Mason
Nine Months Later
“Babe, have you seen my laptop?” I yelled down the hall toward the bedroom.
I heard a muffled voice but couldn’t make out the words, so I proceeded to waddle from the kitchen down the long hallway, admiring the pictures and artwork as I passed by them; something I tended to always do, despite the fact that I had walked down this hallways hundreds of times.
When I first moved into Jordan’s apartment, I couldn’t stand how barren it seemed. No artwork or color to be found, only top-of-the-line gadgets, furniture and appliances. Today, the place had copies of Magritte and Monet paintings (my two favorite artists) hanging everywhere and, the piece de resistance, an original Jasper Johns drawing that Jordan fell in love with at an art show a few months ago.
However, the hallway was still my favorite because we decorated it with photos of us. I stopped in front of the one of Jordan standing behind me with his hands on my huge belly. A friend took it when we were having a picnic in the park.
That had been such a wonderful day. The weather was perfect, the conversation flowed, and the food was particularly good. This was evidenced by the looks on our faces – so relaxed, happy and madly in love.
I smiled at the memory before continuing down the seemingly endless pathway to the bedroom, where I found Jordan with his head buried in the closet.
“What are you doing?” I inquired
“I can’t find my other brown shoe.”
Hysterics took hold of me, taking the form of uncontrollable giggles.
“What’s funny?” he said poking his head out to look at me.
“I came in here to ask you if you had seen my laptop and then I remembered that, somehow, you have been having pregnancy brain as well. Between the two of us I don’t know how we are ever able to leave the house.”
He proceeded to saunter from the closet towards me, gently placing his hands on my hips. “Well, let’s just stay in all day, then.” He leaned in and gave me a passionate kiss.
After a few beats, I pulled away and began to straighten his tie. “Oh, no, Mister. You’ve only been working at this solar tech company for a few weeks, now. It’s way too early to get cocky and start cancelling meetings to have sex. Plus, I’m not done training my new HR assistant, so I need to get going, too. On that note, I saw your brown shoe under the couch earlier.”
“What would I do without you?” Jordan whispered in my ear before leaning down to kiss my ready-to-pop belly.
We headed back down the hall passing by the kitchen.
“Isn’t that your laptop right there?” Jordan said, pointing to the countertop next to the stove.
“Yes! Thank you!”
I waddled toward the countertop as Jordan made his way to the couch to get his shoe.
Our lives had become one as soon as I moved in and I never wanted to look back. The feelings I had toward Jordan only increased each day I was with him. His face, his body, his arms, his hands…all of it had morphed into another version of my own, which made my memories of Roy seemed like a high school mess in comparison. And, any day now, we would get to meet a true blend of the two of us in a single form; our beautiful baby girl.
“Ready to go?” He asked from the living room. Despite the fact that Jordan wasn’t pleased with the fact that I was still working in my ninth month of pregnancy, he insisted on dropping me off and picking me up every day, no matter what, which, although I sometimes complained that he was being too attentive, I secretly loved.
“Yes. I’m ready.”