30. Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

ETHAN

T hat next Tuesday, I asked Mia to wait for me in the locker room, but she wasn't there.

Ryan is in the middle of the crowd again, and I do my best to avoid him, but he seems determined to find me, so it's unavoidable.

"Hey, man!" he greets me energetically, but I can't muster the same enthusiasm. "How's the new addition to the family going?"

‘What's it to you, assface?' I want to ask, but I don't need our mother pestering me on the phone just because I called out her favorite kid.

"Fine," I say, grabbing my clothes and heading for the shower stall, "But I thought you had Mia's contact. Why don't you ask her yourself?"

"Huh…" he leans on the outside of the stall, then sighs, "Now I think she blocked me."

"Nah, she didn't," I say, getting rid of my underwear and turning on the water. "Mia is too nice to do something like that."

"Wanna bet?" His voice is bitter. "Anyway, I just really wanted to know how everything is going. Is Mia going to the doctor yet?"

"Not yet." I rub shampoo into my hair and take advantage of the suds to wash the rest of my body. "I keep asking her, but she says she's too busy. We'll make an appointment soon."

"Huh… Nice," Ryan says. He's sounding weird and robotic. "Dude, are you taking notes?!"

I open the stall door a little and see him dropping a notebook on the wet floor.

"No! Eh… I mean…" He grabs the notebook back and evaluates the damage.

"Who else did you tell?" I ask, my head poking out of the stall.

Ryan goes red but doesn't flinch to confess, "Mom."

I bang the door of the stall shut again. I pat myself dry with the towel and jump into a pair of boxers, then my pants, and then I'm out of there.

"So, Mom knows, and she hasn't called me yet?" I scoff in disdain, making my way through the crowd toward the wives' room. "Whatever happened, did she die?"

I turn to Ryan with genuine concern, but he laughs, only half-nervously, clearly unsettled by my joke.

"I just told her before the game, dude," he calms me down, and we keep walking. "She should be calling you any moment now, though."

Like clockwork, my phone rings. I don't want to deal with Mom right now, so I do the first thing that comes to mind and toss my phone down the bleachers.

Ryan says nothing.

We make it to the wives' room in silence. Mia must be in the kitchen, but Ryan, always quick to know when he's unwelcome, doesn't leave my side and takes a seat right across from me on the lounge.

"We need to talk, man," he says, concern in his voice and his gestures.

"I'll have Mom to talk to me for a lifetime, don't worry," I say, tapping my foot in the air.

"Ethan…" he starts. Through the ages, I've grown to hate hearing my name both in Ryan's and Mom's mouth. "She was actually happy! She's having another grandchild, that's amazing for her."

I place my hands over my knees and lean forward, looking Ryan dead in the eye. "Did you tell her that the mother is your ex-girlfriend?" I ask.

The answer becomes obvious in his body language, but I still need to hear it to be sure. "No," he crosses his arms in front of me.

"That you are going to leave for me to tell, right?" I grit my teeth. "You gossip like a schoolgirl, Ryan, you know that?"

We're in a staring contest. The folks start to arrive in the room, but everyone leaves us alone, just by instinct. In the end, Ryan is the first to lose his cool and utters, full of frustration, "Well, I'm not sorry! You were always the one who had the nicest things, and now you even have Mia! And you know what's worse?"

"No, Ryan, I don't!" I briefly look around, and we are making a spectacle of ourselves.

"Mia is happier with you!" There are tears in his eyes. Ryan never had a temper, but this subject is clearly touchy. "And there's nothing I can do about it."

I sigh, cross my arms, then smile a smile that drives my brother so crazy I can see the fumes come out of the top of his head.

"You don't have to do anything, Ryan," I say, with all the calm in the world, "You just have to get out of the way."

He takes it like a baseball bat to the head. Then, he stands up, gets a sports drink from a tray, and heads for the door, bumping into Mia, who brings an energy drink and a straw with my name on it.

"What happened?" she hands me the beverage and sits on my lap.

"Ryan told Mom I'm having another child," I say, deciding to be direct.

"Oh, no, I'm scared of your mother!" Mia places a hand on her chest.

"Don't worry, she doesn't know it's from you, yet," I inform her. "That part he left all to me."

"I'll be there with you!" And she kisses the corner of my lips.

"Thank you, love…" I bury my face into the curve of her neck. "Are you busy?"

Mia laughs with disbelief, "I'm always busy, Ethan. That's why I couldn't meet you in the locker room after the game. I'm already receiving calls from the venue where the after-party is being held."

"Hum," I moan in complaint, "When are you getting there?"

"It depends!" She lets out a nervous giggle as she stands up and leaves me without the warmth of her body. "If nothing explodes, an hour or two."

"Alright," I take her hand to stand up with her, "Is that enough time to put Senna in bed?"

"Uh…" she searches around for Senna and finds him among the many voices squealing inside the bounce house. "The way he's spending energy, I think it is!"

"Oh, you'd be surprised!" I touch her stomach and leave her to go back to work.

I think she's still getting used to the idea of having a child in her life. Hell, I'm getting used to the idea of a second one in mine.

At first, it is cutesy noses, hands, and toes, and cutesy crying to keep you awake at night. But then they start to figure out the world, and you're there to show it to them, and it's the most wonderful feeling I have ever felt.

I'm looking forward to experiencing it all with Mia.