When We Ached - Book Three

Twenty-Seven

"Okay, bye."

"Be good." I almost rolled my eyes at my own statement. Who am I kidding? I was so not the right person for that kind of advice.

"Hey, man." Vincent yanked the chair and flopped down on it. He looked a bit uneasy though. His mouth sealed in a tight line.

"What's up? You good?"

"Yeah, kind of," he sighed. "I guess."

"What's wrong, Vince?"

He reached out for a glass of water and chugged it down. Then he looked at me. "Reem's pregnant."

"Oh." To say he caught me off guard would be an understatement.

"Exactly, oh. We did a blood test yesterday and yeah, she's pregnant with my child."

"Wait, are you not cool with it or?"

"Of course, I'm cool with it. It's just—" he paused. "It's her I'm worried about."

"What do you mean?"

"It wasn't part of her plan. She just started out, you know and she loves her job. We talked about it and she wants to keep it, we both want to keep it but I'm kinda having cold feet. What if she regrets it later?"

I didn't say anything. I just waited for him to collect himself and keep talking.

"You know, when we found out yesterday, she was so happy that she broke down crying. I know she's happy and honestly, she made me the happiest man on earth. I mean, she's literally giving me a baby but what if that was a one-moment kind of thing?"

"I don't think that's the case, Vince. People don't break down crying for a moment-kind of thing feeling. It takes more than that. And believe it or not, at some point all women want to have babies. It's in their nature, motherly instincts and all. It's unexpected, hard, and maybe overwhelming, I get it but trust me, if anyone is ready to be a dad— it's you."

"You think?"

"Dude, are you for real?" I laughed. "For the record, you've always been there to knock some much-needed sense into me and you showed me the right path to walk on. Frankly, you are too responsible and mature for your age and not just now. Even back in uni, I was that reckless, impulsive, and living-in-the-moment kind of guy, but you— you were always the— what's the damn word?" I clicked my tongue. "The wise one."

He laughed. "Yeah, that I remember, you were unstoppable, man."

I smirked. "Good days."

"Right?"

"Yeah but that aside, I think you can do this. Both of you. Reem can still work until you know, delivers. Then she can pick up from where she left off. I'm sure Hazel will understand her more than you and I will ever do so yeah, she needs to talk to her."

"Yeah, she does. I'm counting on little one, I know for a fact she'll babysit. But what about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, I mean— that's your duty as the godfather."

"Oh, I don't think I'd go there if I were you. I can't even talk to Asher without swearing. Well, unless you want your kid to spell the alphabets for you in cussing forms at 3."

He laughed. "Dude, you have no idea. Reem already set the ground rules. She's already giving me shit for it, she said the fetus can hear us or something."

"Well, sucks to be you. You just booked yourself a nine-month free trial to hell with a bossy, whiny drama queen on crack." Reem was already hard to deal with before getting pregnant. Now everything will be ridiculously amplified.