Page 55 of Rebound

Happy for you, Vee. Seriously. Now only Tam needs to lock that man down

I look at Patrick, who’s still smiling at the sonogram. It’s ridiculous how he can be cute, charming and a slab of sexy meat. Locking him down is the opposite of what I’m trying to do and my friends know it. I’m not totally against sex. But I know myself. One orgasm will turn into two and then my heart will cut herself into pieces and serve herself like a fucking seven course meal.

I kick his leg and Patrick jumps, looking up at me in confusion. “What?”

“Are you planning to share it with me at some point?”

He blinks, like he doesn’t know what I’m talking about, and then laughs. “Sorry, Lo. Got carried away.”

“I know. It’s cute.”

He blushes and slides the picture over as food is set in front of us. I hold the sonogram up, making sure Patrick’s in the background and take a picture. I take another one as he glances at me with a wide smile and save that for myself. I send it to the girls, then to the Thomas family chat. I put the first picture with a blurry Patrick into the extended family chat so all my aunts and other cousins will know.

Baby Chandy-Joseph arriving February ’25

Then before they respond, I shove my phone into the bottom of my bag and dive into my Mexican breakfast bowl. There’s enough jalapeños to set my butthole on fire, but this baby is hell bent on eating everything spicy in sight.

“Our baby is the size of a plum,” he says, smiling to himself and catches me off guard.

“You’ve really been reading all the books, huh?”

“Trying to. They’re verbose and I don’t always have the energy.”

“You’re also handling this better than I thought.”

“My choices are to lose my mind and walk away or accept that it’ll be good. So yeah, I want to handle this better. I want to be here for you, Lo. And our baby.”

The surety with which he says the words comforts me. In the beginning I was confident I could do this alone. It’s why I told him he didn’t have to change his life. Having him here makes a difference. Even if I can’t let us be together, I’ll take this.

“If I haven’t said it in a while, I’m glad you’re here,” I tell him and he smiles shyly.

“I wasn’t going to let you do this alone, Lo.”

My heart skips and I nod, using my glass of water as a means to distract myself from these complicated feelings making themselves known.

“Did you have name suggestions?” he asks once he’s done with his food.

Eyes wide, I stare at him. “You’re already thinking about names?”

“I’ve been thinking about you and our kid since the day you told me. Well, I’ve been thinking about you a lot longer.”

I sigh loudly at this incessant flirting and wave at him. “Let’s hear your options.”

He pulls out his phone and clears his throat. “For a boy, top choices are Mathai or Charlie. If it’s a girl, Susannah or Rebecca.”

“Strong selections. Why is Mathai the only Malayali name on your list?”

“I like the way it sounds. We can call him Matt for short.”

I shrug and pick at my food. “Not my top choice.”

“So you have thought about it.”

“I’m thinking about it right now. Why Susannah and Rebecca?” I ask.

“Susannah was my Ammachi’s name and I’d love to honour her in some way.”

I smile, remembering how important this grandmother was to him. It’s kismet that the other option for a baby girl means something to me as well. “Rebecca was my mother’s,” I admit softly and his face lights up.