Mom, Don't Cry! Here comes a new Daddy! novel Chapter 117

<Chapter 107

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Chapter 107

(Jake’s POV)

I don’t say anything for the first thirty seconds. I watch the little number at the top of the screen climb up, up, up, climbing so fast, the numbers scroll like in the movie Flash.

That’s called tension. I learned about it from watching the videos of these big kids on Youtube. You don’t start talking the second you go live. You wait for everyone to get in their seats and have their drinks and all and then get started.

By the time I say “Good morning everyone,” there are four thousand people watching.

“I have big news to share today.” I clasp my hands on my lap, holding my.head high and making my face very serious, like the man who tells the weather on TV.

Big news? Jake, what big news do you have to share with us today?

Is it a new art?

No, he said big! It must be something else!

Is your deadbeat dad trying to crawl his way back into your mom’s life again?

No way!

Wasn’t he already thrown out of the picture?

Jake, you need to keep your eyes open, my boy!

Yeah! Your mom deserves better!

Team New Dad forever!

Where’s the new man? Why isn’t he guarding his woman?

The comments start zooming past so fast I can’t even read the names anymore, so I stop trying to read everything. I wait for a little more, then I reach over and take Mommy’s hand, showing off the ring. She’s sitting right next to me. She moved over the second I went live to make sure I don’t share anything more than what I’m supposed to share.

But I know she also wants to be here for this, even if she’s pretending to just “supervise.”

The comments go absolutely insane.

Holy! Is this what I think it is?

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Chapter 107

A RING! IT’S RING!

JAKE! OUT WITH IT!

ARE YOU FINALLY GETTING A NEW DADDY!!!?

I nod, feeling proud. “Mr. Ethan asked Mommy to marry him last night on the roof. I checked the ring myself. It’s nice and shiny and pretty too, so I have officially given my approval.”

Wait, YOU approved it? That fast?

What if the ring is fake?

Is the wedding date fixed?

You’ll send us the invitation, won’t you, my precious Jake?

I just want to be there for the food!

No way….on second thought…that’s not a bad idea. I’m in for the food!

Once the scroll starts scrolling, I finally get the chance to answer the first good question.

Was I surprised?

Nah!

I saw it coming long ago.

I explain about the lump in the jacket pocket and the eleven checks Ethan did. His face looked grave and serious by the window like he was about to take the biggest exam ever.

So I knew right then what was going to happen.

There is a long stream of comments that are all just people typing THIS KID in big capital

letters.

The second good question is if I like Ethan better than my bad dad.

I think about this seriously before I answer. Important questions need a “thinking pause.”

“He makes my mom laugh,” I say. “The big kind where she has to put her hand over her mouth. She smiles all the time now, too.” I pause. “She didn’t do that a lot before. So yes, I like him.”

The comments are not words anymore. Just symbols and exclamation marks and the little heart-eyes.

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Mommy’s hand is over her mouth right now. She looks like she’s about to cry. But Aunt Sophia once told me when a person is too happy, they shed tears of joy.

So I know she’s not really sad. Just really really happy right now.

I take a few more questions. Someone asks if I’m excited to have a dad. I say I already have one-that part started a long while ago. I was just waiting for mommy to like Mr. Shiny Shoe Protector too.

Someone asks if we’re going to move into Ethan’s building. I laugh, puffing out my chest, “Mr Ethan’s taking us house hunting tomorrow! A real family house with a yard! I’ll record everything for you!”

Does this mean I’ll finally get to see where the rich live?

HELL YEAH!

You’re the man, Jake!

“Alright everyone! That’s all for the announcement today! I gotta go now because I have family stuff to take care of. Thank you for being here! Have a great day!” I sign off the way I always do, with my special salute and close the app.

The stream lasted only six minutes and fourteen seconds, but people are still coming in.

Lucky for them I recorded it!

Mommy takes the phone out of my hand before the screen is even fully off. She looks at it. I see her face do the thing where she’s reading comments and her expression keeps changing.

like the weather.

“Forty thousand people,” she says, mostly to herself.

“Forty-three,” I say. “It was climbing when you took it.”

She looks at Ethan. He’s been watching the whole thing from his chair. His coffee is cold now. He has an expression on his face I haven’t seen before. It’s the look of a man who keeps getting surprised by the same thing over and over and still can’t quite get ready for it in

time.

Mommy picks up her own phone and takes a photo of him.

She does it fast, before he notices. When he looks over, she just smiles and puts her phone

away. He narrows his eyes a little like he’s about to give her a talking for taking his picture without asking permission, but he doesn’t.

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Chapter 107

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