30. JT

CHAPTER 30

JT

I’m tugging my shoes on as my phone dings with a text, and I check to see who it is, because at this point, it could be anyone.

It could be my captains, reminding me that our bus leaves at noon.

It could be Mickey, asking to borrow anything from boxers to airpods. The man has no boundaries.

It could be my lawyer with an update on Curtis’s parole hearing.

Or it could be my girlfriend, my baby mama, checking to see if we’re still meeting up before I have to get on the road.

My face breaks into a grin when I see my girlfriend’s name.

Maggie : I have terrible news.

Maggie : Not actual terrible news. I’m fine. We’re fine.

Maggie : But Theo may not be fine because Drip only has blueberry muffins today. There are no chocolate muffins. None.

Maggie : I will be brave in the face of such adversity. Are we still meeting at ten?

JT : Can’t wait. Might be 5 minutes late, tho …

I haul ass out of the locker room, waving to Van as he’s walking in. If Drip only has blueberry muffins, I guess I’ve gotta be the hero.

After a quick walk downtown, I step into The Sweet Spot and nearly get a contact high from all the sugar in the air. One deep breath and I’ll be comatose.

My phone pings and I look down, wondering if Maggie has any clue that I’m on a mission to satisfy her craving.

One glance at the message and my smile fades..

Ollie : Dude. Get me a double chocolate muffin.

What the hell? I look around but the only other patrons are a couple of older ladies at a nearby table, and a guy holding a toddler who’s pointing at everything in the display case.

Holy shit. That’ll probably be me in a couple years if our kid gets Maggie’s taste buds instead of mine.

The little guy babbles away and the dad nods along, asking all the right questions like he totally understands what his kid is saying, all while juggling the little guy, a ratty blanket, a stuffed backpack, and a sippy cup that looks like it’s seen a few rounds at the sandbox.

I should be terrified. Absolutely panic-stricken. I’ve never even held a kid before. I can’t even tell how old this kid is—one, two? If he were three, he’d be walking, right? Jesus. When do they start walking?

I am so unprepared for impending fatherhood that it should have me breaking out in a cold sweat. But instead, I’m just kind of fascinated. Part of that is the take-life-as-it-comes attitude I’ve developed over my lifetime. When daily life is unpredictable, I figure it either turns you into a control freak or transforms your blood to ice. I’m in the latter category, but the feelings rushing through me aren’t courtesy of my nerves of steel. They’re…excitement. Anticipation. I’m fucking stoked and that is so unlike me. I can see myself in a store with our kid in my arms. I can hear myself telling him to point to a dessert that Mama will like. There’s an image in my he ad of me kissing his forehead as he wriggles around, impatient to get on the ground and into trouble. In my mind’s eye, I order a cupcake for Maggie, knowing she’ll want one for breakfast the next morning, somehow sure she probably calls them muffins with icing. The look that daydream-Maggie gives me has my face breaking out into a smile.

The kid catches my goofy grin and returns it, proudly showing off a few tiny white teeth and it occurs to me that I need to find out when kids get teeth. Hell, I need to find out a lot of things.

The only thing I’ve got going for me now is that I already love Maggie and our child more than I’ve ever loved anything or anyone in my life.

My phone chimes again, kicking me out of my daydream and back into my text thread.

Ollie : Do they have any donuts left? The cinnamon ones?

JT: The fuck are you talking about?

Ollie : You’re at that bakery near the diner. Those chocolate muffins are laced with crack, I swear. Get me two. I’ll cash app you.

I shake my head, cursing the day Ollie put us all on his Life360 plan.

JT : Do I look like DoorDash?

Ollie : Idk. I can’t see you.

Ollie : And what the fuck are you doing at a bakery? Aren’t you the man who declared sugar to be poison?

Ollie : Holy shit. Are you being kidnapped? Is this your danger signal?

Ollie : I can cash app the kidnappers if that’s better.