Chapter Thirty-One

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Sunday night I took the Gi shift overnight again.  Brad called Monday on his lunch break.

"Hey, baby".  His calm deep voice thrilled my soul and sent goosebumps up my arms.

"Hey".

"Can I see you tonight?", he asked.

"Sure. I'll come over after I make these guys supper. Or, actually, do you want to come here for supper?", I asked, making eye contact with Kendra, who gave me two thumbs up.

"I'd love to", he said.

When I hung up, Kendra said, "Honey, I know you're torn, and I understand you love them both, but do you think maybe Rev is more of a physical attraction?"

"Oh, it's definitely more physical than with Brad", I said. "It's all I want to do around him. It's all I think about. He's...incredible", I said, flushing.

"But could it maybe be more that kind of love than the deep kind?", she pressed. "I mean, I've seen you with both of them, and I'm not convinced Rev's your guy. I think it's different with Brad. You two connect on a different level".

"I would say I love Brad differently", I admitted, "but the problem is I can't say I love one or the other more or less. They're just different".

"Honey, I do not envy you", she said.

...........................................................................

Brad followed Andy home from work. I was cooking, Gianna was crying, and Kendra was walking with her trying to get burps out.

Brad loped right over to me, snagged me around the waist, and planted a kiss on me like I belonged to him. When I looked in his eyes, I felt like I did. I couldn't help giving him a big smile in return.

"Hey, beautiful", he said, patting me on the butt. "What's for supper?"

"Basically spaghetti with chicken, but I'm calling it marinara so it sounds fancy".

He chuckled. "Can I help?"

"You could put the garlic bread in the oven for me".

"You got it, babe".

After supper, everyone had a drink other than Kendra. I got interrupted several times during eating by Gianna, because I insisted Kendra sit and eat. As soon as Brad was done, he held his hands out for Gi. At that point she was fussing but not crying. I handed her over to him, he put her on his chest, kicked back on the couch with his feet up, and she snuggled in and fell right asleep.

"Unbelievable", Kendra muttered.

"I didn't know you knew how to handle babies", I said, with some admiration.

"You know my mom had a heart for kids. She basically adopted all the kids in the neighborhood. I helped rock plenty of babies to sleep, but honestly that's about the extent of my expertise. She didn't trust me with anything other than holding them".

"Well, thank God for her", Andy said. "Next time I can't get Gi to sleep in the middle of the night, I'm calling you".

"Do it", Brad said. "I'll come right over".

My heart melted as he looked down at her and stroked the fuzzy little patch of brown hair.

I met Kendra's eyes. We were both near tears. How adorable was this man? How sweet?

He would have made an excellent father and an excellent step-father for Drew. Suddenly I felt an unexpected pang of regret. What if he really was meant to be a dad but I took that away from him by my choice not to adopt? Was he just going along with it to make me happy?

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