Best of Women

Pippa

The next weekend, we rented a U-Haul and moved my stuff to either storage or Lin's place.  There was a lot of extra furniture.  We ended up donating some of it to Goodwill.  I was grinning from ear to ear as the last load was brought up.  I was officially a resident of Lin's apartment.  I would get to wake up next to him every day.

The kids seemed excited about it, which reassured me.  Sometimes when there were big life changes it threw kids off.  I'd been slowly staying more and more nights over the last couple months, so I guess we all had a chance to ease into it.  Mia helped me hang up my clothes in the master closet and we chatted.

"Do you feel ready for the meet next week?" I asked her, knowing she'd been practicing hard.

"I think so," she said, hanging up one of my dresses.  "Coach wants me to try to master a new skill for the meet.  If I don't get it by Thursday, he'll take it out."

"Well, just give it your best shot," I told her and she nodded.

"Do you think Dad will come?" she asked.

He had better go.  Mia had been crushed last time when Lin hadn't shown up.  Lin didn't fully understand the psychology of teenage girls.  Sometimes they acted like they didn't want you around, but really they did.  All the kids adored Lin, even though they didn't show it all the time.

"Oh, yes," I said.  "I'll be there too.  Do you think Eva will want to come?"

"Yes," she said confidently.  "She'll want to watch every routine.  Especially mine."

We were silent for a few moments.

"Will she be jealous?" I asked.  Mia knew her sister best of all.

"Maybe a little," she said.  "But that's what got her into this mess in the first place.  She can't stand to sit out and watch other people do stuff she knows she can do."

"Has she been scratching?"

"I think so," she said.  "I think she mostly does it in the shower."

I nodded as I pushed some of Lin's clothing over to make more room for mine.  Luckily, Lin didn't have a lot in his closet.  Mostly jeans.  Eva had gone to her first therapy session on Thursday.  She'd be going once a week to someone who specialized in teens.  Hopefully it would start to do her some good quickly.

Eva wandered in and plopped herself down on the bed.  Her ankle was in her brace.  She liked to let it breathe when she wasn't walking, so we had to keep on top of her about it.  Lin followed a few moments later, clapping his hands together.

"Alright!  Let's go out to dinner to celebrate.  Pippa, you pick," he decided.

"Hmmm, somewhere Italian," I decided, which was my favorite.  Lin looked up places on Foursquare and we decided on a place.  Sebastian invited Carmen along.  We made a reservation and were a huge party of seven.

We feasted on breadsticks as we waited for our main course to come.  The table was filled with joking and laughter.  It felt so good to officially be part of the group.  Carmen was starting to show just a tiny bit, but she could still pass it off as a little chub.  She touched her belly every once in a while, and so did Sebastian.  The way they looked at each other was adorable - like they knew a secret no one else did.

We ate until we were absolutely stuffed.  We managed to get ourselves home where we all collapsed on the couch, in food comas.  Lin found a kid-friendly movie and we all watched and recovered.

Rio was the first one out.  He gently carried his son to bed and tucked him in.  The girls were pretty wiped out.  Mia was somewhat conscious, so he told her to get to bed, and he picked up Eva and carried her.  That just left us, Sebastian, and Carmen.

"So, how's it going at your friend's house?" I asked her.  She'd been living with her friends for several weeks now.

"Okay," she said.  "I think her parents are getting a little tired of me not pulling my weight though."

"How do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, I'm eating their food and using their utilities but not giving them any money," she said.  "I try to help out around the house as much as I can.  I'm not sure what I'm gonna do when the baby's born."

I felt badly for her.  My parents and I didn't get along the greatest, but I couldn't imagine them disowning me for getting pregnant.  Carmen was in a tough spot.  Lin was feeling generous because he let Carmen stay the night, provided they leave the door open.

As Lin and I laid awake in bed - our bed - I must have looked deep in thought.

"What?" he asked me.  I smirked at him.

"Am I that obvious?" I smiled.

"Yes," he grinned.  "Spill."

I sighed.  "I just feel so bad for Carmen.  She has nowhere to go."

"Yeah, she's in a rough spot," he agreed.  "Sweet girl."

I nodded and was silent for several long moments.  "What do you think about letting her stay here?"

Lin propped his head up in his hand and looked at me.  "I don't know.  They're still just teenagers.  It doesn't seem appropriate for them to be sharing a room."

"But the reality is she's pregnant.  They're having this baby," I pointed out.  "Where else is she gonna go?"

"I don't know," he said.  "Aren't there houses out there for teenagers who get pregnant?"

"Maybe, but that's no place for her.  Plus, Sebastian wants to be involved.  That's a good thing.  If we're going to help out, it would be a lot easier if we were all under one roof."

"There are already six people living in this house," he reminded me.  "Eva and Mia are constantly at each other's throats.  We were talking about moving the boys in together."

"I think this takes priority.  They've shared a room their whole lives."

Lin seemed to ponder this.  I leaned forward and gave him a kiss.  "Think about it."

I turned over and switched off the light.  Immediately, I felt Lin's hand on my hip and he scooted up behind me.  I relaxed into his touch, his nose resting just behind my ear.  This is how I wanted to fall asleep every night.