Liv shut the door behind me and glared at me with wide eyes.
“Well?”
“I think I might be pregnant.”
“Think?”
“Yeah, I’m late, and I took a test this morning and it read positive.”
“Does Nate know?”
“No. I’m not gonna drop something like this on him until I know for sure.” She took a full breath, probably the first one since she peed on the stick. “It’s too soon. We’re not ready. We’re not even married, and that’s still a big deal to his family. We just got the house. And I’ve got school. And Nate is getting more hours at work. I cannot raise a baby by myself, Billie. I just can’t.
“Liv, you’re starting to hyperventilate. Sit down and put your head down.”
Liv plopped onto the edge of her bed and leaned forward. She bobbed up. “This is where you tell me not to worry and everything will be alright.” She flung her head back down, her hair cascading over the top.
“Liv, there may be nothing for you to worry about. And if there is, it will be fine. No one I know is more prepared to be a parent than you are. You’ll be the best helicopter mom in Boise. Nate’s going to be a great dad, too. Just calm down, okay?”
Liv sat upright and took her first step towards being rational. “Aw. You think so. You think we would be good parents?”
“I know so. Hey, you raised me.” To be fair, she had kind of mothered me throughout college.
“Yeah, but you were easy. Babies are hard.”
“So, how did this happen?”
“How do think? I know, I know. I lost track of my pills. Oh, no! What if I have to walk down the aisle with a beach ball belly under my dress? Oh, god. We’ll have to get married right away, not over Thanksgiving, like we planned.”
“Thanksgiving?”
“Yeah, we kind of decided that, since we’ll both have family coming in and Nate likes the idea of serving turkey at our reception. It makes a lot of sense. What else are we going to do in November?”
“You have a point.”
“I’ll be as big as a house by then.”
“You don’t know that. Just chill, okay.”
She gave me a giant hug. “Thanks. I think I’m okay now. We should probably get out of here. I need to get my mind off this. But if you see me disappearing tonight, at least you’ll know why. I’m glad I have a co-conspirator. I’ll let you know the second I know.”
“Only if it’s a no-go. It’s better if Nate knows first, okay?”
“Okay, but don’t tell Jodie yet, please.”
“I won’t.”
Nate zoomed in right after three-thirty to find the three of us sprawled out watching a mock horror movie and snacking on chips.
“Hey, I thought we were having a barbecue today.”
“Hey, Nate,” Jodie and I called out nonchalantly.
“Yeah, it’s covered.” Liv mumbled, not lifting her head.
Nate glanced around at all the chips, cookies, nuts, brownies, fruit, veggies, plates, napkins, and plastic ware. He opened the fridge and found the marinated steaks and veggies all wrapped up and ready for the grill that Liv had prepped hours earlier. “Hmm. I thought you’d be stressing out by now, so I raced home. I should probably at least get the grill set up.”
“Jodie put the fresh propane tank on a few minutes ago. Sorry, babe. Come join us, they’re about to cut this guy’s head off and use it for a punchbowl. You can start grilling whenever you want.”
“Oh, cool.” Nate slipped off his shoes and cozied up on the floor in front of Liv. She played with the hair at the back of his neck, then flashed a sly glance at me. Jodie caught the look between us, choked on nothing and tried to morph it into a cough. She knew.
“Are you okay?” Nate asked, and we all turned and studied her face.
“Yep. Wrong pipe. Sorry.” She took a sip of her soda.
Nate went back to watching the movie, and Jodie mouthed to me, “Is she?”
I shrugged my shoulders, but I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face and neither could Liv.
“I don’t know,” Liv said deliberately. “Honey, do we have enough ice?”
“I have two bags in the freezer in the garage.”
“Okay. Hey, I have to go to the bathroom.”
Jodie gave Liv thumbs up as she walked out of the room.
“I’ll alert the media.” Nate grabbed some chips and kept watching the movie.
I slid onto the floor and lay my head and shoulders on Jodie’s leg. “This is way cool. She doesn’t know for sure yet. Nate should be the first to know when she does.” I whispered in her ear, so Nate would think it was lovey-dovey stuff.
“You know, I’m still here, right?” Nate munched another chip.
“Yeah, Nate. And why is that?” I turned and nibbled Jodie’s ear.
Liv called out from the bedroom, “Babe! Can you come here for a minute?”
Ding dong!
“Can you get that?” Nate said as he shut the door behind him.
I hopped up and invited in a couple who both went to school with Liv. Soon more guests arrived, and the living room and patio were filled with people that Jodie and I didn’t know.
Liv and Nate came bursting out of the bedroom, laughing and hugging on each other.
Nate’s boss grabbed the steaks out of the fridge and said, “About time, you guys. I thought you threw a party and then ditched. I was about to start grilling.”
“Sorry, wardrobe malfunction.” Nate hitched his shorts and checked the buttons on his shirt for effect, and Liv lightly slapped at his stomach.
