Wild Ride - The Alternative Version (Book 2)

Chapter 7~Meeting Abigail

A little before one the next day, Alli's mom came to pick her up. The girls slept until nine and then got up for breakfast, and then ran back in Abigail's room to watch cartoons, drawing in a couple sketchbooks and laughing like crazy. Last night, they'd watched movies and I let them stay up a little later than Abigail's usual bedtime for the sake of having fun. Abigail had talked me into take them to Pizza Hut for dinner last night, and they ate the leftovers for lunch earlier today.

But last night after coming back from dinner, I was walking down the hall to do the laundry with one of the plastic laundry baskets in my arms, I overheard the two of them talking on a subject that didn't take me long to recognize.

"Who's that?" I had heard Allison ask Abigail.

"Oh, that's my dad." Abigail had replied. Allison must have been talking about the picture taped to Abigail's wall beside her bed.

"I thought you didn't have a dad." Alli said.

"No, I do, he's just not around. But I wish that I can see him someday." Abigail told her.

Little did she know last night when she'd been telling Alli that, that someday would be today. Now that Alli's mom had come to take her home and they were just leaving, she was obliviously that much closer to meeting Jimmy for the first time. It made me excited even to think about it, knowing how much she'd been wanting it. 

I'd emailed Stacy and told her how things had went so Eric would know, considering this was his idea for me to have Abigail meet Jimmy. Eric replied through her email, practically saying 'I told you so' to the fact that he did want to be part of her life and that it wasn't such a bad idea. Once again, he was right and I knew he enjoyed that thoroughly. I didn't have to witness it to know it for certain.

Abigail watched out the window as Alli's mom's car drove off, and then she looked at me with a bright expression on her face. I smiled at her and said,

"So, did you guys have fun?" 

She grinned. "Yeah, that's why Alli's my best friend. We always have fun." 

"Good." I replied, and then she went off back to her room, probably to go color or draw some more. I returned to the living room, where I had been watching TV before Allison's mom came to pick her up. However, now I couldn't sit still, knowing that any minute Jimmy could be here, since it was now nearly fifteen minutes after one.

I sat there almost like I had at work yesterday after Zoe had told me Jimmy was there and needed to talk to me, when I was waiting for him to arrive at my office. But this time it was a good kind of nervous feeling I had. I wasn't worried anymore about how this would turn out, I was sure that once Abigail saw Jimmy and Jimmy saw Abigail, things could only get better from there. 

It wasn't until nearly one-thirty that I heard the doorbell ring, and I smiled to myself knowing that it couldn't be anyone else but Jimmy. I got up and walked into the entryway, grabbing the doorknob and twisting it before swinging the door open. 

Jimmy stood on the doorstep, looking down at the ground with his hands clasped in front of him as he waited patiently. He glanced up, and a small smile played out on his face. I could tell that he seemed slightly nervous, but I could see the excitement behind his eyes too. 

"Hey, come on in." I gestured for him to come inside, and he stepped into the house quietly. "I see you didn't have any trouble finding the house." 

"Nope, actually I've driven past here countless times without even really realizing it." He said as I shut the door behind him. 

"Follow me, she's in her room." I turned and started walking out of the entryway, and I heard him follow behind me. As we walked, I asked, "So did you manage to get any actual sleep?"