I hatedbeing so far from the city, as Goose and I drove the hour and forty-fiveminutes to my parents’ house on Long Island, with Tony wagging his tail in thebackseat. Things can change so quickly in the neonatal unit, and all I couldthink about was,what if something happens while I’m here? What if I didn’tmake it back in time to …
Ididn’t want to think about it or any of the horror stories I had read on DoctorGoogle or witnessed with my own eyes. I didn’t want to think for even a secondthat any of those scenarios could happen to my baby.
So,instead I told Goose about my childhood, filling the time with memories andthings I missed about the home of my youth. He had grown up in the city andcouldn’t imagine living in the suburbs, with a backyard and a dead-end street.It was just a different way of growing up, he said, and even though I agreed,deep down I kind of felt sorry for him.
Whenwe arrived, he looked out the window with a wistful smile on his face. I askedwhat that look was for and he simply told me that it wasniceand he could understand why I’d missed it so much.
“Hello,favorite daughter!” Mom bellowed, running out of the house and down the walkwayto greet us.
“Hey,Mom,” I said, rolling my eyes as I grinned.
Shepulled me in for a big hug as she smiled at the Viking by my side and said,“How are you, Goose?”
“Doingpretty great, Mrs. Wright,” he replied, opening the backdoorand taking Tony’s leash, before pulling out a large aluminum tray. “Hope youguys love wings.”
Dadchuckled. “Do I likewings?!”
Iturned to Goose and said, “Dad’s a bit of a wing connoisseur.”
Myboyfriend’s jaw dropped. “And you didn’t tell me this, why?”
Ishrugged. “It never came up.”
“Youwent through your entire pregnancylivingon these wings and not oncedid you mention that your dad is a wing fan?”
Ishrugged as I headed up the walk with my mom, our arms wrapped around eachother. Goose walked with my dad, muttering, “Man, I can’t believe she didn’tsay anything. I would’ve hooked you up.”
Dadreplied, “Don’t worry about it, buddy. You’ll have a lot of time to make up forit, I’m sure.”
***
“Ithink your dad is trying to make you an honest woman,” Goose whispered, as weheaded down the upstairs hall to my room.
“Whydo you say that?”
“Becausethe guy’s been dropping all kinds of hints,” he replied. “Like, just now, hewas saying he’s glad you’re finally with someone he could see you spending along time with.”
Glancingover my shoulder, with my hand on the doorknob to my room, I asked,” Well, Ihavetold you how my parents hated Brendan, right?”
Narrowinghis eyes, he shook his head. “No, you never mentioned that.”
Iopened the door, as I said, “I thought they made it pretty obvious in thehospital. Or on Mother’s Day.”
“Uh,well, yeah. But the guy ditched you after you had just had his baby. Of course,they would hate him. I didn’t realize they had always felt that way, though.”
“Theyalways thought I could do better,” I replied, suddenly realizing now how rightthey had always been.
Steppinginside, I swept my eyes over the bedroom I had missed so much since moving tothe city. Big and spacious, with a bed I could’ve slept in for weeks, the roomhad never stopped feeling like mine, even after all this time. Goose let loosea long, impressed whistle.
“Damn,girlfriend. This place is as big as your apartment.”
“Oh,my God,” I laughed, shaking my head. “No, it’s not.”
Itreally wasn’t. The room was a decent size for a child’s bedroom, but it wasnowhere near equivalent to a seven-hundred square foot apartment.
“Okay,maybe not, but this is just your bedroom. That’s not counting the rest of thehouse that you’d have for both you and Alex.”
Iturned to face him, watching studiously as he wandered around the room,touching my comforter and the armchair I loved to read in by the picturesquebay window. I wondered what was on his mind and what was keeping his mouth in afirm, straight line. But before I could ask, he turned to me with a grin and ajump of his brows.
