Tammy Jane:You better not be holding out on us. LET’S SEE THAT BABY!!!
“Peter?”
“No, that doesn’t fit.”
“James?”
“Too boring.”
“Mason?”
“That makes me think of the glass jar brand.”
I blew out a breath from my comfy spot on the couch. Dean was currently bouncing our unnamed son as he tried to get him to sleep. He was a natural with this, or at least it seemed like it. I knew him well enough to figure out that he’d done as much research as he could.
I’d done well enough to simply birth the baby.
Our kid was adorable and I loved him more than anything, but I was still figuring out how to take care of him. I was still figuring out how to go from the Grace who was simply pregnant to the Grace who was now a mom.
Two days after giving birth, and I didn’t know how I would have done this by myself. I was given strict orders to rest, and I was exhausted just doing that. Unless it was feeding the baby—which was only me, considering that I was breastfeeding—Dean did everything else. Literally everything else.
I would have felt bad if I hadn’t given birth.
“Don’t you have to pick the name by today?” Virginia asked, coming around the corner with two plates. The hospital hadn’t been thrilled that we couldn’t settle on a name before I was discharged, so they’d sent home the packet to fill out and told us we had to figure out what to name him and turn it back in soon.
I’d gotten nowhere with figuring it out.
And it wasn’t like I had time.
After we came home, Virginia had insisted she take care of the house while we recovered. Dean tried to tell her she didn’t have to do that, but she wouldn’t accept no for an answer.
I might have cried about it.
After the detonation of my relationship with Brooke and giving birth, my emotions were in a delicate place. Virginia had warned me these were the baby blues, but I felt like I was tearing up at every given moment.
Thank God Dean knew not to judge me. If he’d been any less of a perfect partner, I might have killed him.
But between Dean and Virginia, I had the support I needed. I didn’t realize how many clothes we’d go through in just a few days, but she’d made sure we never ran out and that the house was clean.
The town had also come through for us, both with apology treats for Dean and other food for us so none of us had to cook. Since I was the best cook out of the three of us by a long shot, we needed the help.
“Yeah, we do,” Dean replied. “Nothing seems right, though. I want something that matches his personality.”
“Well, if we’re going by personality, we have three options.” Virginia began counting on her fingers. “Eat. Sleep. And poop.”
“Already considered those,” Dean said. “Grace told me they weren’t name-y enough.”
“Whatever you choose will be perfect,” she said. “They’ll grow into the name.”
“Boy names are hard,” I groaned. “None of them sound right.”
I expected Dean to agree with me, but he was looking at the baby pensively. I thought he was staring in awe again. I’d caught him doing that often when he was holding him.
But the longer he went, the more Dean seemed to be deep in thought.
“Do you have something?” I asked.
“I was ... thinking about it. But it might not fit.”