A soft knock wrapped lightly at the door.
The ultrasound tech looked over at Zoe and asked, “That him?”
“Ryder? Is that you?” Zoe called out, her back to the door.
The door eased open, and she heard a voice behind her. “Zoe?”
“Come on in,” she answered over her shoulder.
The curtain behind her shifted, and Ryder cautiously entered the small, darkened room. “Hi,” he said as he nodded to the tech and looked for a place to sit.
“Welcome. I heard you hit some traffic on the way here,” the tech answered, and nodded toward the chair next to the bed.
Zoe angled her head awkwardly to see him without moving the “perfect” position that the tech had her in.
“Yeah. I forgot about Labor Day traffic,” he said, and scooted the chair up to settle behind Zoe. He rubbed her shoulder and whispered in the dark room, “After rescheduling this enough, I feel awful that I almost missed it because of traffic. I am so sorry.”
“Stop apologizing,” Zoe said, chuckling and her belly jiggled and she quickly stilled again as the tech started to readjust the wand. “The first reschedule was my fault. We have been so short staffed. I’ll be glad when we hire a part-timer to cover.”
Ryder squeezed her shoulder and rested his head on his hand, leaning on her companionably, a nice chinrest for a sleep deprived individual.
Zoe laughed and smiled up at him. “Sleepy?”
He nodded, his chin never leaving his hands on her shoulder. “I tried to get as much done as I could this morning and last night so I wouldn’t have to work at all this weekend.”
“Good job. Now you can sleep as your reward.”
He huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes.
Zoe focused back on the screen. Fuzzy and moving, but big holes for eyes and smaller ones for the nose came into view. “Cute little alien.”
The sonographer clicked the button again and another picture printed for their baby book. Was that a thing she should be buying? It felt a bit premature.
“Looks like my mother already,” Ryder said, and hiccupped at his own joke.
Zoe snorted a laugh and stilled her belly. “Your mother is actually stunning. The big eyes are my mother’s.”
Warm against her side, Ryder grinned and said, “Your mom was gorgeous. Maybe you had a crush on me, but I always had a thing for your mom.”
“What? No.”
“Everyone did. I hate the term milf, but…”
“No,” Zoe said with a little jump, and quickly steadied, but turned subtly so she could see him better. “Seriously?”
With gravity and adoring lightness, he nodded and studied Zoe curiously.
The sonographer looked over at Ryder and asked, “How long have you two been together?”
Zoe answered, “We’re not together—”
At the same time, he answered, “Twenty weeks and five days.”
She grinned up at him and snorted a laugh.
He snickered a teasing grin and corrected, “Oh, you mean like a couple. No, we’re not together. Just accidental reproducing buddies.”
“Oh, that’s my favorite so far,” Zoe said brightly.
