My phone rang in my front shirt pocket, and I almost dropped it on the pavement as I scrambled to answer it.
“Hello,” I said, disappointed.
“Sorry, I know you’re waiting for a call,” Trevor said, chuckling. “Just wondering if you wanted some company. I’ll make dinner.”
“If you’re cooking, you can come over anytime,” I answered, smiling as I walked to the front door.
“Okay, good. I’m here.”
I turned as Trevor’s truck pulled in behind me and parked.
“You ass!” I called out, laughing as he climbed down from the cab. “What if I’d said no?”
“You’d never say no to dinner,” he called back with a smug smile.
I unlocked the door while Trev unloaded the groceries, then left it open behind me as I went into the house.
I’d been trying to get things fixed up as much as I could, and the entire place was looking better than it had since I’d bought it. Furniture and a baby swing in the living room, a table and chairs I’d found on clearance in the kitchen, and baby paraphernalia anywhere I could store it.
It finally looked like a home instead of somewhere I crashed when I had nothing else going on.
“Place is looking good,” Trev said, echoing my thoughts as I followed him into the kitchen.
“Thanks. It’s a work in progress.”
“Who knew getting a baby would put a fire under your ass?”
“Who knew I’d ever have a baby?” I chuckled.
“Eh, I knew you would eventually,” he said quietly, emptying ingredients for tacos all over my countertop. “Wasn’t sure how you’d do it, but I knew you would.”
“Really?” I asked in surprise, grabbing a soda out for each of us. “I didn’t.”
Trev nodded, pulling out the ground beef and a frying pan. “Tunes?”
“Sure.” I turned on the stereo on my kitchen counter.
“So, yeah,” Trev said. “I always figured you’d be a mom. Get me a spatula? You love kids, and you’ve always said you wanted a family.”
“Yeah, but after this hysterectomy stuff—”
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
“Ew!” My face twisted. “Why the fuck would anyone skin a cat?”
“Shut up,” Trev chuckled. “Adoption is a good choice.”
I was silent for a few moments. “Did you ever look for your parents?”
Trev glanced at me in surprise. “You worried about that? Wait. Get a knife. You can help me cut shit up while I’m spilling my guts.”
He set me up with a couple tomatoes and a cutting board before going back to browning the meat. “Yes,” he said with a slow nod. “When I was nineteen, I looked them up. I probably shouldn’t have.”
I glanced at him but didn’t say anything.
“My dad was fine. Had a family with his wife and wasn’t interested in anything I had to say.”
“Ouch,” I replied, slicing through a tomato.
“Eh. I got it. I have parents.” He shrugged. “I didn’t need him for anything, more just curious, you know?”
I nodded.
“My mom was dead.”
“Oh, shit.” The knife in my hand slipped, nearly taking off the end of my finger.
“Whoa, careful,” Trev warned. “Yeah, she overdosed when I was fourteen.”
“Do you ever wish—” I stuttered, shaking my head. “I feel like I’m stealing their baby or something.”
“Seriously?” he asked incredulously.
“I don’t know. It’s just—she’s my little sister. Like, what if this isn’t what she wants to do and I become this monster that takes her baby?”
“She called you, right?” he asked, draining a can of olives.
“Yeah.”
“And the dad is out of the picture?”
“No, I think he’s around. But he’s like sixteen.”
“Look, you have to—” He paused as if gathering his thoughts. “She came to you, Ani. She wants you to raise her baby because she’s not ready to do it herself. That doesn’t make you the bad guy. That makes you the lucky guy.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“The baby isn’t going to resent you,” he said gently, draining the hamburger grease into the empty olive can. “Being adopted—shit. At first, yeah, maybe you might get into fights with him. Okay? Like around thirteen when he wants to go shoot paintball but he got a bad grade so he’s grounded. He’s going to say shit that breaks your heart. But underneath all that? You chose him, Ani. He wasn’t an accident or a mistake. You actually chose to take him in and make him yours. He’ll know that.”
“Did you do that stuff?” I asked, my eyes watering.
“I was an asshole,” he said with a snicker. “But probably not as bad as Henry.”
“I’m just nervous.”
“I think that’s probably normal.”
“What if she changes her mind?” I murmured, sticking some tortillas into the microwave.
“Then you won’t be a mom yet. Yet, Ani. Because you will be. If not this baby, then the next one. Or maybe you’ll adopt a five-year-old. Who knows? But you’ll have a family. I’m sure of that.”
“Thanks, Trev.” I smiled at him and grabbed a couple plates out of a cupboard.