“I’m good. Tired,” he sighs.
“Well, of course you are,” Knox scoffs. “Kessler is only a few months old. What did you expect? I don’t know a damn thing about babies, but I know the newborn stage is hard.”
“It’s not easy,” Wyatt agrees. Then something shifts in him, and he straightens up. “Even though I’m tired, I’m soaking up every moment. I missed out on all of this with Ian, but I refuse to miss anything with Kessler.”
“How many times have you been peed on?” Monroe asks, a huge, knowing smile on her face.
“Four times,” Wyatt grumbles even though he has a grin on his face like the last thing he cares about is being peed on by a tiny human. “But it’s been a while since the last time. I learned to be a lot faster about getting his diaper in place,” he admits with a chuckle.
“How’s Tenley doing?” Monroe asks, her eyebrows pulling together with concern.
“She’s doing great. It’s kind of amazing how she’s rocking this new mom thing. I swear she just knows what Kess needs; it’s a little freaky,” there’s a note of awe in his voice.
He sits back, a dopey look on his face and it makes my heart squeeze in my chest for some reason. It’s an odd feeling and I raise my hand and rub my chest like it’ll help relieve the ache; it doesn’t. When he shakes his head like he can’t believe his own life, I find myself smiling slightly.
“Sometimes I catch myself staring at Kessler in the baby monitor when he’s sleeping. It’s like I can’t look away either. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m afraid something will happen to him or I’m just in a constant state of awe. Maybe both?” He looks perplexed at his own question.
“It’s definitely both,” the man Wyatt is tattooing rumbles. “I’d love to tell you that it gets better, but it doesn’t.” There’s a chuckle in his voice and he flashes a grin at Wyatt who lets out a groan like he wishes the guy’s words aren’t true. “And the feeling only grows with every kid you have.”
“Fuck,” Wyatt hisses.
Everyone erupts in laughter around Wyatt. I don’t join in, but my lips do lift into a smirk.
“I don’t see myself having kids,” Monroe muses and we all freeze.
It’s probably horrible of us because of course all women don’t want kids. Procreating isn’t the only purpose a woman has in this life.
“What?” Monroe asks, her eyes wide at the way everyone is frozen. “I just can’t imagine trying to tattoo with a giant baby belly in my way. Talk about back pain,” she snickers.
We all chuckle and Wyatt murmurs, “You might change your mind when you meet the guy who is made for you.” When he looks up at Monroe, her eyebrow is arched in challenge. “Imean,” he backpedals, “you don’t have to have kids. It’s not like I thought I’d have kids myself and look at me now.”
“Thankfully I won’t have any bundles dropped on my porch,” Monroe sasses, “considering I’m the one with the uterus and all.”
Wyatt’s client asks him, “Are you going to keep growing your family?”
I swear our boss goes pale at the question. “Wh-what?” He sputters and shakes his head. “More kids?”
There’s no way for me to contain my chuckle at his obvious discomfort. “Yeah, I mean, you’re surviving the newborn stage, and your wife is young.”
“But I’m not,” Wyatt snaps.
Travis howls out a laugh and doubles over. When I look over at him, his face is bright red. He pretends to wipe tears away from his cheeks as he gets himself under control. “I swear I just saw your soul leave your body, bossman.”
“At least Tenley wasn’t some crazy hormonal mess throughout her pregnancy,” Knox points out.
It’s clear he’s trying to be helpful, but it doesn’t land. The glares Monroe and Wyatt send his way are loaded.
“She grew a whole person. In her body,” Monroe points out fiercely.
Knox holds his hands up in surrender. “I know and that’s fucking amazing. But I thought the whole pregnancy thing was a hormonal horror story; she was her amazing self the entire time. Sure, she was more tired, but other than that?” He shrugs as if that explains everything.
“She even had that cute pregnant lady waddle thing.” Travis chuckles, “It took a lot for me to not compare her to a penguin, but Troy warned me not to say it when Tenley found out she was pregnant.”
“He learned that lesson with Amelia,” Knox throws out there.
I remember Troy telling us about how Amelia, who is married to Beckett Banks, burst into tears when she was pregnant and he alluded to her walk making her look like a penguin. She only stopped when Troy promised to get her ice cream. I have a feeling it was just a ploy for ice cream, but I’m not going to say it and I can’t really blame her for it.
Who doesn’t like ice cream?
