The Gamble, Book 3

Chapter 28

Reid

Goosebumps prickles at my skin, my heartbeat hammered against my ribs a notch or two faster than usual. My palms felt clammy, and my breath was staggered. Nerves. I don't know why I was nervous, it was irrational, but still, I was.

"Here we go, sir, all ready for you." The store clerk smiled softly as he handed me a small bag. "Have a great day."

"Thanks, you too." I nodded politely taking the small black bag and heading out the shop.

"All good?" Caleb looked at me with a smile as he stood there with Rose who'd finally calmed down from a whining fit she'd been having.

"Yeah. All good. Rose okay now?"

"All good. She was a hungry baby, weren't you baby? Yes, you were." I couldn't help but laugh at his sudden change from his usual masculine tone to a softer, more babyish tone.

"You want uncle Reid to carry you? I think you do because you know Daddy's arms are getting achey. Uncle Reid, please carry me so my daddy can rest his arms." Caleb held her up, so she was facing me, moving her around with a high pitched voice as if she was talking.

I shook my head," Give the cutie here then." I carefully took Rose from Caleb, holding her in one arm, so her head was resting on my shoulder.

A small baby giggle came from her, which turned me into a puddle of goo. "You're lucky she likes me."

"She cries when Shane tries to cuddle her." Caleb laughed as he stretched his arms out.

"Girls smart already. I don't know why you didn't bring her pushchair. Not that I'm complaining about the extra baby cuddles and all."

"When you have kids trust me, you will understand that sometimes it's not worth the hassle. Especially when all the parent and baby spaces are taken up, mostly by people without children."

"Well, hopefully, I'll understand it soon enough." I sighed wistfully. I wasn't in a rush, but equally, after we'd had to wait so long for our lives to start, I couldn't wait. "Did you want to head straight back?"

"Nah we can grab a coffee. Rose needs a proper feed too before she starts crying again. Then I suppose we better take her to see Auntie Payton because last time I let you have baby cuddles, and she didn't. I'm pretty sure if looks could kill, I'd be buried so deep no one would ever find me." Caleb chuckled as we started heading towards a nearby coffee shop.

"Yeah, she pretty much wouldn't talk to me for like an hour over it. She's been really broody the past couple of weeks."

"But you two are trying soon, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, going to get one more dose of her injection in January and then no more. How do you and Leslie make it work, with her being back at work and all?"

Caleb shrugged, "Well, I only work Monday to Thursday. And Thursdays I finish early, she only does Wednesday to Saturday. Rose goes to the in-laws on a Wednesday, and daycare for a few hours Thursday. I did tell Leslie she didn't need to work. We could manage on my salary just about, but she's always been a worker, and Leslie didn't want it all to fall on my shoulders. You make it work, and I'm guessing that question comes from you worrying about both your jobs?"

"Little bit, both the studio and shop are hectic." That was one thing we had to figure out — schedules before we started trying, to avoid the stress of it.

"Yeah but, the beauty is, you're both owners of your workplaces. You can pretty much make up your hours. You know Shane won't quarrel about picking up the slack when you two finally have a kid."