“Look, I’m not sure this is the place to discuss this.” She glanced around the busycafe.
“So, does Drew still want to marryyou?”
Okay—that wasnotwhat I had in mind. But since we werehere…
I waited patiently for her toanswer.
All right, not so patiently. I drummed my heel against thefloor.
Wait forit.
One corner of her mouth twitched up. Then the other side did thesame.
And if that wasn’t puzzling enough—she threw her head back inlaughter.
Which gained her a few oddglances.
Mostly from me. My girlfriend was seriously losingit.
“Why would you think he’s interested in marrying me? For one, that man can have any woman he wants. He doesn’t want one with a baby intow.”
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with Lily.” I smiled at my daughter. “Is there,sweetheart?”
Lily grinned at me andcooed.
Right—never mind that. We were talking about Drew and Holly. “I heard you ask your mother if Drew doesn’t mind that Lily belongs to someoneelse?”
“It’s not what you think. Yes—my mum is hoping I’ll move back to Australia. And yes—she and her friend are hoping he and I will get together because as far as her friend is concerned, that’s the only way she’s going to get grandchildren. Drew hasn’t exactly been working hard in that department as far as she’s concerned. But like I said, Drew isn’t interested in me thatway.”
“Then what was the offer you and your mom were talking about on thephone?”
“There’s an opportunity with the company Drew had dealt with before. But the position is in New YorkCity.”
“And you’re considering it?” Frustration stomped through mytone.
Lily squirmed in my arms, whimpered, then let out a lung-filledprotest.
“She’s hungry,” Holly said, taking Lily from me. She adjusted her clothing and effortlessly got Lily into position on herbreast.
Now guys, if there’s ever a time not to argue with your girlfriend or wife it’s while she’s breastfeeding your child. It won’t score you any points if you do—and you’ll be too distracted, knowing the baby’s getting to suck on the breasts that you used toenjoy.
And who will end up winning the argument? That’s right, shewill.
But that’s easy to say when you aren’t the one itching to continue the argument through to the next round. When you know she isn’t going anywhere until she has finished feeding yourchild.
When you know you have a captive audience, no matterwhat.
“Why don’t you want to marry me?” Iasked.
I know—that wasnotwhat you were expecting me to say. But now that we had cleared the air about Drew not being interested in Holly that way, I wanted to know why she wasn’t interested in marryingme.
Fair enoughquestion?
She let out a long sigh—the type of sigh where you braced yourself against any piece of furniture fastened to the floor or wall. “Why doyouwant to marry me,Josh?”
“Because one—I love you. Two—we made an amazing little girl together. And three—because it just makessense.”
“Why does it makesense?”
