Second Chance Holiday (8 page)

“What?” Kat asks, looking at him.

“His place is bigger.” He shrugs. “Can I have the downstairs apartment?” he asks, taking a drink of his Coke and looking at me.

“That’s up to your mom,” I say, looking at Kat.

“I… Well… I guess that’s something we will have to talk about,” Kat says, stunned.

“Okay,” he mumbles before walking up the stairs. “I have to head out to meet Asher before going to the club. Is it okay if I use the car?” he asks from the top of the stairs.

“Sure, honey,” Kat tells him then looks at me when he is out of sight. “Okay, so that was weird.”

I put an arm around her waist and pull her closer to me. “Looks like you’re moving in,” I tell her.

She looks from where Brandon just disappeared to me. “We are.” She smiles.

KAT

“S
o what’s your
day like?” Mike asks, crawling into bed next to me.

I close up my computer then look over at him. “I’m going to shower. I have to go to the school to meet with Brandon’s teachers. Then I have a doctor appointment at two,” I tell him, smiling when he pulls me closer to him.

“Why do you have to go to the doctor?”

“Just a checkup.” I shrug like it’s no big deal.

I don’t want to tell him that I’m going through menopause. I hate getting old or older. It’s not something you want to admit is happening when it’s happening, but I can no longer pretend like I’m not going through the change.

“You sure?” he asks.

“Yes, I’m sure,” I say, laying my head on his chest so that he can’t read my face and figure out that I’m lying.

“What about Brandon?” he asks after a few seconds.

“His guidance counselor wants to meet about college.”

He nods then leans back looking up at the celling.

I continue. “I know that he is adamant about not wanting to go away for college, but I really want him to hear all the choices before making a decision.

“Want me to come with you?” he tilts my face back to look at me.

“No.” I shake my head while fighting a smile. I love him so much, and knowing that he cares about my son only makes that love grow even deeper.

“If you change your mind, let me know. I’m going to sleep while you shower,” he says sleepily.

As much as I want to lie in bed with him, I know that, if I stay, he won’t sleep. Since we’ve moved in, it has been getting harder and harder for him to go to the club in the evenings, and when he gets home in the morning, it’s hard for me to leave him in bed alone.

“Get some rest and I’ll see you when I get home.” I kiss his jaw then roll out of bed and hurry to the bathroom without looking at him. I know that, if I see him in bed, I won’t be able to help climbing back in with him.

*

“You’re pregnant, Miss
Mullings,” the doctor says, stepping back into the room.

I look at him then shake my head. “There has to be a mistake,” I say, trying to see the papers he’s holding. “I’m going through menopause,” I say, feeling another hot flash as soon as I say the word.

“You’re not. You’re too young. Normally, women go though menopause in their early fifties.”

“I’m too old to be pregnant.”

“You’re healthy. You’re not overweight. You don’t smoke. Your blood pressure and vitals are all perfect. You have nothing to worry about.” He smiles. He obviously has no idea what he’s talking about, because Mike is going to freak out. “You’re approximately eleven weeks along. We will need to keep a closer eye on you, but I expect things to go well. We will do an internal ultrasound to make sure that everything looks right, but I’m guessing, with your hormone levels, that everything is fine.”

“Okay,” I mumble. I have no idea what else to say. My brain has shut down.

I stay silent though the procedure. Even when I hear the heartbeat and see the little baby on the screen, it still doesn’t feel real. When everything is done and I have discussed with the doctor what I should expect, I’m still in a daze. Then I wait for him to fill my prescription for prenatal vitamins before following him out to the front desk, where I make another appointment.

After my meeting at Brandon’s school, all I wanted was a large glass of wine—now, I wanted the whole bottle.

I shake my head and head out to my car. I have no idea how I’m going to tell Mike this news. Things have just settled with us. We’re at a good place in our relationship. I know that he didn’t want a relationship after what had happened with November’s mother, but I didn’t know if he ever thought about having more kids.

A million thoughts race through my mind and I feel my stomach bubble with anxiety when I pull up in front of the house and see Mike’s car as well as his mom’s. I sit in silence for a few minutes, working up the courage to go inside. When I finally make it up to the front door, the sound of a little girl laughing greats me from the other side, and I take a deep breath before walking inside.

“Hey, babe,” Mike says when he spots me standing in the hall watching him. He’s sitting on the floor in the living room wearing one of his many band tees with a pair of jeans. June is standing between his spread legs, holding on to his fingers. “How was everything?” he asks.

I look from June’s sweet face to Mike’s and take a deep breath. “It was good,” I tell him.

His eyes draw together. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” I say, smiling when his mom walks into the room.

“Hey, girly,” Emma, Mike’s mom, says, walking across the room to me.

I meet her in the middle and give her a hug. My parents both live in Oklahoma, so having Mike’s mom here in town along with the Maysons has made being away from family much easier.

“Where’s my boy at?” she asks as the front door opens and Brandon walks in.

“Gran,” Brandon says, giving her a hug. Then his eyes go to the floor where June is.

The moment June sees him, she starts gurgling and bouncing. She and July both love Brandon, and he loves both the girls.

“June bug,” he says, getting down on his knees and holding out his hands.

June has been trying to learn to walk for a few weeks now. The farthest she has gotten when I have been around is two steps before giving up and crawling.

“Come here,” Brandon says, holding out his hands, and June immediately lets go of Mike’s fingers and walks four steps to Brandon before falling into his arms. “You’re getting so good,” he says, standing with her in his arms.

She laughs, looking into his face.

“You sure you’re okay, baby?” Mike asks, coming to stand next to me.

I nod and lean into his side, and his mom smiles at us then looks at Brandon with June. She laughs when June grabs Brandon’s hair and pulls his face closer so she can gnaw on his chin.

“He’s really great with kids,” Mike’s mom says. Then she looks at me and smiles. “So, do you want to go shopping with me this weekend?”

I immediately shake my head no and start thinking of something I need to do this weekend. Shopping with Emma is like pulling teeth. I don’t even know why she calls it shopping when we’re never in the store for more than a few minutes. I think she was happier than anyone in the world when online shopping was invented.

“I think Susan needs my help this weekend getting ready for the Halloween party that they are putting on downtown,” I answer.

“Good. I’ll call and see if she and November would like to go with us to pick up some stuff in Nashville. Then we can head over to the local warehouse store and pick up the stuff for the Halloween party.”

“Okay, that would be nice,” I tell her and feel Mike’s body shaking behind me.

He knows that his daughter and I both hate shopping with his mom. November was actually the one to warn me about shopping with her grandma.

“I’m going to take June home before it gets too late,” Emma says.

At the sound of her name, June turns her head in our direction, and when she sees me, she gets a huge smile on her face and holds out her hands towards me. I step away from Mike and take her from Brandon, and she immediately snuggles into my chest.

“Hi, June Bug,” I say, rubbing my cheek over the top of her head.

The smell of her and feel of her in my arms causes me to tear up. Thinking about having this feeling while holding Mike’s and my child in a few months is absolutely crazy. I lift my eyes and look at Mike—his eyes are pulled together like he’s trying to figure something out. I smile and he smiles back, but I can still see the concern in his eyes.

“Are you going to come back for dinner?” I ask Emma.

She shakes her head no, running a hand over the top of June’s head. “I have to go help November out tonight with the girls because Asher has some job he’s working on and won’t be home until late, and November is pregnant again, so Asher is on edge with leaving her alone.”

“What?” I whisper in shock.

“Oh crap. There I go again, letting the cat out of the bag,” she says, looking between Mike and me.

I can honestly say that I’m not even a little surprised that Asher and November are pregnant again. I know that they both wanted to have their children young and that Asher really wants a boy.

“Don’t say anything until they announce it,” Emma mumbles, walking over to the couch, where she grabs the diaper bag and June’s sweater.

“Jesus,” I hear Mike mumble.

Brandon laughs. I just stand there silently watching Emma gather all of June’s belongings while trying to understand what I’m feeling. I will be pregnant at the same time that my boyfriend’s daughter is pregnant. How in the world does that even happen? How awkward was it going to be when we both show up places at the same time?

“You okay, Mom?” Brandon asks.

I look at my son and do the only thing I can at this moment—I plaster a fake smile on my face. “Just great. So, what are you doing tonight?” I ask him.

He narrows his eyes but answers anyway. “I’m going to help a friend study for a test we have coming up in history.”

“What friend is that?” I ask because he hasn’t been hanging out with any of his old friends lately. If he’s not working, he’s at school or at home.

“Just a girl from class,” he says.

Mike coughs behind me, so I swing my head to look at him before looking back at Brandon.

“A girlfriend?”

“A girl that is my friend, yes.” He smiles.

“Should I be worried?”

He rolls his eyes at me. “No, Mom.” He sighs.

“Will you be home for dinner?”

“No. I think were going to get something from the diner,” he says and his cheeks brighten slightly, making me wonder who this girl is. “I have to go change. I’ll be home by ten at the latest.” He kisses the side June’s head and then mine before disappearing downstairs to his room.

“Do you know who she is?” I ask Mike after a few moments.

“Nope, and if I did, I wouldn’t tell you anyways.”

“You wouldn’t?” I ask, feeling my eyes narrow.

“Nope. Dude code, baby. We don’t gossip with women about women.”

“You don’t gossip with women about women, but you gossip about women to men?”

“Men don’t gossip.”

“Then what do you call it?”

“Exchanging valuable information.”

“So…gossiping,” I state.

“Nope.” He smiles, leans in, and kisses me once.

“All right, June Bug. Come to Great-Grandma so Grandma and Grandpa can get some alone time,” Emma says.

I almost blurt out, “
Holy shit!”
because I never thought that I was a grandma and I definitely never thought I would be a pregnant grandma. A grandma pregnant by a grandpa. Could my life get any more ridiculous?

“I’m gonna help Mom get her in the car,” Mike says, so I kiss June one more time before passing her over to her grandfather.

“I will call and let you know what November and Susan say about our shopping trip,” Emma says, following Mike out the door.

“Just let me know,” I mutter, hoping that November is quick on her feet.

“Be back in a second,” Mike says.

I watch him carry June to the car and put her in the car seat before kissing his mom’s cheek and coming back up the stairs to me, where we both watch his mom drive away.

“Now will you tell me what’s wrong?” Mike asks as soon as the front door is closed.

I turn to look at him. I want to tell him that I’m pregnant, but the words are stuck in the back of my throat.

“Nothing,” I mumble and head for the kitchen, where I pull out the chicken breast I left to marinate in olive oil and a ranch dressing packet this morning.

“You don’t seem like nothing’s wrong,” he says, watching me.

“I’m fine,” I repeat as I start up the oven and place the chicken on a baking pan, before going into the pantry and getting a few potatoes to peel.

He comes over to where I’m standing at the sink and takes the potato peeler from my hand. Then he sets it on the counter next to the sink before turning me around to face him.

“What happened at the school?” he asks.

It takes a second for the question to register before I respond. “Nothing. Brandon has raised his GPA and the guidance counselor believes that he could get into pretty much any school he wants to,” I tell him.