Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 104288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Makes me think about that ring again. I’m not letting Maren go anywhere. I also don’t want to freak her out. But wouldn’t hurt to ask Riley for the name of his diamond guy. Yes, my friend has one of those now that he’s dating someone seriously too.
Wonder if it would make her parents any happier about our situation if I asked for their daughter’s hand.
We arrive at the mats. I hold out my arms again. “You sure you don’t want me to take her?”
“I got it,” Maren says. “How do you think pregnant women with toddlers do it?”
Fair point.
Jeremiah turns on a song from Frozen, which immediately gets Katie’s attention. Maren sets her down and together we squat and take off Katie’s shoes and socks.
“Go on.” I motion to the knot of little girls dancing on the mats. “Maren and I will be right here, okay?”
It takes two more tries to get Katie to join the class. Jeremiah starts showing his students some cheer moves she learned with Maren—guess I learned them too—and that’s when Katie finally makes a mad dash for the mat.
“Thank Christ.” My knees crack as I stand back up. My stomach flips when I see Maren’s hand on the underside of her belly, a grimace on her face. “You all right?”
“Yeah. Just feeling a little tight down here.”
Panic flutters inside my chest. “Crampy?”
“No. No, I don’t think it’s cramps. Just kinda sore I guess.”
“That’s normal, right?”
Maren and I have been keeping up with the week-by-week pregnancy guide Dr. Yelich gave to us at our first appointment. I recently read that during the second trimester, it’s normal to feel tight there because the uterus is expanding so much it puts stress on the surrounding ligaments.
“It is, yeah. Doesn’t really hurt. Just feels . . . weird.”
“Can I feel?”
She grabs my hand and puts it on her lower belly. “It’s hard. You feel that?”
“I do. You sure it doesn’t hurt?”
“I’m sure.”
“Whatever the case, let’s grab you a seat.”
I find one lined up along the wall beside the mats. Maren sits while I pull a bottle of water out of Katie’s diaper bag and crack it open before handing it to her. That’s when I feel a tap on my shoulder.
“Are you Tuck Monroe?”
“I am, yes.”
I turn around to find a blonde woman smiling up at me. “I’m Paige, the director here. We talked on the phone?”
“Paige! Yes. Thank you for coming to say hello. I’m excited for you to meet my girlfriend. I think y’all will have a lot to talk about.”
I introduce Paige to Maren, who, thank God, is smiling again.
“Maren may wanna kill me for doing this—”
“I doubt that,” Maren says.
“—but I told Paige about your predicament with your job search. She said she’d be happy to chat with you about her path and how you might combine your passion for education with your love of cheer.”
Maren’s eyes go wide and a little glassy. She blinks, hard, and stands up to offer her hand to Paige. “Oh, wow. Wow, this is amazing.”
“Your boyfriend is amazing.” Paige glances at me. “He said he wanted to give your networking a bit of a jump start.”
“Of course he did.” Maren is very clearly trying not to cry. She covers her mouth. “I’m sorry, I’m pregnant and just, yeah, more emotional than usual.”
Paige smiles and runs a hand over Maren’s back. “I think my boyfriend doing something sweet like this would make me cry too, with or without the pregnancy. Congratulations, by the way.”
“Thank you,” I reply. “I know Maren is going to crush whatever she sets her mind to. I just wanna help her figure that out.”
We end up talking with Paige for the duration of Katie’s class. Well, Paige and Maren talk, and I sit on the other side of my girlfriend and listen. Ask questions when I have them. Turns out they had the same coach (at different times, of course), and they both hold master’s degrees. Paige talks about her journey from psychology major to cheer coach and gym owner. Maren talks about her experience on the varsity squad at Carolina.
They exchange numbers as Katie’s class wraps up.
“Please call me anytime,” Paige says. “I love talking about this stuff.”
Maren nods. “I can’t tell you how helpful this has been. I was so set on teaching in an academic setting that I never thought to consider other options.”
“I had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated from college. Which ended up working out. I was able to try a bunch of different things while meeting a bunch of different people. I think you can kinda screw yourself if you’re dead set on doing just one thing with your career, you know? Because you have no idea how that career is going to pan out. What if you actually don’t love doing it? What if there’s something else out there you’d love that you’re totally missing out on? My advice is to keep an open mind. And talk to everyone you can.”