“I’d prefer our child not have Kane Wright’s accent.”
“I mean gender.”
He sat back in his seat and appeared to give it genuine thought. “No. No, I think either way could be amazing. Having a little girl that looked and talked and behaved like you would be exquisite. But then again, it might be a blast to have a boy that I could do boy stuff with too. Know what I mean?”
She nodded, her eyes glistening with tears. “I do.”
They ate and talked some more, and Nicole was pleasantly surprised to find they were almost always on the same page about things, as they pertained to the unborn child. Neither of them wanted to stress about getting the kid into fancy private schools like so many wealthy New Yorkers did. They both wanted to find out the sex of the child in advance. Neither of them wanted to have their families overly involved in decisions around how the child would be raised. And Nicole definitely didn’t want to be one of those couples that used nannies to do all of the hard work of raising a child.
Red agreed with that too—mostly. “I think that a balance has to be found. I know too many rich parents with kids who are more attached to the help than they are to their mom and dad.”
“The help. It sounds so aristocratic and stuck up. I hope I don’t turn into one of those obnoxious mothers who drink wine and bitch about the help.”
He laughed. “I don’t see you as that type. Poor choice of words on my part.” He kissed her hand. “That being said, having someone around to give us a spell every once in awhile might not be such a bad thing.”
“Yeah, they’re called babysitters.”
“Touché.”
She smiled at him. “I’m not trying to be bitchy,” she said. “I mean, this is so totally new to me. I’m just thinking aloud.”
“We’re allowed to think aloud,” he told her with a smile.
She smiled back. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy.”
“Wait until tonight, when I show you those new positions.”
***
By the time night had fallen, Nicole had made two attempts to call Danielle with no luck, and she’d had no missed calls or voicemails from her either.
“It’s pretty strange,” Nicole said as they sat outside the cabin in two chairs next to the fire pit Red had made. The fire crackled and sparks flew off it, drifting and floating into the sky.
“What’s that?”
“Danielle. I can’t figure out why she didn’t call me back by now.”
They were toasting marshmallows and Red’s had caught on fire. He pulled it towards his mouth and blew out the flame. Now half the marshmallow was black. “I’m sure she’s just busy. Maybe she has a hot date.”
“No.” Nicole shook her head. “I know Danielle and she’d be calling me back no matter what. She’s always worried about me, and besides—I told her it was important.”
“Do you want to drive back tonight?”
Nicole thought about it, as she put her melted marshmallow between two graham crackers and a piece of Hershey’s chocolate. “I’m having too much fun right now. Is that selfish of me?”
“Yes,” he said, through a mouthful of food.
She shrugged and bit into her s’more. “God that’s good.” She enjoyed the rich chocolate melting on her tongue. “I’m sure she’s fine. I just have a weird feeling is all. I’m worried that Kane Wright might have gotten to her before we had a chance.”
“That would be like him,” Red agreed.
“Thanks, that makes me feel better.”
“I’m just telling you that he might have contacted her and messed with her head. But once we talk to her, she’ll calm down, even if she’s nervous right now.”
“As long as she’s just nervous and not…something worse.”
“Worse?”
“He had some shady characters working for him. You don’t think he’d have someone hurt her, do you?”
Red smiled at her. “What, you think Kane Wright put a hit out on your roommate over a measly hundred grand?” He laughed. “He might be an asshole, and he might be a psychopath, but he’s definitely not stupid. And he’d have to be an idiot to hurt her over an insignificant amount of money.”
“One hundred thousand dollars isn’t significant to most people.”
Red nodded. “I know. But Kane Wright isn’t most people. The guy spends a hundred grand on a fucking Oscar viewing party, for god’s sake.”
“Okay, okay. I believe you.” Nicole moved her chair closer to Red’s and snuggled up against him.
“I feel like I’m at summer camp,” he laughed.
“Only we’re the last counselors left for the season.”
“Unless we picked the wrong summer camp and this is Friday the 13th or something.”
“Don’t even joke about that. It’s way too dark and isolated out here.”
“Oh, come on. I’ll protect you, babe.” He wrapped a strong arm around her and she smiled because, the truth was, she did feel protected.
“Can we just stay here forever?”