One Simple Step (Journey #3)

“You know I was never a fan of Teddy’s, you just didn’t seem to be yourself when you were with him. I think he stole a little bit of that light that I love about you so much. It seems like you have all of that back now.” She reached out and patted my cheek before standing back up to flip a pancake.

I was a little shocked at what my mom said. She never once mentioned anything about not caring for Teddy, or a change in me. My dad and her were always so supportive of everything I had done in life. I guess they felt they needed to support me in that, too. I was glad that she had taken a liking to Nick, though.

“I’m glad you like Nick, Mom,” I said as she sat a stack of pancakes in the center of the worn table that had been around longer than I had. “But you know you can always tell me your opinion. I never had a clue that you didn’t like Teddy. It would have helped to have your input, and maybe I wouldn’t have made such a huge mistake by marrying him.”

“Ally, that was your decision to make, not mine or your dad’s. You were happy with him at the time, and you did what was in your heart. It’s all a part of the journey, honey, even if it was a bit of a bumpy one. You wouldn’t be where you are today if it wasn’t for Teddy. And now your journey has led you to that one. Maybe I can finally get myself some grandkids,” she added with a wink.

“Definitely not from me,” I responded quickly. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready for kids. They’re such a pain in the ass,” I said sarcastically.

My mom knew that I’ve always wanted kids, I just wasn’t sure about the when. I don’t think Nick and I were really to that point quite yet in our relationship where we needed to talk about it, but I could see myself having kids with him. With Teddy, that picture had always been kind of blurry. Maybe it had been that way for a reason.

My mom pointed to the stairs that I could hear creaking as she ruffled my hair, and I looked up to see Nick walking into the kitchen. Just the sight of him made me smile. My mom was right, there had been something missing, and with Nick, it felt like I had that missing piece back.





Chapter 18


Nick



Me: No

No.

It was amazing how much a tiny two-letter word could actually mean. I wasn’t even sure what it meant when I finally responded to Kara’s text that sat unanswered for weeks.

I had given myself a time limit. I knew that after visiting with Ally’s family back in Indiana, I just needed to make a decision. I tried not to think about it while I was there, though.

Her family was great, and I could see that they had helped shape her into the outgoing, caring, and overall perfect girl that I loved so much. We didn’t do much while we were there, just more of a getting to know you type of thing, playing board games and cards, but it had been just what I needed. It kept my mind off of things, while I got to spend all of my time with Ally.

“Dude, what in the hell is wrong with you?” Danny tipped his beer back before slamming it back down, and leaned forward in his chair.

We met up at Clammy’s as soon as I got back into town and had dropped Ally off at Remy’s place. I wanted her to come home with me, but she said she needed to catch up on orders that customers placed while we were gone. She was going to try to come over later since I had been promising to do very bad things to her once we got home.

“And don’t tell me ‘nothing’. I’ve known you for like twenty-five years or some shit like that. Is it about that bitch, Kara, again? Please don’t tell me you’re actually thinking about getting back together with her or something.”

“No, Danny.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “It’s so much worse than that.” I swallowed thickly, letting the words roll around on my tongue before I said them. I hadn’t actually said them out loud to anyone, but I needed to, and doing it with my best friend seemed like the best idea that I could come up with.

“Kara’s pregnant.”

There, I said it, now maybe it would seem real. Yeah, it seemed real, too real, and judging by Danny’s shocked face, he knew I wasn’t joking about this. It wasn’t the type of thing that I would joke about.

Danny’s hand smacked down loudly on top of the table as he leaned back in his chair and let out a low whistle. “Holy. Motherfuckin’. Shit.”

Yeah, that just about summed up what I was feeling the first time I heard about it, and I’m pretty sure that’s how I still felt.

Danny’s mouth was hanging open as he stared back at me silently, at a loss for words for probably the first time since I met him.

Kara had told me the night that I met her at the restaurant. A million things had been running through my head at why she wanted to meet up, but that had not been one of them. When she first uttered the word, I thought she was joking, and I actually laughed about it.

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