Nine Month Contract

de Amy Daws

Help Wanted: Grumpy mountain man seeks baby mumma. Job is an incubator position only. Surrogate must be impervious to grunting as the form of communication and nosy brotherly neighbours. Rustic mountain range housing available upon request. I wanted to pummel my irritating brothers when they posted their own version of a wanted ad to help me with my life. But I can’t fault the results once the right woman lands in my lap. Becoming a single father is not a decision I made lightly. In fact, it’s the biggest decision of my entire life. Which is why when I interview Trista, I know she’s perfect. She’s wild, she’s opinionated, she wears cowboy boots. Even my pet goat loves her... She’s the exact type of person I was holding out for. And to my great horror, I realise on our first night of attempting this baby-making dance — when the lights are low, the cheap wine is flowing and the home-insemination supplies are laid out on the kitchen counter — I want to do a lot more than just make her my surrogate. I want to make her mine.