Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113130 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113130 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“I’m assuming you didn’t call my father.”
“Of course not,” Manning assures me. “I figured we’d set up a game plan before, you know, we shock him with the news that his baby is having a baby. Plus, I don’t know how Ralph is going to take this.” He shakes his head.
“He’ll be fine,” Jaxon says.
“You’re having a baby,” Manning says to him and Jaxon’s smile goes big, which makes Manning smile. “Now picture that baby is a girl.” Jaxon rolls his eyes. “Then let’s say your best friend’s son gets her pregnant and they weren’t even fucking dating,” he explains the last part with his teeth together. “How happy would you be?”
“We need a game plan,” Jaxon immediately declares. “We tell him in a couple of weeks. Once she’s over the twelve-week mark.” He looks at me. “Two weeks and we’ll break the news to him.”
“Good, I have two weeks to talk you up,” Manning plans. “I mean, not that there's anything wrong with you, but you know, drop some hints about you doing good stuff.”
“He’s known me almost my whole life,” Jaxon reminds him. “He knows what kind of man I am.”
“And he’s known her forever.” Manning points to me. “It’s going to be fine.” He slaps Jaxon’s shoulder and squeezes. “I told you it was going to be fine. It’s going to be fine.” He then turns to me. “Right?”
I look at both of them, father and son, and wonder if the baby will be another generation of them. “Absolutely.” I nod. “Maybe,” I offer. Manning’s face tries not to laugh while Jaxon’s eyes go big. “Probably not,” I admit, “but it is what it is.”
twenty-two
Jaxon
I turn into the driveway and press the button for the garage door and watch it open slowly, before driving in and turning off the car and shutting the door. I take off my sunglasses, tossing them on the passenger seat before I step out of the SUV and reach in to grab the two protein shakes I just picked up after practice.
Opening the door that leads to the house, I hear the sound of her clicking the keyboard in her office. “Baby,” I call, filling the doorway and seeing her sitting in the chair behind the desk, her eyes going from the computer screen to me, “I’m home.” I can’t help but smile at her, walking into the room and seeing her laptop on the couch open. “How come you aren’t working on the couch?” I motion with my head toward the laptop.
“I was and then I got a call.” She pushes away from the desk and gets up, coming to me. She’s wearing gray-blue sweatpants with a matching top that falls off her shoulder. Her hair is braided on the side, and when she stands in front of me, I bend to kiss her shoulder.
“I got you a protein shake.” I hold it up. “Since you liked the one I got myself yesterday, I thought you would like your own.”
She smirks at me and her eyes still seem a little tired. “Are you saying you didn’t like sharing it with me?” Her hand comes out to take one of the cups from me as she takes a sip of it. “So good, who knew?” I roll my eyes. “Just got off the phone with your father,” she tells me. “He called to check up on me for the third time today.”
“He wants to make sure you’re okay,” I defend him. I know since she got out of the hospital three days ago, he’s been on my ass about making sure she’s okay, and I have no doubt he’s been on her ass making sure I’m doing what I need to do.
“I know.” She walks back over to the couch and sits down with one leg curled under her, while she puts the protein drink on the table beside the couch and picks up her laptop. “It’s just—”
“If you want, I’ll tell him to stop.” I sit down next to her and she gasps out.
“I will seriously hurt you if you do that,” she warns as I lean over and kiss her lips. “I’m not kidding, Jaxon, don’t tell him anything.”
“I won’t,” I assure her, grabbing her and putting her to sit in my lap. She squeaks out trying to hold her laptop while I wrap my arms around her waist. “What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for a house,” she states and my eyes go to the screen while my body goes tight. “I found a couple and I’m going to send them to Zoey to see what she thinks about the neighborhood and stuff.”
“You’re looking for a house,” I repeat her words, not sure I actually heard right. She nods her head. “You’re looking for a house.”
“Um, yeah.” She looks up at me confused. “There are a bunch of things to take into consideration that I never thought about before. Like crime rate in the area. Definitely don’t want to go to a place where people are getting killed often.” I listen to her and slowly start to count to ten to calm myself down.