Baby Daddies - Tara Brown Page 0,38
allowed to be fun and mess around. Even Sami seemed better behaved and calmer than at her wedding.
Now that we’ve finished dinner and what’s left of the intimate gathering is sitting around the pool in my backyard, with firepits lit in the many conversation areas, I find myself watching Brady and wondering if he suspects something. Nat hasn’t had a drink. I can’t believe she’s pregnant, but what’s more, I am struggling to comprehend how I’m the only person who knows.
She hasn’t even told Sami, which is strange but I get it. The weddings have been a source of anxiety and pressure for Sami and adding an event she couldn’t have planned for would be the tipping point. She’d lose it.
And Nat doesn’t need her mom knowing. Between Brady and Sami, there’s no guarantee they would keep their mouths shut long enough.
As has become my new norm, my eyes find Jenny in the crowd. She’s sitting with Bev, Nat, Sukii, Sami, Liz, and Brady’s sister-in-law, Lacey, in a conversation pit across from where I’m sitting. From here it seems they’re getting along quite well. But maybe that’s because Sami is the lone blue blood in the crowd.
Matt, carrying his sleeping son, comes to take an empty seat next to me, resting the baby against his chest.
“That’s all he does, isn’t it?” I joke.
“In the evenings, yup. Eat. Poop. And sleep. Sometimes he gets miserable but that just means he needs one of those three things.” Matt kisses the top of his blond head. The kid looks like a toy in Matt’s massive arms.
“He’s so tiny. Aren’t you ever worried about breaking him or accidentally hurting him?”
“No.” He laughs like the question is ridiculous. “He’s huge. Ninetieth percentile. He’s eight months old. He’s been crawling all over, dude. How are you missing this?”
“I don’t know, I swear every time I see him he’s sleeping or eating.” I shrug, still baffled they have a kid at all.
“Well, apparently in the next few months the sleep is gonna go. I’m not looking forward to that development. He isn’t teething yet, but Gran said I didn’t get teeth until I was well over one.”
“That would be a problem for me. I love my sleep. I’m never having kids,” I admit. “Of course, if I accidentally have kids, I’ll be similar to my sister. She’s exactly like our parents. Nannies and cooks and butlers. Everyone taking care of her kids but her. Her life hasn’t changed a bit. They’re going on a yacht cruise in a month for forty days in the Mediterranean and not taking my nieces or nephews. Just leaving them behind, like pets. Not like you guys.”
“If it wasn’t for Sami’s parents needing to be such a heavy part of Eli’s life, I doubt we’d leave the house except for me to go to games and training. Ever. You’ve seen it, she sets up those photo shoots in the house now.” He chuckles. “But I guess we do still have the flip side where like your parents, my mom couldn’t care less about her grandson. She hates me so she ignores him. So long as her monthly allowance shows up, we don’t speak.”
“Aren’t you worried about being like them?” I ask.
“Nope.” He kisses the small tufty head again and pauses there, like he’s inhaling him the way I do Jenny. “I’m gonna mess up a lot of things. But they’ll be all new. I couldn’t replicate a single moment from my childhood, even if I wanted to.” His eyes dart to Bev. “Except them. He’ll spend his summers working the farm and learning to appreciate every day Gran lets him live.” We both smile.
“I’ll never forget going there and sleeping outside with you because she wouldn’t let you in the house. I think it might have changed me a little.”
“Gran’s good for everyone.”
“Speaking of good, Sami seems better,” I change the subject.
“This week brought up some old wounds and we’ve been having heart to hearts. It’s what we needed.” Matt has a curious look in his eyes, and I wonder if he knows about Nat, but I don’t say anything, in case that’s not what he means. “I think this finish line is bigger for her than she realized. Both weddings being done means regular content shoots and fun projects again. Time off and away from social media.”
“Did she tell you about the wedding dress?” I crack a smug grin and glance to where Brady is sitting with Cap, Mike Smolinsky, Brady’s