I hate this. I was so torn. For the sake of the baby, I wanted to help her, but I knew Ari was going to flip the f**k out.

“Let me talk to Ari, and I’ll get back with you. I really have to go.”

As I turned to walk away and she grabbed my arm.

“Wait a minute, Jeff. This is your baby. What do you need to talk to Ari about? I mean, is this how it’s going to be? If we have a birthday party, are you going to have to ask Ari if it’s okay for you to be there? This is not going to work.”

I just stood there looking at her. Is she serious?

“Listen, Rebecca, you dropped a huge bomb on me last weekend. My whole goddamn world has just been turned upside down. What I thought was going to be my future has just possibly changed. So, yeah, Ari is a big part of my future. My goal in this life is to not hurt her. If that means talking to her about any decisions I make regarding this baby until it’s born then so be it.”

“I’m sorry, Jeff. I didn’t mean to seem insensitive to Ari. Of course, I understand your need to talk to her, but for fuck’s sake, we’re talking about painting and putting together some baby furniture. I’m not asking you to move in with me. I feel guilty for not including you in things up until now. I mean, you missed out on feeling the first kicks, the sonogram, and discovering that it was a boy. I’m just trying to make it up to you by including you in all of this. If Ari can’t see that… well, I hate to say this, but that’s her problem. If she was more secure in your relationship, then she would understand.”

“Ari is not insecure in our relationship, Rebecca. Listen, I really have to go. Let’s plan on doing the baby’s room next week. I have someone coming out to the ranch to take a look at the horse stables. I’m not sure what day he’s coming. After I find out, I’ll get with you, and we’ll plan something.”

Rebecca smiled. Reaching her hands up to my shoulders, she kissed the side of my cheek. “Thank you, Jeff. It really does mean a lot to me to have you a part of this. Again, I’m sorry you made a wasted trip over here.”

***

I walked out to Ari’s Jeep and jumped in. I looked over at my phone on the seat and saw my notification light blinking. Shit. I picked up my phone and noticed I had four missed calls and one voice mail from Ari.

She had called about three minutes ago. I listened to the voice mail. She said they were giving me another ten minutes and leaving. What the hell?

Immediately, I called her back.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sorry, I left my phone in the Jeep. I’m on my way back right now.”

“Whatever. We have everything loaded in both vehicles. Do you want me to just drive your truck? Josh is getting bitchy, and we’re ready to leave.”

“No, I’ll be there in a few minutes. Just wait for me.”

“Fine.” She hung up.

Jesus. Waiting for this baby to be born was going to be a long two f**king months.

***

I pulled up to the house and parked on the street behind the trailer that was hooked up to Josh’s truck. After tying something down, he jumped off the trailer.

“You think that p**sy truck of yours is going to be able to pull that trailer?” I asked.

Josh gave me a dirty look and turned back to his Dodge truck.

“Fuck you, Jeff. Just because I don’t have a diesel-eating truck doesn’t mean she doesn’t have power.”

“Yeah, whatever you say Josh. Your truck has no balls, dude. I’m just saying.”

Just then Ari and Heather came walking out of the house each carrying a small box. Ari’s eyes caught mine and her smile instantly faded. By the time she walked up to me, she had nothing in her eyes but anger.

“Can I please have my keys back? Heather and I are going to head out now. We’ll just meet y’all at the deer cabin.”

I handed her the keys, and she snatched them out of my hand and pushed past me. Yep, this was going to be a long two months.

“I thought we were going to drop off your Jeep at your place, so you could ride with me,” I said.

Well, that changed the moment you dropped everything and everyone for Rebecca. I don’t want to be stuck while you’re running back into Austin whenever she needs you.”

“Ari.”

She turned around and held up her hand.

“The time to talk about it was right before you decided to walk out that door. I’m sick of talking, thinking, and listening. I’m done Jeff. If I hear about her and that baby one more time, I’m taking off this ring, and that will be the last thing I throw at your ass.”

So, it looks like I won’t be bringing up the whole baby room thing anytime soon.

***

The drive out to Mason by myself sucked. Gunner called and said they had landed earlier than they thought. They were going to head straight out to the ranch. God, I can’t wait to talk to him. I was at a complete loss as to what to do.

We all pulled up to Gunner’s grandparents’ house. Garrett and Emma came walking out with Ellie’s dog Gus running behind them. He headed straight to Ari’s Jeep. Ari bent down, giving him hugs and kisses. Ari’s laugh moved through my body, and I couldn’t help but want her again. Emma walked up to Ari and held her at arm’s length. She smiled with a questioning look, and Ari smiled back at her. Gus won’t leave Ari alone as he kept jumping up at her.

“Afternoon, Garrett. Have y’all heard from Gunner?” I said after I was finally able to pull my eyes away from Ari. She looked so damn beautiful. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her this whole week. There was something so different about her. Maybe it was because we were engaged now. I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

“It seems like you’ve got some heavy shit on your mind, Jeff,” Garrett said with a straight-as-hell face.

“You never were one to beat around the bush, were you?” I said as I shook Garrett’s hand.

Josh walked up and slapped me on the back before he shook Garrett’s hand.

“Back to your question, Jeff. Yes, we heard from him a little bit ago. They’re only about an hour out,” Garrett said.

“Yeah, we would have been here sooner, but…um, I had some shit to take care of,” I explained.

Josh let out a laugh and shook his head at me. Bastard. He should be the one with the damn crazy-ass pregnant girl, not me.

“Yeah, well…sometimes we have to step in the shit to move past it, Jeff. Did Gunner give you the key to the cabin?”

What the f**k does that mean? “Um…yeah, he gave it to me. I guess we’ll head over there now. Josh’s truck has Gunner’s stuff since he put most of his stuff in storage. I think Ari and Heather were planning on heading into Mason to grab something to eat.”

“No, we decided to stay here. Emma made a King Ranch casserole that sounds yummy. Plus, I want to be here when Ellie gets back,” Ari said, walking by arm and arm with Heather.

I watched as Ari, Heather, and Emma made their way into the house with Gus jumping on Ari the whole way. He would not leave her alone. She kept yelling down at him. She looked so damn cute, trying to be all stern with him.

***

Josh and I emptied the trailer on his truck, and then we brought my truck and trailer over to my place. By the time we were done, I was starving. Somehow, I had gotten a text message from Ari, saying Gunner and Ellie were back.

Josh and I headed back to the ranch house. The moment I saw Gunner’s truck, it felt a ton of bricks had lifted off of my shoulders. We got out of the truck as Gunner came walking out of the house. Man, that bastard looks fuckin’ happy. He walked up to Josh first and gave him a hand-shake and slap on the back.

Then he walked up to me. He shook my hand but pulled me in toward him.

“What the f**k did you do to Ari?”

I pulled back and looked at him, confused.

“What the hell kind of greeting is that? I didn’t do anything to her. Why?”

“Grams and the girls didn’t hear us pull up. When we walked in the door, Grams was holding Ari while she was crying her goddamn eyes out. Ari brought us up to speed about everything that had happened. She can’t stop crying, Jeff. Man, why the f**k are you not using your head with Rebecca?”

Holy shit. I couldn’t believe it. I was getting the same damn lecture from the one person I thought I would be able to talk to. I threw my hands in my hair and started to walk down toward the barn. I needed to get away.

“Jeff, hold up, dude. Talk to me,” Gunner said as he came up behind me.

“What do you want me to say, Gun? I’m losing my goddamn mind. I thought, out of all people, you wouldn’t be the one jumping down my throat because Ari is hurting. What about me? How the f**k do you think I feel? I don’t want to have a baby with Rebecca. I want to have a baby with Ari and only Ari. I’m being pulled in two different directions. If this baby is mine, I’m not walking out on it like my good-for-nothing father did. I want to be here for him, even if Rebecca is the mother. I don’t know how to make Ari understand that. I don’t know how to take away her pain, Gunner. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep her from hurting. I just seem to be making it worse. Rebecca isn’t helping with her needy-ass self either.”

Gunner sat down on a hay bale and looked up at me. “Jeff, have you told Ari all of that?”

I sat down on the bale next to him and put my head in my hands. “No, not in those exact words.”

“Well fuck, dude. Don’t you think it would help her to understand your need to jump when Rebecca says how high? You owe her the truth, Jeff. If you don’t tell her, she’s just going to just keep thinking the worst. Right now, to her, you are putting Rebecca above her. It needs to be Ari first. Find out if this baby is even yours. If he is, then be the best damn Dad you can be. Just remember who your world is right now, dude.”

I lifted my head and looked at Gunner. I knew he was right.

“What the hell, dude? Marriage made you smarter.”

Gunner started to laugh. “Something like that.”

“I’m sorry your honeymoon got cut short. How’s your dad?”

Gunner’s smile faded some.

“When we landed, I talked to my mom, and she said that he’s doing better. It was a mild heart attack, but she said it scared the shit out of him. I still can’t believe that she talked him into coming here. Gramps and Grams are celebrating their fiftieth anniversary in a couple of weeks. I know Grams is really excited about her boy being here. They were already planning on a big party, but now, I think it just turned into something bigger.”

“That’s good, Gunner. How was your honeymoon? Did y’all have fun?”

The smile that lit up Gunner’s face was so infectious. I had to smile back at him.

“It was amazing. I never in my life thought that I would be as happy as I am with Ellie. We had a blast. Did you know that she is deathly afraid to swim in the ocean?” Gunner said with a laugh.

I laughed with him shaking my head. “I thought she would be okay with it since the water is so clear. She won’t swim if she can’t see in the water.”