The Hardest Part of Today is a Hangover.

We decided to keep it, and we decided we wanted a girl.
A girl seems so much more us than a boy, I guess—something in me just told me that I wanted a girl far more than a boy. I’m not sure what that part was, but it was there and it was very, very clear. I couldn’t ignore it and, obviously, Oli couldn’t either. He’d already started buying little pink onesies and booties. It was so adorable I couldn’t even pay attention at work anymore.

Oh, and the fact that everybody nearly shit their pants when they found out didn’t settle my stomach at all. I knew each of them would take it differently, but jesus! I can only handle so much.

Erin and Adam were excited because Casey would have another baby to play with, the band was kind of freaking out because they went on tour in not even a month for four months, Christian and Caitlin squealed like little girls, Tom already knew because…someone…and, well, the parents don’t know yet. I planned on telling my mom, but Adam popped this, this…question on me. I never even saw it coming.

[--]

I sat at work, flipping through all of the invoices that had stacked up on my desk in the past weeks. The phone was ringing, the bell over the door was dinging, but I just sat there, flipping through the papers like a mindless zombie, not even paying attention to what was going on around me.

At that moment, if you had asked me my name, I wouldn't have been able to tell you.

"Hey Anna," Adam greeted, a smile on his face. I didn't even hear him. I was too engorged in my work to know that somebody was even in the store.

Okay, I wasn't engorged in my work. I was thinking about how this move to Portland could've possibly been the worst—yet the best—mistake of my life, and which side I was leaning towards. Looking at the small baby bump I was sporting I was definitely leaning more towards worst, but something about the fact that it was Oliver's baby made me want to run towards best. I was running in circles.

"Anna...? Are you okay?" Adam asked again, waving his hand in front of my face.

My head snapped up quickly and I smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Stressed about the baby?" Adam asked, leaning against the counter.

I nodded. "Very."

"Well, don't be. It'll be the best thing that's every happened to you. But," he started, obviously heading down a different road, "Erin and I would like to talk to you and Oli about something over dinner tonight. You think you two can make it?"

I looked at his slim and innocent, yet so devious, form leaning against the counter I sat behind. I squinted at him and he smiled.

He was up to something.
Or, well, they were up to something.

"Sure," I sighed, "Where and what time?"

He smiled. "I'll let you know later, love. Just do what you do best and look adorable. Erin will call you when the store closes."

I nodded and smiled, but when he walked out I dropped my head down onto my desk and mumbled, "These people are going to kill me."

[--]

"Well now baby, I’ll be anything that you want me to be,
Baby, a big monkey, a little monkey, a chimpanzee.

Well now baby, I’ll be anyth-"

"Yes?" I breathed quickly, juggling my phone on my shoulder, my keys in my hand, and a bag of work on my arm.

"Anna, love, it's Erin. You want to meet us at Mai Thai at eight o'clock?"

I shoved my keys in my purse and adjusted everything I was carrying. "Sure. I'll go get Oli and we'll be there."

"Okay. Love you, babe!" Erin announced excitedly, hanging up before I could reply. I just shook my head and continued to walk down the street to my car, thinking over this entire day and what they could possibly be wanting to talk about.

[--]

"There they are!" Oli shouted, pointing to the far back corner booth of the restaurant. He wrapped his arm around my waist and slowly pulled me with him.

We slid into the booth, ordered our drinks, then things became serious.

"What's this all about, guys? Seriously," I started, "I'm tired of thinking of the possibilities."

"Well," Erin started, but what got off by her phone shrieking at her.

She quickly picked it up and answered it, "Hello?"

Pause.

"Oh, Daddy. It's in the fridge behind the milk."

Pause.

"No, not that milk. The Soy milk."

Pause.

"Yeah. There. Anything else?"

Pause.

"Okay. I love you too, Daddy."

She hung up and smiled at me. "Old man couldn't find the mashed peaches," she laughed.

Oli made a face. "Mashed peaches? That sounds fucking disgusting!"

"It's what babies eat, kid. Get over it," Adam laughed, wrapping his arm around Erin's shoulders.

"Anyways," I cut in, starting to get annoyed, "What's all this about?"

"Oh yeah!" Erin shouted, laughing, then clasping her hands together on the table and leaning closer to me. "Well," she started, smiling, "Adam and I were talking about moving into a larger house the other day since, you know, the record store's becoming a chain and we're raking in money like nobody's business. And since Casey's been born we've been having heart attacks at home. We need a family home, not a newlyweds home."

I nodded, now interested. "Okay. Where is this going?"

"Well," Adam, interjected, "Since Oli's going on tour in a little less than a month and will be gone we figured that Erin and I could take care of you a lot better than Caitlin and Christian can since, well, they've been a little busy lately," he laughed."

"-what we're trying to say, Anna," Erin added, "Is that we'd like you to move in with us until Oli gets back. And that there's going to be a record store opening in Sheffield in eleven months and we'd love you to open it and run it. We'd much rather have someone we know and love running it than somebody we've barely met. We're willing to buy you a home and everything for you two and the baby."

She smiled. "What do you think?"

Oli and I looked at each other.
His eyes had a look in them. He wanted to do it. He wanted us to live together. He wanted to have a family. He was ready.

But was I? That was the question that raced through my head, and the only answer was: It doesn't matter now, Anna. This isn't all about you anymore. There's a child. You're going to have to be ready.

I sighed. "We'll think about it."