Proving Paul's Promise

Her eyes meet mine, and I freeze. At the last minute, I kiss her on the cheek with a loud smack and set her back from me. She wobbles on her feet, so I steady her with my hands under her elbows. “You owe me,” I tell her.

“I owe you nothing,” she teases. “You just forfeited.”

I lean down close to her ear. “When I finally kiss you, it won’t be in front of a crowd full of people. It’ll be me and you and no one else.” I kiss the corner of her lips, and she shakes her finger at me. I grab her finger and pull it against my chest. “And it will rock your world.”

“Prove it.”

I nod. “When we’re alone, I will.”

“Believe it when I see it,” she taunts.

Since the five of us Reed boys have our shirts off, Friday, Reagan, Sky, and Emily redirect the lines so that the kids go to Friday and the adults come to us. I’m fine with that. I deal with overly amorous women daily, albeit I don’t usually do it with my shirt off.

A woman who has to be in her eighties toddles up on her walker. She lays her hand on my chest and stares at my nipple piercing. Then she shakes her head and reaches for the top button of my jeans, unbuttons them, and stands back and laughs. “Now, he’ll earn some tips,” she says.

Friday snickers, and she suddenly can’t take her eyes off my stomach.

The older woman sits down, and I give her angel wings on her upper arm with her late husband’s name below it. She tells me the story of how they met, fell in love, and went on to have eight kids together. When we’re done, she sticks a twenty-dollar bill in the waistband of my jeans and winks at me. “Don’t let her get away,” she says, nodding toward Friday.

“I don’t plan to.”

“She’s going to give you a run for your money.”

I laugh. She already is.

Friday

The volunteers came around with water bottles and Paul sent Sam to get us all lunch in the middle of the day, but by five o’clock, I’m starving. The boys put their shirts back on when it starts to cool off, and our line starts to dwindle. We weren’t even supposed to be here this long, but we couldn’t turn down the people in line. They were all waiting so patiently.

Paul dips his paintbrush into a cup of water and rinses it out. “I think I’m ready to be done for the day,” he says.

“Me, too,” his brothers echo.

Everyone helps clean up. Emily bends over to pick up a piece of paper she dropped, and her shirt slips up her belly. I shake my head because Logan has painted a big basketball on her stomach. It looks like the real thing but even bigger. Once she’s down there, she can’t get back up.

“Logan!” she cries pitifully.

But Logan is looking the other way, and he can’t hear her. Paul rushes over to her and offers her a hand, but as she stands up, she scowls and grabs for her belly. “Uh oh,” she says. She looks down at the water that has splashed all over the pavement and Paul’s shoes. “Sorry.”

Paul looks everywhere but down. “Either you just spilled your water or that baby’s ready to make an appearance.”

She holds up a full bottle of water that still has the cap on it. “Sorry about your shoes,” she says. She sits down, clutching her belly like the baby might try to crawl out her belly button. “Can you get Logan for me?”

Sam smacks Logan on the shoulder and points to Emily. Emily crooks her finger at him. “I think it’s finally time,” she says.

“Holy shit,” Logan says as he runs his fingers through his hair. He drops down in front of her. “Are you serious?”

She smirks at him. “Either that or I just peed all over Paul’s shoes. And I kind of think I’d never be able to live down the latter, so I’m hoping it’s the former.”

Reagan jingles her keys at them and says, “Take my car.” Logan pulls his keys from his pocket. “Ours is at our apartment. Go get it if you need it.” Reagan takes them, but I know she won’t use them. She’s going to be just like the rest of us who will be sucking up space in the hospital waiting room.

“We’ll meet you there,” Paul says, but Logan is focused solely on Emily. He doesn’t even see Paul’s comment.

Emily waddles to the car with Logan holding her elbow.

I grab Paul’s arm. “You don’t think she overdid it today, do you?” I ask.

He leans down and kisses the bridge of my nose. “I think it’s just time for the newest Reed to make an appearance.”

“Is her mom still here?” I ask. I look around, but she must have left after she made the big donation that made all the boys strip.

“She’s gone. Logan will text her.”

“Should I call her?” I ask.

He smiles and lifts the brim of my baseball cap. “I think this is Logan’s show. We should let him ask us for help when he needs it. He will. Eventually. When he can think again.”

Paul’s phone buzzes in his pocket. He pulls it out and smiles when he reads the text. “He wants one of us to go to their apartment and get Emily’s bag with her clothes and stuff in it.”

He was right. He knows them so well.

Reagan holds up the keys Logan already gave her. “We’ll go.”

Paul nods. “We’ll meet you at the hospital.”

Sky drops down in in a chair. “Oh f**k,” Matt says, squatting down beside her. “Not you, too,” he says.