On a Saturday morning found Leo at the grocery store, staring at a wall of tea boxes like they held the secrets of fatherhood. Peppermint. Ginger. Raspberry leaf?
He had no idea what pregnant people drank, but he remembered Tiana mentioning peppermint. So he grabbed two boxes. And crackers. And some kind of almond butter that cost ten dollars but looked like it belonged in her kitchen.
The cashier gave him a look as she scanned the items. "Someone's trying," she said with a smirk.
He forced a smile. "Yeah… trying."
Back home, he opened a fresh page in his sketchbook but couldn't bring himself to draw. Instead, he pulled out his laptop and Googled: how to support someone during pregnancy.
Articles flooded in. Most of them were about what not to say, what not to do, what not to assume.
He shut the laptop and rubbed his face with both hands.
He was overthinking it. Again. He grabbed his phone, thumb hovering over Tiana's name.
Leo: Want some groceries? I grabbed tea and weirdly expensive crackers.
A moment passed.
Tiana: Are the crackers gluten-free?
Leo: God, I hope not.
Tiana: Then yes.
He smiled. This wasn't a relationship. It wasn't even a friendship yet. But there was something forming—slow, unspoken, and real.
An hour later, he stood outside her door with a paper bag and more nerves than he'd had in years.
Tiana opened the door in leggings and a sweatshirt, her hair twisted up in a messy bun. She looked tired, but beautiful.
He held out the bag. "For the queen and her nausea."
She gave him a half-smile, stepping aside to let him in. "You're learning."
"Trying," he said.
They settled into a comfortable kind of quiet, her unpacking the bag, him hovering near the kitchen island.
"Did you always want to be an architect?" she asked suddenly.
He blinked. "Wow. Going deep."
She shrugged. "Just wondering what kind of man my kid's going to have to explain to their teacher during career day."
He let out a low chuckle. "Fair."
There was a pause before he answered. "No. I didn't always want it. It was… expected. My dad's firm. His name on every third building in this city. I was supposed to carry the legacy."
"And do you?"
He leaned on the counter. "I like building things. I don't like being told what to build."
Tiana nodded, thoughtful.
"You're good at showing up," she said after a moment. "You don't always know how, but… you try."
Leo looked at her. "That's the second time you've said 'try.' You know that, right?"
"Yeah. Because trying matters." He wasn't sure what it meant, or where they were going, but for the first time in a long time, he didn't feel like he was failing.
Just… learning.One step at a time.