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“I’m going to spend some time here and figure it all out.”
“What is there to figure out?” Mom asks, confused.
“Honey,” Dad says, “she lives and works four hours away.”
“So? Can’t she move here?” Mom questions. “She’s going to have his baby.”
To her, the decision is easy. She’s been a wife and a mom her entire life, and she’s content with that, so it’s hard for her to understand why Paige wouldn’t simply move to Dallas to be with me.
“She has a life in Rosemary. A home…a job she loves. Friends…”
“But you live here,” Mom mutters, her features etched with concern as she pieces the puzzle together. “Nathan, you’re not…you’re not moving, are you? You have the company and your family, and your father is supposed to retire at the end of this year.”
“I know, Mom,” I say, choked up with emotion. “But Paige and this baby are now my family too.”
Mom’s eyes fill with tears. “But how will I get to watch my grandbaby grow up?”
“Don’t freak out, please,” I say. “Paige is only four months along. We’re going to figure it out. And no matter what happens, we’ll make sure you have plenty of time to spend with your grandchild.”
Mom nods. “When can I meet her? Maybe if she comes here and gets to know all of us and sees your beautiful home, she’ll want to move here.”
It’s doubtful, especially after she made it clear she needs to put herself first, which includes not moving anywhere for anyone.
“I’ll talk to her,” I say. “But if she comes to visit, you can’t push her to move there.”
“I won’t,” Mom promises. “But you said it yourself. She doesn’t have any family there. So, maybe once she meets ours, she’ll want to move here.”
“Maybe,” I agree, knowing it’s not going to be that easy.
“Keep in touch,” Dad says. “We love you.”
“Love you too.”
I hang up and lie back in my bed, wishing I were with Paige at her house instead of in a hotel room. I think about what my mom said, her worry over me possibly having to move.
The truth is, until Paige, the only future I could see for myself was in Dallas as CEO of Bradford Hotels. But now, when I think about my future, the only thing I know for certain is that it includes Paige and our baby.
chapter seventeen
PAIGE
“Hey,Paige. There’s a delivery for you.”
I glance up from the email I’m typing and find Janet standing in my doorway, along with a gentleman holding a lunch box.
“Thanks, Janet.”
She retreats, and I move toward the gentleman.
“Paige Abrams?” the gentleman verifies.
“That’s me.”
He smiles and then sets the lunch box on the edge of the sofa. He unzips it and pulls out a container of Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream, followed by a jar of pickles.
“For you,” he says, like it’s perfectly normal to deliver pickles and ice cream.
Before I can ask who these are from, he says, “Oh! There’s a message too.”