Dolce Vita

“So I have something I wanted to talk to you about.” Sloane was sitting on the couch in the living room with her cell phone against her ear as she stared at her chipping nail polish on her toes that Kim had painted the week previous.

“What’s up?” She asked her step dad, glancing at the clock above the TV to see what time it was. Nearly nine thirty, Kim was due over in twenty minutes and Roman wouldn’t be home from practice until closer to noon. They were supposed to go over this ‘birthing plan’ her Dr had mentioned but Sloane really didn’t want to do it. There were too many options and everyone seemed to have an opinion on which one she should pick.

William cleared his throat and told her, “Well I was thinking that if it’s okay with you and Roman that I might come to Nashville for when the baby’s born. I’d really love to be there for that.”

She smiled to herself and told him, “Of course you can. Roman’s mom is coming but there’s more than enough room.”

“I can always book a hotel.” He told her.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She told him quickly. After a few seconds she asked quietly, “What about mom?”

He sighed and that was all the answer she needed but still he told her, “I haven’t been able to convince her to come. You know how she is.”

Sloane knew, she had only been dealing with her mother for twenty-four years. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know that her mother was stubborn, and a little bit selfish and could never admit when she was wrong even when she knew it. Sloane was sure that the reason she hadn’t really talked to any of her siblings since the announcement was because of her mother, she had probably found some way to word things to make it all about her and her failures and embarrassments of being their mother and she knew her siblings; they were all obedient little sheep’s when it came to their mother. Sloane was the only one who was ever able to stand up for herself, not that she did it very much up until now, but she was always the only one who could. Growing up she had always been the ‘troublemaker’ in their house, probably why she got along with her step dad so well because when they say opposites attract that was 100% true of her parents.

Where Karen was cold and not at all motherly, William was warm and involved in so much more than just mapping out their lives. He took them to and from school, sat up at night doing homework with them, he took them to and from any kind of practices they had and he made dinner every night. He had even cut his work hours in half while they were growing up and had only in the last few years started working full time again. Now that she was set to become a mother herself Sloane could pin point all those times that William played both the role of mom and dad and how wrong it was of her mother to do that to him. Still, as she thought about him sitting up at night doing homework with her at the kitchen table she couldn’t help but picture Roman doing the same.

Sloane had always had a lot of respect for William, he was never asked and he was never expected to come in and be a father and parent someone else’s children, to raise them as his own, and in Sloane’s opinion it was even more respectable that he did it with her mother. Sloane and Tony had never met their real father or remembered him from the brief period he was around for, Austin was the only one who remembered him and had since seen him but simply came back with the report of ‘he’s not worth going to see’. Unlike her two brothers Sloane had never really had even and inkling of desire to meet her father, even when the opportunity presented itself she turned it down, she had never referred to him as dad, that was a title only reserved for William.

“You still there?” William asked her curiously, and Sloane chuckled at herself.

“Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking.” She didn’t elaborate and she knew he wouldn’t ask.

“So how much longer? You’re at the half way mark yeah?” He asked her curiously, and Sloane was sure he was probably pulling out his schedule to see how he could clear his days so he could be there.

She nodded, despite the fact that he couldn’t see her, and told him, “27 weeks, so 13 left.”

There was a silent pause between them before William voiced, “So the second week of April?”

“Yeah, around then.” As she said this the door to the apartment swung open and Kim walked in.

She clearly didn’t see the phone attached to Sloane’s ear as she hung her jacket up, shoved her shoes off and exclaimed, “What the hell is the matter with guys? Like take the fucking hint, I didn’t want anything to do with that idiot months ago why would that change now? I mean God you’d think he thought I was stupid or something.”

“Is that Kimberly?” William asked Sloane.

“Yeah, she’s ranting about a boy.” Sloane told him.

Kim’s head snapped over to her upon hearing that, saw the phone, her cheeks flushed and she asked, “Are you talking to Roman? Because if so can you ask him to take a slap shot to Colin’s head in practice and say it was an accident?”

Sloane let out a near snort at that and started laughing as William chuckled on his end of the phone. Once Kim sat down beside her and Sloane had stopped laughing she informed Kim, “No, I’m talking to my dad.”

“Oh.” She leaned in toward Sloane and called out, “Hi dad!”

William let out a chuckle and said, “Tell her I said hi and to take good care of you. I’ll let you two do your girl talk thing.”

“Okay, bye. Love you.”

When Sloane hung up the phone Kim looked at her and said, “Sorry, if I had known that was your dad I would have just come in quietly and waited to rant until you were done.”

Sloane shrugged, put her phone on the couch beside her and pulled her legs up onto the couch to sit cross legged as she told Kim, “Its fine, we were just talking about him coming here when the baby comes.”

“Oh… what about your mom?” Kim asked her curiously, watching her with careful eyes for any sign of her being upset. Kim was pleasantly surprised to find that Sloane hadn’t become overly emotional, she was actually quite calm, Kim figured the only emotion that was super out of character for Sloane was that she was so happy lately and Kim didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.

Sloane shrugged, “Not coming but I expected that.”

Kim nodded slowly, reached over onto the coffee table to pick up all the birthing information that was stacked neatly in the middle of the table and hadn’t been touched in over a week. She started flipping through the information and she asked Sloane, “Do I have to be in the room when this thing comes?”

Sloane let out a chuckle and turned on the TV, finding something for them to watch before she told Kim, “No you don’t. In fact the only thing I know for sure is that it’s only going to be Roman and I. I don’t want a bunch of people in there.”

“What if he’s in the middle of a game? Or a road trip?” Kim asked her curiously, and when Sloane didn’t answer right away she turned her head to look at her and found her with wide eyes.

Kim laughed when Sloane told her, “We haven’t even talked about that. Honestly I’m just hoping he’s a little late and arrives after the season is over.”

“When’s the season over?”

“Their last game is on the thirteenth in Minnesota and he’s due on the eleventh.” Sloane told her, slightly panicked herself over the thought. They truthfully hadn’t talked about what they would do if Roman was on the road or in the middle of the game, Sloane liked to think she’d be able to handle it and let him finish the game but she wasn’t 100% sure about that. She liked to think she was strong and independent but this was a whole new game and she didn’t know how she would react.

Kim, sensing her panic and confusion told her, “If that happens I’ll stay and hold your hand I guess.”

Sloane let out a chuckle, “Such a good friend.”

“That’s me.” Kim stated with a shrug as she continued to flip through all the information. She let out a short chuckle and asked, “What about a water birth?”

“Do I look like a fucking fish to you?” Sloane asked, making Kim burst into laughter. Rolling her eyes Sloane asked, “What’s so funny?”

“You just got so snippy about that and I wasn’t expecting that.” Kim told her, crumbling up the information on water birthing and tossing it onto the kitchen floor behind her. She went on to the next one, before asking Sloane curiously, “So if you’re against water birth what do you want?”

“Ideally? I’d be pumped so full of drugs that I don’t even know what’s going on until it’s all over.” Sloane told her and when Kim chuckled she added, “But apparently that’s frowned upon.”

Kim nodded her head and told her, “I can see why.”

“I think men make these rules up.” Sloane muttered, making the two of them laugh.

They fell into silence as Kim finished reading all the material Sloane really didn’t have an interest to read so instead she concentrated on the rerun of Nip/Tuck. Kim finished reading, put all the information back and then curled up on the couch with her head on a couch pillow beside Sloane. She reached out, grabbed Sloane’s hand and asked, “Who knew our lives would be so fucked up by twenty-four?”

Sloane let out a chuckle, put her other hand on her stomach and told Kim, “Yeah but things worked out for the best. At least for me.”

“Yeah you got lucky. You got the perfect, hot boy and the baby that’s gonna be a damn supermodel by like age three.” Kim told her with a laugh. She reached up to rub Sloane’s stomach before she said, “I’m so jealous of you.”

“Why?” As happy as she was Sloane had a hard time understanding why anyone in their right mind would be jealous of her.

Kim shrugged and told her softly, “You’re just happy and in love and you’re making this little family for yourself and I kind of feel like… I don’t know.”

“Like I’m leaving you behind?” Sloane asked her curiously, running her fingers through Kim’s red hair as she nodded slowly.

“I don’t want to make you feel bad because I’m so so happy for you Sloane, I really am and you really deserve all of this. I just need to deal with my shit I guess.” Kim said, letting out a laugh at her own expense. Sloane smiled gently, continued to play with her hair and laughed when Kim told her, “You know you totally bailed on the pact we had in high school. We were supposed to get married and be pregnant at the same time. You could have the boy I’d have the girl and then they could grow up and get married.”

“Sorry. I mean it could still happen.” Sloane told her, chuckling when Kim rolled her eyes. She patted her head gently and told her, “You’re gonna find someone and when you do he’s gonna be the best, sweetest, most loving, perfect guy for you and you’re gonna wonder why you gave up on looking for that in the first place.”

“Can’t we just share Roman like we shared Tommy Wills in eighth grade?” Kim asked her, making them both laugh.

“Correction. He was my boyfriend, you stole him.”

“Did not.” Kim stated.

“Tell you what, if in like twenty years you’re still single and alone you can move in with us and be a cougar and date baby Josi.” When Kim rolled her eyes Sloane told her, “It’s the perfect plan. I mean he’s part of me and part of Roman so basically he’s gonna be even more perfect than you think Roman is.”

“That’s true.” Kim told her, and they both laughed when she said, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“By the way Roman is having a few of the guys and their girlfriends here for dinner tomorrow, he told me to invite you. It’s small, like five of us.” Sloane told her, and when Kim made a face she told her, “Colin won’t be there.”

“Good. He wants to get back together with me and I’ve been ignoring his calls for like a week.” Kim stated, and when Sloane laughed she pinched her knee and told her, “It’s not funny Sloane! We broke up because he didn’t want anything exclusive and I did, I don’t understand why he’d think I would get back with him when that hasn’t changed.”

“Because he’s a boy and boys are stupid.”

“Amen.” Kim stated.

With that they fell into silence, Sloane was still playing with Kim’s hair and Kim was still curled up beside Sloane, one hand in hers and the other on her very large bump. Neither one of them talked, there wasn’t any need for conversation, which was usual in their friendship. The two of them could spend all day curled up on the couch or in bed watching movies without saying a word and it was never uncomfortable. Sloane glanced down at Kim as a commercial played and she smiled as her eyes drifted over to her stomach and she wondered how she had gotten to lucky to have the people she did in her life.

She shifted uncomfortably, which made Kim look up and ask her, “You okay?”

Sloane nodded, “Fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” Kim told her, sitting up. When Sloane raised her eyebrow Kim told her, “You’re really pale.”

“I’m fine, my back just hurts. What else is new?” She tried to joke, throwing a smile Kim’s way even though she knew it did nothing to calm her friend down.

She sucked in a deep breath of air, let out a muted hiss of pain and Kim told her, “That is not fine Sloane.”

“I just… it’s just a cramp.” Kim was pulling out her phone the minute the words left Sloane’s mouth.

She was on Google, which Sloane knew was the worst thing to do when it came to medical symptoms. A headache meant a brain tumor according to Google. Kim glanced at her, looked back at her phone before she told Sloane, “We should go to the hospital.”

“Kimberly it’s nothing.”

“I’m gonna call Roman.” When she went to say this Sloane let out a noise in pain and Kim’s eyes whipped back over to Sloane.

She was gripping the couch cushion with one hand and the other was pressed low against her stomach, her eyebrows were furrowed, and she looked up at Kim with terror in her eyes. She couldn’t talk, she couldn’t move, all she could do was squeeze the couch cushion between her fingers and try not to scream. Finally she looked at Kim and struggled to get her words out but she spoke in a voice full of fear, “Something’s wrong.”