I must have fallen asleep during it, because I woke up the next morning all tucked in my bed. Phillip's arm was draped across me and he was snoring softly. If I hadn't known it for sure before then, I knew in that moment I wanted to wake up with him every day of my life.

  Phillip realizes I'm not running any more, because he jogs back to me, pulling out his earbuds and looking at the swings. "Been a while, huh?"

  "Yeah, it has," I say.

  "Last one there's a rotten egg!"

  I race after him, catching up and jumping on his back, but I sort of forget I'm pregnant and my belly bashes into him.

  He falls to the ground laughing about how he's getting too old for this then he rolls on top of me and pins me to the ground.

  "If you're too old and out of shape for a piggy back ride now, there's no hope of you whooping your daughter's future boyfriends," I tease.

  He leans down and kisses me.

  "Your body isn't exactly the same as it used to be," he says gently, pulling me up. "Do you want to swing?"

  "I don't know," I tease. "You think I can with a belly like this?"

  "You're not that big," he tells me.

  "I know. I haven't really popped out yet. But I'm glad. Chelsea was telling me that her back is really bothering her."

  "Do you think Baby Mac will like to swing?"

  "I don't know. Let's find out," I suggest.

  Pretty soon, I'm flying high with my toes pointed toward heaven.

  "I want to build our kids a big swing set in the backyard," Phillip says as we're swinging. "We used to play on ours all the time."

  "How many kids do you want?"

  "I don't know. A lot. Four, maybe five. What about you?"

  "I want more than one, because I always wished I had brothers and sisters. Maybe we should see how we do with one first though."

  Phillip laughs. "We're going to do fine."

  "Do you think we will? I wasn't worried about it before, but Danny and Lori seem to be struggling. It makes me nervous."

  "I think we have a very different kind of relationship than Danny and Lori."

  "How so?"

  "Well, we get along."

  "But what about when we're under stress? When we're tired and crabby?"

  "We survived four years of finals weeks together," he offers.

  "That's because we drank a lot in between studying to blow off steam," I laugh.

  "Well, there you have it. We'll make sure we don't forget to blow off a little steam together." He grabs my swing, stops it from swinging, and pulls me into his arms. "And by blowing off steam, I mean sex."

  "I read that dating is important after a baby. Not just sex. We need to remember to take time to focus on our marriage too."

  "Happy wife, happy life is what my dad always says."

  "I think that's misleading. In trying to make Lori happy, Danny is making himself miserable. I think it has to be a balance."

  He kisses me. "I think you're right. I'll try to keep you happy. You try to keep me happy. And we'll be fine."

  I nod. "I love you, Phillip."

  "I love you too. Speaking of that, I wanted to talk to you about something."

  "Like what?"

  He grabs my hand. "Let's walk home and we can talk."

  "Okay," I say as we head back to the path.

  "So, I was thinking about getting you a new car."

  "Why? My car is only a few years old."

  Phillip looks up at the sky. "Um, I was just thinking a bigger car would be nice. You take the dog everywhere. We'll have a baby seat and all that stuff soon."

  "If you're trying to talk me into a minivan, it's not going to happen. I'm only twenty-three. I'm not ready for that."

  "I was thinking of a SUV. You seemed to like driving Mr. D's when you had it, didn't you?"

  "Are you saying you want to buy me a Mercedes? Um, okay. But what if I got a convertible instead?"

  "That sort of defeats the purpose of a bigger car."

  "I like my car, Phillip. Maybe you should get an SUV."

  "Fine. I looked up the crash ratings on your car. It's not as safe as it could be."

  "Is this about my dream the other night?"

  "Maybe. Kind of. It just got me thinking. What if it was a premonition, Jadyn?"

  His calling me Jadyn stops me in my tracks. "You told me all my wedding disaster dreams didn't mean anything."

  "You weren't pregnant then."

  "You're being silly," I tell him. "I'll be fine. It was just a stupid dream." God forbid I tell him about the river of blood. He'd probably buy me an ark.

  "Princess, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't argue with me about this. Would you just come look at the Audi and the Mercedes? Surely, you want to keep our baby as safe as possible, don't you?"

  "Can we even afford it?"

  "Sometimes it's not about the money, Jadyn."

  I guess I can't argue with that.

  July 14th

  Kicked out of the neighborhood.

  Two days later, on Saturday morning, there's a shiny new black SUV sitting in my driveway.

  Danny comes wandering over to check it out. "Nice," he whistles. "You trade in the Beemer?"

  "No, Phillip got to keep his sports car. I got the mom car."

  "This is hardly a mom car," Danny says. "Horsepower of three twenty-nine. It's got some get up and go."

  "And one of the highest crash test ratings," I tell Danny.

  "That's smart," Danny says. "You'll have some precious cargo in there pretty soon."

  Phillip comes up behind me, wraps his arms around my shoulders, and kisses the side of my face. "I already have precious cargo."

  And, yeah, that makes me melt. I lean my head back into his chest. "I'm teasing about it being a mom car. I think it's beautiful."

  "Plus, you look hot driving it," Phillip whispers. "Course, you'd look hot driving anything."

  "Okay, you two." Danny rolls his eyes. "No sex in the driveway. We don't want you getting kicked out of the neighborhood already."

  Phillip and I laugh.

  "How's Devaney doing today?" I ask.

  "She's asleep," Lori says, sneaking up from behind us, baby monitor in hand. "Phillip, did you get a new car?"

  "I got this for JJ," he says to her. "I knew it would take something really nice to get her to trade her car in."

  "A Mercedes. Well, aren't you a spoiled brat?" Lori says to me. She says it in a way that's supposed to be funny, but there's a bite to her voice.

  "I got it because it's one of the safest SUVs on the market," Phillip tells Lori. "Not because of the brand."

  "That's so sweet of you," she says. "Danny, have you ever checked the safety rating for my car?"

  "Uh . . ." Danny stutters. />
  "Your Altima has a good rating," Phillip interjects.

  She purses her lips and nods her head. "Lucky me."

  "Plus, I just bought a boat," Danny announces.

  "You did what?!" Lori says. It's obvious she knew nothing about it.

  "I bought a boat. I was just coming over here to see if Phillip could go to the dealership with me. Then I thought I would surprise you with it, Lori. It's a gorgeous day. We can get out and enjoy it."

  "You want to take our newborn on a boat?" Lori asks incredulously.

  "She's almost three months old. The couple up the street have a two-month old and they take him on their boat. They say that he sleeps--well, like a baby. I thought it might be a way for us to get out of the house."

  "I'll have to do some research on whether or not it's even safe," Lori says. Devaney makes a little sniffle noise over the monitor, and Lori rushes into the house.

  Danny shakes his head. "I can't win."

  "Danny, if you make a big purchase, it's probably a good idea to tell your wife about it," Phillip suggests.

  "It was supposed to be a fun surprise." He runs his hand across the hood of my car. "You know, she commented the other day about how all the other players' wives have luxury cars. Couldn't you have gotten Jay a nice safe Toyota or something? Although, I'll be damned if I'm getting her one until she starts leaving the house. You know she's started ordering groceries online. She's paranoid the baby will catch a germ."

  "Maybe you should take her out on a date," Phillip suggests.

  "That's why I bought the boat, people. It was supposed to be the best of both worlds. Baby sleeps. We can relax, talk, and reconnect."

  "Maybe we could all go out in it," I suggest. "That would be fun. Or we could watch the baby while you go out."

  "Let's all go," Danny says.

  Danny and Phillip pick up the boat, get it pulled up to the dock in front of their house and, by some miracle, Lori has agreed to go out. Devaney is safely strapped into her baby carrier, which is set on the floor of the pontoon in the shade. Danny wrapped a life jacket around the top of the handle, so in the unlikely event that the carrier gets knocked into the water, it won't sink to the bottom.

  Danny cruises around in the boat for a bit and once Devaney is lulled to sleep, he stops in a calm cove, drops the anchor, and pops open a couple beers, tossing one to Phillip.

  I strip off my tee and shorts. "Let's get in the water!"

  Phillip grabs my hand and together we jump off the swim deck. "Ahhh! That's cold!"

  Danny dive bombs right in between us. "This is awesome," he says. "Come on, Lori. Get in."

  "I'll pass," she says. "I'm afraid my body is not swimsuit ready yet."

  "Who cares," Danny says. "It's just us."

  "I care, Danny," she says in a snotty tone.

  As I get back into the boat, she looks me up and down. "I never would have worn a bikini when I was pregnant."

  "I think she's beautiful," Phillip says, rubbing his hand across my belly.

  "I don't mean this in a bad way," Danny says, "But your stomach doesn't seem that big."

  Lori rolls her eyes.

  "The doctor says because I'm tall the baby has more room lengthwise. We just had a third ultrasound and the baby's right on target."

  "I like how you've been posting pictures of your bump with the chalkboard that shows how far along you are," Danny says. "We'll have to do that for the next one, Lori."

  "Do you want to wait a while to have another or have them close together?" Phillip asks them.

  "I can't even think about that right now," Lori says.

  "That makes sense," I say, trying to be nice. "I think I'd like our kids fairly close together, but that's all just a theory at this point. Babies are obviously a lot of work. I can't even believe how much Devaney has grown already though. She's beautiful."

  "She's really developing a little personality too," Danny says. "That's the fun part. When she smiles, she just melts my heart. My new goal in life is to make her laugh."

  "When do they start doing that?" I ask.

  "Three to four months," Lori says. "And Devaney is very advanced, so I'm sure it will be very soon."

  Danny tosses Phillip another beer. "Lori, you want one?"

  "I'm nursing," she says, like he's an idiot.

  "I thought you could pump and dump?" Danny counters.

  "Do we even want to know what that means?" Phillip asks with a laugh.

  "It's when you pump breast milk out and throw it away. Lots of women do it when they want to drink, but don't want to pass alcohol along to the baby," Danny replies, holding out a beer for Lori, who declines.

  "That's awesome," I say. "I'm totally doing that. I can't wait to drink again."

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  `

  Dear Baby Mac,

  You're 17 inches tall and weighing in at around 3 lbs. You're not going to grow that much more in length (only a few inches), but as we get closer to your birth you're going to pack on the pounds at a rate of a half a pound per week.

  Since your dad can feel you kick all the time now, he's starting to freak out a little.

  The good news is, I got a really gorgeous new car out of the deal. I've been complaining a little about losing my two-door sports car, but I freaking love this SUV. It's luxurious, sleek, and even has heated seats, which I can't wait to use this winter.

  Your dad bought us the safest car he could find, because he says we are his most precious cargo.

  Which is really pretty sweet.

  He's also having our home security system redone. We used to have basic door alarms but he's adding glass break detectors to all the windows and something that detects if they are opened.

  (Poor child, you'll never be able to sneak out at night.)

  He also made them add a cellular uplink, so in case someone ever cut our phone lines the alarm would still go off.

  He also has baby-proofed the house.

  This is something you typically don't do until your little bundle of joy starts to become mobile.

  But we now have covers over all the outlets and annoying little latches on the cabinets. I guess the good news is when you do start moving around, we'll be ahead of the curve.

  Angel is getting bigger and bigger. I can't believe how fast she is growing. She doesn't look like my little baby puppy anymore. She loves to go jogging with us and whines and sits by the garage door when it's time to go to work.

  Mostly, she likes to go to work because Peggy brings her Chick-fil-A biscuits every morning. The other day, it was pretty funny. Angel puked the biscuits up all over Peggy's purse. I thought she'd get upset, but she wiped it off, called her a little minx, and then gave her a cookie.

  Although Angel isn't allowed to get close to Devaney, when she has she's so gentle. Which considering how rambunctious she is, says a lot. I know she's going to love having you around.

  She had to go to the groomers the other day after she decided rolling around in goose poop was a fun activity. They sent her home with a hot pink bandana, and she looks so stinking cute. It fits her spunky personality.

  Although I've known it for quite some time now, your dad just realized that Angel isn't really an angel.

  While he was in the shower this morning, she shredded the bathroom rug.

  I have no idea how he didn't notice she was tearing it into bits when the shower door is glass.

  July 23rd

  Could be a boy.

  I come home from work to find Phillip's mother surrounded by bags.

  "Looks like someone's been shopping," I observe.

  "I have been. I got so many cute little pajamas for the baby. And some toys. I also bought an assortment of diaper sizes. Oh, and look," she grabs my hand and pulls me into the entryway, pointing toward our dining room.

  I swallow hard. "You bought us a picture. Of a storefront in Paris."

  "Your dining room looks so pretty since you got the new chairs, rug, and curtains, but that wal
l just looked bare."

  "We were waiting to get a painting at the art fair this fall."

  "Oh, well, now you don't have to!"

  "Uh--" I start to say, but she pulls me back into the living room and distracts me with adorable baby clothes.

  She pulls out a list. "Phillip found this list of baby needs online. I'm working my way through it."

  "You don't have to buy all this stuff," I tell her. "It's really nice of you though."

  She gives me a beaming smile. "I tell everyone I see that I'm going to be a grandma. I can't wait. I noticed Phillip has been baby proofing."

  "Yes, I suspect he's going to build a plastic bubble over the house soon."

  She laughs. "He's pretty excited. I think he'll be a very good father."

  "I think he will be too. Although, I'm going to have to hide the pregnancy bible. He keeps reading the worst-case scenario section."

  "That's normal for a first-time dad, and I can see it being important to Phillip. He's a boy scout. He's always supposed to be prepared."

  "That's true," I laugh.

  She looks up at the ceiling then says somberly, "I'm sad your parents aren't here for this."

  Her sudden change in conversation catches me off guard and her words fill me with sadness. "I am too."

  "I think it's part of the reason I'm going a bit overboard on the clothes and toys. Can you imagine the fun your mom and I would have had shopping together?"

  "She did love to shop."

  "This is something she would have bought," she says, showing me a pink onesie with an attached tutu, flower ribbons, a matching floral headband, and socks. "She dressed you like this when you were little. All pink, flowers, and glitter."

  "Until I learned the word no."

  "You always wore dresses. In fact, you didn't actually ever crawl. You did this weird handstand thing, because when you were on your hands and knees, you would crawl onto your dress and get stuck."

  "That's funny. I didn't know that."

  "I also bought a bunch of baby hangers. Do you have time to go put this stuff in the nursery?"

  "Yeah, let's do it. Hang on, though. The baskets I ordered for the changing table came in. We can put all the diapers away too."

  We're organizing all her purchases when my phone rings.