Shopping for a CEO's Baby (Shopping for a Billionaire Series Book 16), стр. 49
Carol snatches the pint of ice cream out of my hands.
“Then you definitely can't eat this,” she declares.
“Come on! It's not–” I halt my words, knowing I'm wrong.
One arched eyebrow is all I get in response.
“Fine. It is that good. But I'm still eating it!”
“Bed rest means no orgasms?” Shannon asks, already done with the chocolate horn and now peeling the top off her ice cream.
“For me. Andrew can have as many as he wants.”
They snort in unison.
“Of course he can. We're the ones who are biologically forced to take on all the work. We singlehandedly grow new generations!”
“And they want a say in naming the kids.”
“Do you have any picked out other than Lefty and Righty?” I don't need the eye roll Carol tosses in with that question.
“What's wrong with those?”
“Hah.”
“Andrew has suggested Anderson and Bruford.”
“BRUFORD?”
“And then our third and fourth kids will be Wakeman and Howe.”
They stare at me. The joke goes over their heads.
“You know. Yes?”
“Yes?”
“The band?”
“What about them?”
“They split up and later formed–oh, never mind. Let's just say Andrew wants to name our kids after rock stars.”
“Wouldn't be the first. Tyler has a kid named Kanye in his class. And I know someone who named her son Prince after Prince died.” Carol taps her front teeth with her spoon. “Now I'm wondering about Jimmy Page in Jeffrey's Boy Scout troop and Gaga McFarland. Hmmm.”
“Six years from now, how many girls are going to show up in kindergarten named Cardi B. and Meghan Thee?” I muse.
“What are the names?” Shannon demands.
“Not telling.”
“COME ON! I'm your best friend!”
“We don't know,” I confess.
“Liar.”
“No. Really. It's hard to name one baby, I'm sure, but two...”
Shannon gives me the stink eye. “Anything but James and James Too.”
I nearly spit out my mouthful of Cheeto ice cream. “Don't give him any ideas!”
“Declan is incensed that James is favoring your twins over Ellie already.”
“He's such a sexist pig.”
Carol watches us like a gossip-chasing paparazzo. “You two are hilarious.”
“What?” we say in unison.
“You're married to billionaires. Your father-in-law is a billionaire. Your children will be raised with the ultimate luxury. They'll never worry for a thing. And you're making fun of the guy who forged the path for your husbands and your babies.”
We pause. Shannon and I look at each other, frowning.
With a quick lick of her spoon, Shannon turns to Carol and says, “And your point is?”
“Have you ever spent more than ten minutes with James McCormick? His ego fills the room like a bad fart,” I add.
“And there might even be a scent of sulfur after he leaves.” Shannon points the spoon at me and we high five.
Carol's head shake makes me waver. “You make it sound like he's all bad.”
“He's not,” I jump in.
“But he's.... he's....” Shannon struggles, like me, to explain it to an outsider.
And then it hits me.
Outsider.
All my life, I looked at the Jacoby family and wanted desperately to be a part of it. Marie and Jason loved me–and still love me–as if I'm one of their girls, but of course, I'm not. I never will be.
And Carol's watching Shannon and me from the outside right now, looking in.
She'll never be married to a McCormick. Never understand what it's like to have James as a father-in-law. Shannon and I are in a club she can't join, and I wonder if she's jealous.
But I don't think that's what's going on here.
“You know the old saying that the only people who understand what a marriage is like are the two people in the marriage?” I ask her.
“Mmmph,” she says affirmatively, mouth stuffed with ice cream.
“It's like that, having James as your father-in-law. The guy tried to exploit our weddings on social media. Used us as leverage to get the company's stock price up. He views his kids and his extended family members as pawns for his own gain.”
Carol swallows and gives us a curious look. “But he's not like that with Pam. Look how he helped her.”
She's right.
With a sigh, Shannon stops eating and glares at her sister. “Do you have to be so empathic? Now I feel like a total jerk.”
A smug look only an eldest sister can master comes over Carol's features. “Empathy's all I've got, sis.”
“Quit calling me sis. You never did that before you heard Declan call his brothers bro.”
“Okay, sis.”
“Oh, my God, you're so annoying.”
“I know, sis.”
“Carol! You're thirty-five! Quit acting like you're twelve.”
“Fine.” She shoves her spoon in Shannon's ice cream and takes an enormous chunk of peanut butter cup.
“HEY!”
“Morry, fis.”
“I'm suddenly grateful I never had siblings,” I mutter.
Shannon smiles and pats my belly. “Your boys will never know what that's like. They'll always be tormented by their asshole sib.”
“HEY!” Carol's turn to be outraged.
“What, sis?” Shannon shoots back. “Just telling it like it is.”
I stuff my mouth full of ice cream and sit back to watch as they bicker, then hug and laugh it off like it's nothing.
Consider it research on what's in store for me.
“You know what I need next?” I say as they peel themselves off each other.
“A crane to help you get out of chairs?” Carol snarks.
“Hah. No. Well, yes, but that’s not what I was going to say. I need a soak.”
“Oooo, the pool!” Shannon’s eyes light up. “You must love having that!”
“It’s been under repair until just a few days ago.”
“Can we swim?” Carol wipes something off the corner of her mouth with her thumb. “We have my old suit here, right?”
“We left everything in the closet the way it was months ago, so I guess?”
Carol and Shannon make quick work of putting the ice cream away as I guzzle water.
“Did the doctor say it was ok to be in the water?”
“As long as it’s not a hot tub, yes. And we’re low-chemical with the saltwater filter, so the OB said it’s fine. The temperature’s on the low side but not cold.”
“Sounds perfect to me. At least it’s not winter,” Carol says as I stand, moving slowly. Walking down the hall to the pool