2.35 Finish What You Started

Allie

Phil was sitting at his desk, working on another story, when I walked into the room. It brought an involuntary smile to my face. I loved seeing him so completely immersed in his writing. It just reminded me what an amazing man I’d married. And now I had some pretty big news to tell him…

“Honey? Can you come sit with me for a second?”

Phil only looked up when I called him and smiled. “Sure.”

 

We sat down on the bed. “Did you feed Ollie?” I nodded. “Yep. He’s fast asleep with a full tummy.” “Great.”

I took a deep breath. “Phil, I have to tell you something and it might shock you a bit at first.” Phil looked worried. “What? Is everything all right?”

“I’m pregnant.” I blurted it out quite abruptly, and Phil looked at me with a neutral expression, blinking a few times. “Wait, didn’t we have this conversation like a year ago?”

“I’m pregnant again,” I explained impatiently.

 

It finally seemed to sink in. “Wait, what? Is that even possible? Ollie is not even six months old. I thought…” “Well, we didn’t use any protection,” I reminded him. We had always wanted more than one child, but we hadn’t expected them to come so soon after each other, especially considering the struggle we’d gone through to get pregnant even once.

Phil frowned thoughtfully for a while, not saying anything. “So… What do you think?” I asked shyly after a while.

 

“Another baby… A brother or sister for Ollie…” Slowly, Phil’s worried frown turned into a broad smile. “I mean – it’s unexpected, but this is what we always wanted, right?” “Right,” I said, relieved. I’d been worried that Phil would totally flip out at the unexpected news, but he pulled me closer to him. “See, I told you. You’re just turning into a baby making machine.”

He patted my stomach and I laughed.

 

“Guess we’ll have two under two,” I joked. Phil kissed me softly and smiled.

“I’d have a hundred babies with you if I could, Allie.”

 

Enzo

Michelle and I were tangled up on the couch in a confusion of lips, tongues and lacy lingerie. We’d left the bedroom for a midnight snack and then ended up on the couch again, popcorn left untouched on the counter top.

“Hm,” I murmured, trying to pull away from Michelle’s hands around my neck. “Wait a second, I want to ask you something.”

 

Reluctantly, Michelle let go. She gave me a curious look. “If this is about your designs for Cat Attack 4, we can talk about it in the office tomorrow.”

“No, no, that’s not it. Uhm…” I wasn’t quite sure how to bring it up. It suddenly sounded silly, but I had to ask. “So, uh, I told you I’m looking to get my own place, right?”

“Yes, you did. Why, have you found an apartment already?”

“Not exactly. I was just thinking… Maybe… Maybe we could find a place? Together?”

 

Michelle stared at me blankly for a while, as if not registering what I was saying. Then she frowned and pulled back a little further. “Wait, you want us to move in together?”

“I guess… Kind of…”

“Enzo, are you crazy? We can’t do that! God, do you keep forgetting that I’m your boss? If anyone knew what we were doing right now, I’d lose my job!”

Suddenly, I got angry. “Then why have we been doing this for a year, huh? Why didn’t you stop me after the first time? Or better yet, not offer me a bottle of wine when I came here that night?”

 

“Right, like you wanted to be stopped,” Michelle scoffed sarcastically. “Do you even hear how ridiculous you sound, Enzo? You know we couldn’t do something like that. It’s not an option.”

“Fine, forget I said anything, then! Sorry for showing you that I care about you!”

She had a point, of course. I’d known from the start that moving in together wouldn’t be possible without serious consequences neither of us wanted. But still, the fact that she didn’t even consider the idea, that she didn’t want it even a little bit, had hurt me a lot more than I’d expected.

We were both silent after that, staring out in front of us for a while.

 

Finally, Michelle scooted closer to me and took my face in her hands, stroking my cheek.

“Enz,” she said, softly, “you know I love spending time with you and that I really enjoy our nights together. It’s just not worth losing both of our jobs over. And you’re far too young to be moving in with anyone. Don’t take it personally.”

I sighed. “Fine. I’m sorry I asked.”

Michelle kissed me on my lips and smiled. “Come on. Let’s go to the bedroom. Finish what you started, big guy.”