The Blooming Flower (on hold)

Chapter 7

After they had eaten dinner Todd had his cake, but Allison had gone to bed. Despite her cat nap this afternoon, she was still exhausted from the stress of the day.

Unfortunately,she didn't have a very good night's sleep though; her slumber was plagued by nightmares of her grandmother taking her last breath. By morning, she was still completely drained.

Allison knew that Todd, being the worry wart he was, was worried about her. He had told her she was under too much stress and needed to get some help to reduce her stress. He had insisted that she refrain from work because not only was she not in any physical shape to go to work, but now her mental state was disrupted with everything that was going on. So Allison had called last night while Todd was making their dinner to let her boss know the situation (Todd hadn't told her the news. He just said Allison wasn't feeling well.) Her boss had been a little surprised, but like the understanding woman she always was, she had told Allison to take all the time she needed.

That would mean that Todd would need to work extra hours, but they also needed to call the adoption agency because not only would it help them find a family to adopt their baby, but they would also help with living and medical expenses. They needed to call today.

Todd woke up early at 8 am for work, showered, and dressed. Before he left, he gave a sleeping Allison a kiss on the forehead and grabbed a Fiber One bar out of the pantry. As he drove, he tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. He was feeling very stressed since Sunday. Why did this have to happen? He wasn't ready to be a father yet. And to top it off, now Allison's grandmother was sick with stage three cancer. It was just too much. Then, he stopped himself when he realized it had to be much more stressful for Allison; it was her grandmother who was dying and it was her who was going to have to carry around a baby for nine months and suffer from cramps and morning sickness. Guilt suddenly washed over Todd as he realized that it was his fault that she was pregnant. Sure, it takes two to make a baby, but he wasn't careful enough. He had a hard time remembering the night the baby had most likely been conceived because he had been so exhausted, he literally blacked out afterwards, his memory going blank. What if the condom broke? What if he hadn't even used one? Oh well, there was no use in stressing over that now. Allison was pregnant and there was nothing they could do about it except go through with the pregnancy and adoption.

Todd pulled up to Rusty's Car Wash. The place was as old as the town of Southington itself and it showed in how worn out the place looked. The "u" and "r" were burnt out on the sign and the "R" was blinking and the paint on the garage doors were chipped horribly. Todd went over to greet his coworkers and friends Jim and Tom. Dirt decorated their sweat-stained faces. It was a hot one today. Not even ten o' clock yet and already it was pushing eighty degrees. That had been the pattern for the last month of July.

"Hey guys," he said. "What's up?"

"Oh not much," said Tom. "We're just hanging in there you know? Hey how are you holding up with Allison being pregnant and all? That's gotta be rough, man.

"Yeah, it is," Todd admitted. "But I'm not leaving Allison's side."

"You're a good man," said Tom, smiling at his friend. "I don't know what I'd do if Natalie got pregnant. Just the thought of having little kids running around scares the shit out of me."

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to be having any kids running around just yet," said Todd.

"Yeah, but even just having to put the kid up for adoption has got to be stressful," Tom pressed on.

"It is, but I'm going to be there for Allison through it all."

"Like I said," said Tom, clapping Todd on the back. "Good man."