Waiting For You

Chapter 19: Calling California

Chapter 19: Calling California

Sam

I'm not stupid or oblivious. I knew I was going to have to tell my mother at some point, I just assumed I might have a bit more time to emotionally prepare myself. Lia is right. She needs to know sooner rather than later, it's just common decency. We've told her parents and sisters, now it's my turn...

We have to do it before the news is all over Facebook and she finds out that way...

Hell, maybe that wouldn't be so bad?

I jokingly make the suggestion out loud.

"Sam, you have to be the one to tell her. She can't just find out her son is going to be a dad through social media," Lia argues over breakfast the morning after her birthday dinner at the farm. She's sitting hunched over at the table, one knee brought up to her chin, barely even nibbling on a buttered piece of toast.

"I know," I sigh.

"What are you afraid of?" she asks.

I stuff my face with a big spoonful of oatmeal. It's a terrible idea. It burns the roof of my mouth, and I struggle to quickly swallow. If I'm honest with myself, I really don't know what I'm afraid of...

Everything... or nothing... I don't know...

So I stay silent.

"Baby, I know she loves you," Lia says, sitting a little more upright in her chair so she can easily reach her hand out across the table toward me. "And I know she's pretty fond of me too. She'll think you really lucked out as far as baby mamas are concerned. You could do so much worse than me," she adds with a more playful smile.

"You're right, about all of it," I grin.

"I know," Lia grins back.

"It'll be fine. I'm just..." I don't know exactly what I'm going to say until the words are flooding out of my mouth. "I guess I'm just jealous of your family and all of their love and support," I say finally.

Lia drops the leftover crust from her toast back onto her plate and quietly makes her way over to me. She slips into my lap and wraps her arms around my neck, her fingertips rubbing against the stubble of buzzed hair there.

"They're your family too," she tells me.

I open my mouth to protest, but she plants a kiss there in hopes of shutting me up. It works, and she goes on with her speech.

"I do know what you mean... and I think your dad is a freaking idiot for pushing you away... and that's me being nice..." she smiles wryly. I chuckle darkly, and she continues to run her fingers through the longer hair on top of my head.

"I think it'd be nice if your mom didn't live so far away, so we could see her more often and our kids could spend as much time with her as they wanted. I know you miss your brother and you worry about him... But they're not all you've got." She takes my hand and places it on her stomach. "You've got me. And you've got these little nuggets..." she says.

I look down and intertwine my fingers with hers.

"We'll have to give them each a nickname. I don't want to keep calling them nuggets," she laughs softly.

"Nugget and French Fry," I suggest.

Lia snorts.

"No," she says flatly.