“You know,” she prompted, when I said nothing, “after Gabe?”
“Yeah. That’s a good idea.” I poked at the corner of my eye, trying to force back the tears. “But what if it’s a girl?”
She shrugged. “Then Gabrielle. Or Gabriella. Whatever you like. They’re both pretty.”
“Okay, open it before I fall apart.”
Taylor grinned, tears sparkling in her eyes, and we squished together to look as she ripped open the envelop.
“Careful, you’ll rip it,” I said, both of us craning our necks to glue our eyes to the paper as she unfolded it. Three words had been written on the paper for us.
It’s a boy.
“Baby Gabe,” Taylor said, her voice catching, and I got shivers all through my body. “Oh my God,” she whispered, and she buried her face in my shirt as I buried my face in her hair. “Tell me you’re happy.”
“I’m so, so happy,” I said, my throat scratchy. Shit. I had to hold it together here. I had a show to play in like half an hour. Plus, I wanted this moment to be perfect for Taylor.
Four in. Hold four. Four out…
“You okay?” she asked, smiling a little.
I laughed nervously. “I’m good. Just need to breathe so I don’t pass out.” I was kidding, thankfully. I hadn’t had a full-on panic attack since my birthday last year.
She held up the photo again. “Look at him. He’s a little rock star already.” Then she looked at the paper again. “Our little boy. I can’t believe it.”
I looked, but then I had to look away before I started crying. He wasn’t even here yet and I was a mess. I took another deep belly breath and cleared my throat.
“That’s weird, though,” I said, pulling an envelope of my own out of my back pocket. “Because the doctor sent me this.”
“What?” She grabbed it, tearing into it. “You didn’t open it?”
“We’re supposed to open it together,” I reminded her.
She pulled out the paper, unfolded it and read it. She was angling it toward me so I could read it with her, but I didn’t need to look. I’d written the words myself.
Will you marry me?
When she turned to me, I was already down on one knee. Her mouth fell open.
“How dare you!” she said. “I thought this one was gonna say we were having triplets or something, and I was TRIPPING.” Then the words on the paper seemed to hit her and she started to cry.
I lifted the ring toward her. “Will you be my wife, Taylor Lawson/Lawczynski?”
“Yes! But can I please take your last name? Clarke is so much easier.”
“Of course.”
“Shit, I can’t even see the ring.” She swiped tears from her eyes. I slid it onto her finger and she yanked me to my feet.
“Don’t you want to inspect the ring before you say yes?” I teased.
“Shut up,” she said, and kissed me.
I got completely lost in tongue-screwing her face as she moaned and pressed against me. Then someone knocked on the door.
“Ignore it,” I muttered, diving back in.
Taylor moaned again, her hands sliding down to my ass.
Then the knock came again. And the door opened.
“Hey—Ohhh, I’ll come back.” We looked up to find Katie Mayes’ best friend, Devi, poking her head into the room.
“It’s okay, Devi,” Taylor said, pulling away from me. “What’s up?”
Devi opened the door a little wider. “I’m just rounding everyone up. Jesse wants to do the cake for Katie before Dirty hits the stage.”
“We’re coming,” Taylor said. She looked up at me. “It’s Katie’s birthday today, if you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t.”
“There you are!” Danica said, popping into the doorway. She grinned when she saw me. “Are you guys coming?”
“We’re thinking about it,” Taylor teased her best friend. “Do we get to smush cake in Katie’s face, though?”
“Of course,” Devi said, just as Merritt popped her head in. “Then we’ll eat cake while the bands rock out. And drink, of course.”
“I brought something non-alcoholic for you,” Merritt informed Taylor. She was wearing the same goofy smile as the other two.
“What’s going on?” I said.
Taylor smiled up at me. “I told the girls they had to wait to find out the baby’s gender after we opened the envelope together.”
“The envelope?” Talia said, popping her head in. “Did I hear something about the envelope?”
“What!” Katie appeared, squeezing into the pile of women in the doorway. “Did they open the envelope?”
“I’m seeing torn envelopes and papers all over the damn place,” Devi said.