Free Big Girls Do It Pregnant by Jasinda Wilder

together.”
    Jamie just waved at me with one hand, already lost in Chase’s mouth. I turned away before awkwardness descended any more thickly on me. When we were in a cab headed toward our hotel, Jeff twisted on the seat to look at me. “You all right?”
    I shrugged. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Jeff   just frowned, but I knew what he was getting at. He wouldn’t be able to say it out loud, but I knew. I decided to put him out of his misery. “I’m fine, Jeff. I’m happy for Jamie and Chase. Did you have fun with him?”
    Jeff nodded. “Yeah, once I got past that it was fucking pretty-boy Chase I was hanging with, yeah.” That was as close as Jeff would come to acknowledging the elephant in the room that was my previous relationship with Chase. “He’s cool. We drank some scotch at the sports bar down the street and watched the UConn-Nebraska game. I’m not really into the whole March Madness thing, but I’ll watch a game here and there. Chase is the same way.”
    “I have no idea what March Madness is,” I said.
    “College basketball playoffs, basically.” He glanced at me to gauge the effect of his next words. “Chase is pretty mixed up about the whole being gone while Jamie’s pregnant business. He admitted that he’s thought about cutting the tour short to be with her full-time.”
    “He really can’t do that,” I said. “This tour is a make-it-or-break-it thing. They’re getting big, but this tour can really cement them as one of the biggest up-and-coming bands in the business. If they cut the tour short, it could ruin all the progress they’ve made. They’re not so big that they can do whatever they want, not yet at least.”
    Jeff nodded. “He said the same thing, basically. I think Jamie going back to the D until the baby’s out is a good plan.”
    “I think so, too. And I’m really excited that she’ll be around for a while. It would be so cool if we could have our babies at the same time.” I smirked at Jeff. “You know what else is a really good idea? Finding out the gender on Monday.”
    Jeff let his head fall back onto the seat with a sigh. “Here we go again.”
    I just laughed.

    *   *   *

    Jeff squeezed my hand gently as the ultrasound technician prepped me, lining my belly with white towels and splooging a glop of frigid blue goo onto my stomach. The lights were dim, a computer monitor on the wall opposite the chair showing a black screen with indecipherable words and abbreviations on either side. My name, Anna Cartwright, was written across the top of the screen. I was still getting used to writing “Cartwright” as my last name, but I felt a thrill every time I did.
    “So,” the technician said, rubbing the tip of the wand into the goo on my belly, “you’re not finding out the gender?”
    “That’s what he says.” I jerked my thumb at Jeff. “I want to know, but he doesn’t. Maybe you can tell me and he can cover his ears or something.”
    “That’s cheating,” Jeff said with a grin.”
    “Well, we could do it that way,” the technician said. “I wouldn’t recommend it, though. You should know or not know together, as a couple. I will say, though, that you’d be surprised by how many couples have this same argument in here. It’s not uncommon.”
    “I just want to be able to decorate the nursery.” I watched the screen shifting as she slid the wand around my belly.  
    “Okay,” the nurse said. “Look here, you can see the head and a little arm, see it?”  
    Jeff and I looked at each other, then the screen. I clenched Jeff’s hand as we saw our baby for the first time. My heart stuttered, leapt, and then began hammering as the reality of our baby hit me.  
    “Can you tell what it is?” Jeff asked.
    “I”m looking,” the nurse said. “I want to get a fix on the heartbeat first, though. Here, listen.”
    She tapped a key on the keyboard, and then another, and the sound of the heartbeat filled the room. I covered my mouth with my