The Eighteen Year Fallout

Chapter 9

Alexa couldn't be one hundred percent certain what happened after that cup smashed. What she did know was that she ran, after all that was what she did best. She ran out of the salon and down the crowded street. She could hear him following behind her to begin with but as she darted around strangers in the crowd, he faded away in the distance. This didn't make her stop running though. No, she ran even faster heading to the place where she felt the safest. A place where nobody could hurt her. Lissa's Cafe.

Bursting through the door, gasping for a breath, everyone raised their heads to look at her. She ignored their stares making her way for the woman, behind the counter. The woman who made everything okay. Her face was perplexed as she took in the sight in front of her.

"Mom..." Alexa sobbed as her mom grabbed her, pulling her into her arms, "He's...he's back."

She didn't have to tell her who was back. Her mom knew exactly who she was referring to from the disgust in her voice. Her arms tightened around Alexa and she cradled her in her arms as she cried  her eyes out. In front of a cafe full of customers. To an outsider this would have looked like an everyday occurrence between a mother and daughter but for them, it wasn't. Her mom hadn't held her like this since she was a young child. She'd turned thirteen and suddenly her mom had retreated from her, depriving her of the emotional support that she'd craved. Something changed in her mom, and to this day she didn't know what.

She heard my mothers calm and reassuring voice in her ear, "I know this is hard Lexie, but he is the father. I know you've only finally got to the realisation that you don't need him but. this is as much his fault as yours. Maybe even more."

Alexa gave her a sheepish look. She didn't want him in her life, she'd realised that when she noticed how much calmer her life had become since he'd left but her mom was right. He was her baby's father and nothing in the world would change that.

For the first time in her life, her mom did something she'd never done before. She closed the cafe. After Alexa's breakdown, one of many this week, she was quick to chuck every single customer out onto the street. Alexa was pleasantly surprised. Never had her mother closed her cafe before, not even when Alexa's grandmother, her mom's mom, passed away. Work was her life, an even bigger part of it than Alexa was. When she told anyone this they looked at her sympathetically, but she was used to this now. Alexa wasn't her first priority. She was quick to pinch herself, fearing she would wake up and it would all be a dream. But it definitely wasn't, that pinch was down right painful. She chuckled to myself at this thought. She was going to give birth soon and yet here she was in pain because she'd pinched myself? So she wasn't an expert when it came to childbirth but there was one thing she knew for sure and that was that it would hurt a lot more than pinching herself. What had she gotten myself into?!

Surprisingly her mom's behaviour got even more surprising as the week went on. The cafe remained closed and her mom was around her every second of the day. She didn't know whether it was because of her earlier breakdown or the fact that Carson Michaels was back in town. Either way, she was glad she was there for her. For the first time in years she had a mom who cared. And it only took her getting pregnant to get her back.

***

"Mom.." Alexa moaned, slinging her bag over her shoulder and rolling her eyes at her, "I'm perfectly capable of going to school with Taylor. It's okay"

For the third day in a row her mom was insisting that she'd drive her to school. Yeah, it was nice having her around for once, but every second of the day was a bit too much for Alexa. No matter how much she tried to guilt-trip her, she was going to school with Taylor today.

"I've seen Taylor drive, don't forget Lexie. It's not safe for you or my grandchild." her eyes welled up at the last part and I noticed she'd called me Lexie, something she only called me when she wanted something.