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“Would ya quit that?” Nick complains, nodding his head towards her rapidly bouncing leg. “You’re shaking the entire damn car.”
“Look, this is a big deal.” Jess glares at him out of the corner of her eye and anxiously runs her hands over the front of her green dress for what must be the hundredth time that afternoon. “This is Ruth’s first birthday party.”
“Right,” Nick says sarcastically and rolls his eyes. He flips on the turn signal and pulls into Schmidt and Cece’s neighborhood. “Cause the first three didn’t count.”
Jess huffs and stares out the window as they pass by the other houses in the little neighborhood. “Those are for the parents. This is the first one Ruth’s going to remember. It’s the first one she’s actually invited her friends to. It’s a big deal.”
“Honey, c’mon. Relax.” Nick reaches over and reassuringly squeezes her knee. “You’re getting too worked up over this.” He parks the car in front of the house and cuts off the engine. Nick leans over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek before opening his door and exiting the car.
Jess lets out a long sigh before she undoes her seatbelt. She gets out of the car and leans against the closed door and watches as Nick grabs the gift-wrapped package out of the backseat. “I don’t want to steal the spotlight, is all. Schmidt’s been planning this party for the past two months.”
Nick lets out a short laugh and shakes his head, precariously balancing Ruth’s birthday present on one arm while he locks the door of the car. “I know, Jess. He’s been bombarding me with emails about color swatches of artisanally handcrafted paper decorations and taste profiles of gourmet birthday cake for weeks.” Nick walks around the car and steps up onto the sidewalk beside her. “Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that Schmidt’s staying at home to take care of his daughter. But he’s got way too much free time on his hands.”
She laughs, and it helps to lessen that nervous bubble of energy brewing in the pit of her stomach. Jess tightens her grip on the shoulder strap of her purse as they walk up to the house. “We need to find him a hobby.”
He chuckles. “Look, we’ll let Ruth be the star today.” They get to the porch and he shifts his grip on the box so he can see the steps leading up to the house. “We’ll just keep the other thing between us for little longer. No problem.”
“Sure, Mr. Sweat Back,” Jess snorts. “You won’t last ten minutes in there without cracking.”
“Whadda mean, Jess?” He almost sounds a touch offended. “I’ve gotten a whole lot better at lying.”
“Since when?” she says with a disbelieving giggle.
“Since we got married,” he retorts.
Jess rolls her eyes and rings the doorbell.
“Besides,” Nick nudges her with his elbow. “You’re the dead giveaway here. You’ve gotten weirdly moody lately. It’s totally obvious.”
“Shut up.” She playfully smacks him in the arm. “I am a delight.”
Nick looks at her skeptically. “This morning you cried for an hour over an episode of House Hunters. That you had already seen before”
“No I didn’t!” she protests. “That was unrelated!”
“You’re tearing up right now!”
Jess scoffs and rubs at her traitorously watering eyes. Fine. Maybe her husband has a point. Maybe. “Because it was beautiful. Greg and Louis just wanted a house big enough for the children they were planning to adopt. They wanted a nice backyard for their kids to run around in and a beautiful banister they could take family photos on. How am I supposed to watch that and not cry?”
To his credit, Nick doesn’t say anything and instead bites down on his lip to hold back a laugh. Jess scrunches her nose up at him in annoyance and rings the doorbell again. A few seconds later the door swings open to a frazzled-looking Schmidt.
“Welcome to our home, the party’s in the backyard-” he says on autopilot, but then stops suddenly when he realizes who’s standing in front of him. “You two? Why in God’s name are you ringing the doorbell? We gave you a key!” he cries.
Nick laughs and pushes Ruth’s gift into Schmidt’s hands. He gives him a clap on the shoulder before walking into the house and yelling, “Ruthie! Where’s the birthday girl?”
Jess hesitates for a moment before trailing after her husband. The party in the backyard is already in full swing, and there’s a small group of children chasing after each other around in the grass while their parents watch from the sidelines. Jess grabs a lemonade from the cooler and sets off in search of Cece.
She finds her best friend at the refreshments table cutting up slices of a sheet cake. “Jess!” Cece says excitedly, and pulls her into a hug, carefully keeping her sticky, frosting-covered hands away from Jess’ hair. “How are you?”
“Good, good. Do you need any help?”
Cece waves her off. “Psh, Schmidt’s already got everything under control. I had to convince him to let me take on cake duty. You know how he gets.”
Jess laughs and nods. “Oh, trust me, I know.”
She takes a sip of her drink and looks out across the backyard. Nick has Ruth scooped up into his arms, and is animatedly listening to her chatter away as he balances her on his hip. Jess smiles at the two of them. He’s so good with her, and Ruth is always excited about any time she gets to see her Uncle Nicky. Jess hadn’t expected Nick to be so good with kids, but then again, it makes sense the more she thinks about it. His goofy nature translates perfectly to spending time with little kids, and he has a really genuine way of relating to young people. It’s why his books are so popular in middle and high schools. She’s so proud of him and of how far he’s come, how he’s grown over the years and built up that self-assurance he’d struggled with when they were first together.
Jess thinks about the pictures in her purse from their appointment with Sadie this morning. The printed copy of her first ultrasound, a grayish blur that kinda looks like a kidney bean but mostly just looks like static. A little fuzzy shape that the doctor had labeled as their baby. Jess can still hear the steady thump of their child’s heart rate echoing in her ears, the reassuring sound of healthy development and the fact that this is all real and actually happening for them. Here they are, after years of hoping and wondering if they could ever make it work between them. Now they’re in love and married and expecting their first child. It’s almost too good to be true.
Nick is beaming brightly as he holds Ruth, and Jess can feel her heart swelling in her chest. He’d been so happy in the doctor’s office, a shimmering light in his eyes as he stared at the monitor in awe, his fingers tightly squeezing hers. Nick’s going to be an amazing father. She’s sure of it.