Hope

Chapter Three

When Clyde enters his boss's office, his excitement for a promotion is short-lived. Clyde's boss, Joey, has a morose look on his face. Clyde's grin falls quickly.

"Clyde," Joey says, without looking up from his computer, "sit down... please."

Clyde slumps down into the soft chair directly across from Joey. After what seems like an eternity, Joey looks away from the screen and gives off a sympathetic, sad smile. Wondering what is going on, Clyde's thoughts spin rapidly in his head. This is definitely not what he was expecting to see when he left the house this morning. What would Sky say if Joey fired him? Would she be mad at him?

"Clyde..." Joey begins, "this company is going bankrupt... and we are going to have to let eight people go."

At this point, Clyde's ears are wide open, but he already knows what is going to happen. Joey pauses for a few seconds before speaking again.

"You are a strong, able man, Clyde, and I think you could do pretty much any job you wanted to..." Joey breaks eye contact with Clyde, "I'm afraid, since you are one of the most recently hired employees, we are going to have to let you go."

A feeling of unmanliness comes over Clyde. His thoughts turn to his wife at home. She thinks he is at work receiving a promotion, but instead he is now unemployed. He imagines what her face will look like when he has to tell her. A tear would seep from her eye, and she would wipe it away and pretend it was never there, but Clyde would have already seen it. Her small arms would wrap around his torso tightly, and she would lay her head on his chest. Then, a small sob would escape her, and Clyde would hug her tight, his face turned to her head.

"Thank you for everything," Clyde snaps himself out of his trance, "It was a pleasure working for you, sir."

With that, Clyde stands and reaches his quivering hand out to shake Joey's. Joey smiles sympathetically at Clyde.

"I'm sorry, man," Joey says quietly, "there's a box outside the door that you can use to put your things in..."

Clyde nods his head and slips out the door of the office sullenly. His heart pounds as he walks briskly to his old office to collect his things.

The last thing Clyde grabs from his old desk is a photograph of himself and Sky on the day her younger sister got married. That was almost three years ago. Skyler's hair was pulled into a braided updo, and she was wearing a green bridesmaid dress that accented her viridescent eyes perfectly. Clyde had been in the audience, for he wasn't chosen to be a groomsman, and he had worn an azure tie, only because Skyler had urged him to. It was one of the ties Skyler bought him for their first anniversary, and she loved it when he wore it.

Clyde looks down at the picture, his nerves to tell his beautiful wife calming down. He brushes her face on the picture with his forefinger.

"You get kicked out too?" the voice of his co-worker and best friend, Brice, comes to him, knocking him out of his trance.

"Yeah, man," Clyde carefully places the picture in the box, on top of his name block, and closes the lid, before looking up.

"What're you gonna do?" Brice's voice quavers.

Brice Anderson's wife, Sophie, is much like Skyler. Her kind disposition makes it practically impossible to hate her. Brice knows, like Clyde, that his wife will have a hard time taking the news, especially since both men have been in and out of work for the last two years.

"I'm going to tell Skyler," Clyde looks at Brice, "then we're going to figure it out together. My dad was in the army, so I was thinking..."

"The army?" Brice cuts Clyde off abruptly, "you're going to join the army?"

"Well..." Clyde begins, but Brice cuts him off again.

"Dude, you can't join the army," Brice seems to know what he's talking about.

Confusion flows through Clyde's mind like a river.

"Well, why not?" Clyde asks quietly.

"I already lost my dad and two brothers in the war," Brice's voice shakes, as if reliving the day of their funerals, "I... I can't lose my best friend too."

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As soon as Skyler steps into the coffee shop, she is met with a whoosh of refreshing cold air.

"Sky!" Hollie's shrill voice can be heard above all the hustle and bustle of the shop.

Skyler turns in the direction of the voice and pinpoints Hollie near the back of the shop, waving her arms up and down. As Skyler approaches Hollie, she can see that Hollie's blue eyes sparkle with excitement. Skyler grins, momentarily forgetting the terrible news she has to deliver.

"Sky! Hey!" Hollie hugs Skyler tightly, "we have so much to talk about!"

When the two pull away from the hug, a bright smile comes over Skyler's face. Happiness is contagious.

"Are you excited?!" Hollie speaks again before Skyler even gets the chance to say 'hello.'

Skyler's smile falls, suddenly remembering that she was supposed to be telling Hollie about Jackson's heartbeat stopping. Her hand rests softly on her bloated stomach, wishing she could feel the faint heartbeat of Jackson, but she knows she will never feel it again. As she thinks about the situation, her eyes rim with tears. Hollie's eyes widen and she pulls Skyler, who is an emotional mess, over to the table.

"What happened?" she asks, "tell me everything!"

Instead of beginning to speak, Skyler bursts into tears. She is standing in front of super-mom. Hollie. Hollie with her four beautiful kids. Hollie with her golden hair and perfect body. Hollie wraps her in another hug. Skyler doesn't even have to say any words. Hollie has already put all the pieces together. The vulnerability that Skyler feels is nothing like she has ever felt before. As she stands there, hugging her best friend, she feels a small movement pushing on the outside of her stomach. Surprised, she jumps back.

"What was that?" Skyler asks quietly.

Ashamed, Hollie's eye drop to the ground. Her hand moves to her stomach, and Skyler suddenly understands. Hollie is pregnant. Again.

Hollie is pregnant and Clyde lost his job! What do y'all think is going to happen next? (:(:(: -Em