Page 117 of In For a Penny

He laughs. “Yeah, you were cute. I couldn’t get enough of you.”

I feel myself blush and smile at him.

We make it to the restaurant just in time for our reservation, and I look around while Josh speaks to the hostess. I’m glad to see that not much has changed except for the upholstery on the chairs. Josh and I don’t come here often. We want to keep it a place strictly for special occasions, which means it turns into this sort of time machine every time we eat here.

After dinner, we finish our desserts, pay the check, and head out into the cold January night.

“You feel like walking to our bench?” he asks. “We can take a cab home after.” I nod, and we start heading west.

I smile and hold on to his arm as he walks and I waddle on the Southbank boardwalk, staring out at the twinkling city lights across the Thames. It was here where we had our first date, and it was here where, six months later, Josh proposed to me. We tried to “take it slow”, but when you know, you know. We didn’t wait until we started the rest of our lives, so we married a year later.

Suddenly, I feel Max kicking me hard.

“Oomph!” I say. “This kid is killing me lately.”

“He’s kicking?” Josh smiles broadly. “Itoldyou! Itoldyou he’s going to be a pro soccer player. He’s gonna play for Arsenal, you’ll see!”

I laugh at Josh’s expression, grab his hand, and place it where I feel the kicking.

“Awesome,” he says. “I’m gonna win our bet.”

I roll my eyes at him, thinking back to the night we found out I was pregnant.

It was unplanned—a huge shock. But neither of us was disappointed. We were both incredibly happy and, while I hadn’t even begun to comprehend the situation or even think about whether the baby was going to be a boy or a girl, Josh was already ten steps ahead of me. His first words to the news had been, “Yes! We’re gonna have a pro soccer player in the family!”

It was only after a few months that I started imagining what my kid was going to be like. This child was half mine, and I wasn’t exactly the most active person—I did not believe he was ever going to be able to be a professional athlete. So, we made a bet. We had until the kid turned eighteen. Loser takes the winner on a nice trip.

I was confident I was going to win—up until he started kicking. And man, is this kid a kicker. It’s like I’m growing the next David Beckham in here! He’s so active!

“Whatever, dude. I’m sure you’re wrong,” I lie. Josh is definitely gonna win the bet, and it sucks.

“Oliver agrees with me,” he says with a smug grin.

I roll my eyes at him. “That’s only because he wants one of the twins to marry rich, and he thinks Max will be a rich soccer player.”

Oliver and his girlfriend Lucy had twin baby girls last year. They were unplanned and a huge shock, but Caroline and Emily immediately became the apple of Oliver’s eyes. They have turned him into an even bigger softie, putting an end to his philandering days. He is so excited that our kids are going to be around the same age and we get to raise them together.

“You’re both delusional,” I say.

“Why don’t you believe in our child, Penny?” he says with a smirk. Josh loves to tease me about this, tries to guilt trip me. “You’re such an unsupportive mother. You should just let Max follow his dreams.”

“You meanyourdreams?”

He smiles a goofy side-grin. “Nah, I got all my dreams already.”

I snort, wanting to make fun of him but stop myself before I ruin the moment.

I look out at the city in front of me, its bright lights and beautiful buildings filled with such rich history, and laugh.

“What?” he asks.

I shake my head. “Nothing. I just remember when I was younger how crazy the idea of living anywhere other than New York was. Now, I can’t imagine living anywhere other than in London with you.”