Broken Lantern

Chapter Twelve

Pulling into the large mall parking lot, I realize just how long it's been since I've been here. I had forgotten how massive this place really is. Everything in Cedar Ridge is small and humble in comparison. I'm not used to seeing such intimidating buildings and crowds like what's surrounding us now.

Kevin jumps out of the Jeep and reaches in to take my hand, "Ready to go do this?" he asks, nodding toward the mall. "Yes sir!" I assure him and step down out of the vehicle.

Matt and Brittany are right beside us, holding hands and smiling over at us, "Let's go buy baby stuff!!" she says, excitedly. "I'm buying her a football jersey", Matt informs me, and Kevin laughs when Brittany pops Matt in the arm, telling him, "You are not! Dallas is going to have ballerina shoes and pink tutus, not football jerseys and cleats!"

Matt reaches the door first, opening it and holding his arm out, saying, "entrer", with a fake French accent. He lets each of us pass before stepping in and allowing the door to close behind us.

The mall is cooler than I expected, giving me goosebumps as soon as we walk in. "Do you want me to go back for my jacket?" Kevin asks when he sees me rubbing my arms to warm them. "No, it's ok. I'll adjust but thank you."

The store is full of baby stuff, but nothing that I really like. We walk out of this store and into the main part of the center of the mall and look for other baby stores to explore. When we go inside of the next one, Kevin excuses himself and leaves us to go do something while me and Britt search through racks and racks of baby girl clothes. Matt walks over to the sports themed baby clothes, staying true to his word as he searches for my baby girl's first football jersey.

Brittany and I find loads of adorable clothes and toss them into the little buggy we somehow managed to grab up before someone else took it; it was the last one as far as we could tell.

She finds her pink baby tutu and a tiny little bubblegum pink body suit to go with it. "See, I told you, baby ballerina." She says, smiling, happy with her find.

Kevin comes over to us; walking up behind me, he wraps his arms around me, leaning his chin on my shoulder, looking over me at the clothes in front of us. "Do you think that's enough clothes to start her with?" He asks sarcastically. "I think we're gonna need bigger closets." He says, laughing.

I shake my head, again, at his choice of words... "we're gonna need?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right, we should probably stop now." I say, looking at Brittany who was just about to drop another tiny outfit into the buggy but stops flat and then let's go anyway, dropping it, still maintaining eye contact with Kev, who closes his eyes and shakes his head.

He lifts his chin from my shoulder and spins me around to face him, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me to him, the only space between us created by my baby bump.

"I got her some things too. They'll be delivered tomorrow afternoon-ish", he tells me.

Matt comes back to us carrying an arm full of stuff. He tosses in a plush football and baseball, a black and red jersey and tiny shoes that look like little baby cleats, studs and all, of course. "Are you kidding me, Matthew Norton?!" Britt says sternly, putting her hand on her hip.

"You're calling me out by my name, really?" He says, shaking his head, dropping the cleats down into the buggy dramatically. "No, I'm not kidding you. She'll need these when she's making touchdowns in her crib!" He turns to walk to the checkout, not another word spoken.

Kevin shrugs his shoulders and we make our way behind Matt to pay for everything.

The bags fill the only empty spaces around us all, in the Jeep. We pull out of the parking lot and I lean my head onto Kevin's shoulder, enjoying the feel of the breeze blowing my hair around my face. "Pppbbllltttt!" I turn to see Kevin working hard to get my hair out of his face, laughing the whole time.

"Oh, sorry", I tell him, pulling my hair into a ponytail with a band that I had around my wrist. "Better?" I ask and he nods, "Much."

Matt and Britt drop us off at our vehicles in the hospital parking lot, telling us they're headed back up for a while. They'll text to let us know how he's doing. A twinge of guilt starts to pull at me as I remember the horrible thoughts from earlier. I do my best to push them aside and walk over to my car, loading it with bags.

When we get home, in front of the door is a beautifully wrapped package. The white paper has little pink hearts all over it and it's all tied up in a big pink satin bow. All the card says is, "Dallas Williams."

"I wonder who this is from", I say to Kevin as he opens the door, and grab the package to bring it in with us. "It's kind of heavy", I tell him, and he grabs it from me. "Yeah, it is."

We take the package to the couch and I open it. I stand back, staring at it, not sure what to say or feel. It's beautiful and I know instantly who sent it. "I'll be right back, Kev", I tell him as I turn to leave. Outside, I hurry down the steps and turn off into the trees to the left of my house. I follow the path to the house next door and walk up to the front door. I don't knock, I just walk in and search for the person that I need to see.

"Bobby? Are you here?" I call out into the house. Dishes clank together and fall to the floor in the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm back here!" He calls out to me and I walk into the kitchen to see him bent down picking up the bowls he dropped.

He stands up and looks at me as I cross the room to throw my arms around his neck. He hugs me and says, "Whoa, whoa... What's this about?" Trying to act like he didn't leave the package at my door.

"I know it was you, Bobby. You're the only one that had that photograph of us", I tell him. "Thank you. It's absolutely perfect!"

"Well, you're very welcome", he says, blushing from the unwanted attention.

"Well, I'm gonna get back to my lunch then", he says, dismissing himself so he can break away from the awkwardness he feels from the recognition that he wasn't expecting.

I hug him and thank him again but he just smiles at me and turns to the stove. I leave the house eager to get back to the gift, wondering where it will go.

When I enter the house, I step through the door to go into the livingroom and the frame is gone. The wrapping paper and bow have all been removed too. "Kevin?" I call into the house. "Where's the frame?" I wait to hear him call back to me.

He walks in the room, a towel wrapped around his waist and another drying his hair. My eyes travel up and down the length of his body and I feel the blood rush to my cheeks. When I make eye contact with him again, he's got a sexy smirk across his face, "Enjoying me, are you?" He steps into the room and comes over to me, bending down to kiss my cheek. "You don't have to blush, Alley. I know I'm hot", he teases, and I smack him in the side. The sound of the slap rings through the room as the pink welt rises up on him immediately. "Geez! No need for such violence." He cries, wincing against the sting, and coming after me.

I put my hands up to stop him, pushing against his chest, but he easily pushes through my resistance and wraps his arms around me, biting my neck, playfully.

I feel the heat rush through my body and pull away quickly.