Mom’s eyes widen and she glances back and forth between the two of us.
“Today’s been a…bittersweet one.” He goes on to explain. “Misty, she doesn’t want the baby. I had to plead with her to keep it.” The last part is choked out. “This morning we signed custody papers over to me. They still have to be filed with the court, but by the time the baby is here, I will be the sole custodial parent. Misty will have no rights whatsoever.”
“Oh my.” Mom stands and walks over to Evan. Leaning over, she places her hand on his cheek. “You’re an amazing young man, Evan Chamberlin. This baby is lucky to have you.” She taps his cheek and goes back to her chair.
“So, what’s next?” I ask him.
“I don’t know. I’m out of my element here. I mean, I’m excited about the baby. I’m scared as hell and it’s not how I envisioned it, but I want it—him or her. I hate calling my baby it.”
Mom chuckles. “Well, why don’t you try something else like peanut?” she asks.
Evan smiles fondly at her. “Is that what you did?”
She grins. “Yep. We didn’t find out with either of them. We wanted to be surprised.”
I look at Evan. “Do you want to know?” I ask him.
He doesn’t answer at first, and I can tell he’s never really thought about it. “I don’t know.” Leaning his elbows on his knees, he buries his face in his hands. “I just always pictured having ‘the one’ by my side during all of this.”
“The one?” Mom asks.
Evan turns his head to look at her. “Yeah, the one woman who makes my heart race, who consumes my thoughts. The one I spend the rest of my life with. I never pictured this scenario, and I’m at a loss,” he confesses.
My heart melts and aches at the same time. Evan is such a great guy; any woman would be lucky to have him. I hate that this is happening. Not the fact he’s having a baby out of wedlock, or even the fact Misty is not ‘the one,’ but the fact he’s having to do this alone. His parents are in Alabama as his dad battles cancer for the third time and both sets of grandparents are getting up there in age.
“Well, for us, we wanted to be surprised. Of course, it was hard to shop. We had lots of yellows and greens,” Mom laughs. “I assume you will be there for all her appointments?”
“Yeah, I don’t want to miss any of it. I already heard the heartbeat.” The dazzling smile I’m used to lights up his face.
“Well, how far along is she?” Mom asks.
“Nine weeks or so. Everything happens in weeks,” he mumbles.
Mom and I chuckle at that. “Yes, certain weeks are markers. Usually, it’s about halfway—so twenty weeks—when they do an ultrasound and determine the sex of the baby,” Mom explains.
“Hey, what’s going on out here?” my dad says as he and Aaron come walking up from the barn.
“Just enjoying the day,” Mom says, not missing a beat.
Aaron and Evan bump fists, and Dad nods in greeting. “So, what are you getting into?” Aaron asks Evan.
“Just got back from the attorney’s office.”
“She sign?” Aaron asks.
“Yeah,” Evan sighs.
“Good. Give me ten to shower and we can go grab a bite to eat.” Aaron doesn’t wait for an answer. He races into the house and flies up the stairs.
Mom and Dad both just shake their heads and grin. Aaron and I are twenty-two and twenty-four years old, both old enough to be living on our own. Aaron loves the farm and one day in the near future it will all be his . He’s in no rush to live on his own. He’s content. It helps that our parents are awesome. At least I have the excuse I just graduated from college.
“Shower’s calling my name too.” Dad leans down and kisses Mom quickly.
“I’ve got a meatloaf in the oven.” She stands and looks at Evan. “I’m proud of you. You need anything at all, you let me know.”
Evan nods and we watch as my dad holds the door open for her and they disappear into the house.
And then there were two.
“That goes for me too,” I tell him.
“Yeah?” he asks. His voice is soft and his brown eyes are watching me intently.
“Yeah.” I bump my knee into his.
Aaron comes barreling out of the house, having taken the quickest shower ever, hair still wet, pulling his t-shirt over his head. “Ready?”
Evan stands but doesn’t take his eyes off me. “See you around, Kinley.”
I wave and watch as the two of them climb into Evan’s old truck and head down the drive.
Chapter 5
Evan
As we drive to town, I catch Aaron up on the day’s events.
“It just goes to show, you never really know someone,” he says.
“I agree to an extent. But really, I can only blame myself. I didn’t try to get to know Misty. We were exclusive, but it was just fun for us. We both knew that’s what it was and we were okay with that.”
“Yeah, you two did seem sort of an odd couple. Especially with her always saying she was leaving and this was just a detour in the road for her.”
“Even though I knew that, I never would have imagined her being so indifferent toward her unborn child.”
“It’s all good now, my man. She signed the papers and that’s what matters. You got a kid to think about now.”
“Your mom and Kinley both said they would help,” I tell him as we pull into the local diner.
We slide into a booth near the back and the waitress is there as soon as we sit, so we go ahead and order. We have the menu memorized.
“You know they would love to. Hell, Mom keeps telling me I need to settle down and give her some grandkids. She’s going to go nuts over your baby, man.”
“True. I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
“Kinley too. Women just have a knack for that shit. She wouldn’t have offered if she didn’t want to help. She’s slow right now while she gets her studio ready. I say take her up on it.”
The waitress brings our food, and just as I’m about to bite into my cheeseburger, the diner door opens and in walks Misty with Tom fucking Harris. He’s bad fucking news and everyone knows that, including Misty. “Motherfucker!” I say, placing my cheeseburger back on the plate, my appetite suddenly gone.
Aaron looks over his shoulder to follow my stare. “Shit, what’s she doing with that jackass?”
“I have no fucking clue.” I close my eyes, willing them to be a figment of my imagination. I count slowly to ten and then open them---no such luck. Misty and Tom are being seated in a booth on the opposite side of the diner. She sits first and instead of sitting across from her, Tom slides in next to her, throwing his arm around her shoulders.
“Fuck, man, she needs to keep better company.”
No shit! “Yeah, when she’s carrying my baby she damn well needs to. I better not find out her ass is taking anything,” I seethe.
“Is she trying to make you jealous?” Aaron asks.
I shake my head. “No, not once since she told me she was pregnant has she indicated she wants us to be together. I offered, man. She turned me down cold.”