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Chapter Two
Hadley
Just my luck.
I wanted to look up to the sky and yell why me? Instead, I kept my panicky gaze locked on the giant man across the lawn from my car.
Even with grocery bags in his hands—mundane stuff—he scared the living daylights out of me in the Piggly Wiggly. I wasn’t comfortable around intimidating guys like him—tall, surly, and heavily tattooed. I could feel his testosterone a mile away. Heck, I could feel his glare squashing me like a fly from this distance.
Was he really the guy that bought the house? It had been on the market almost a year. I thought that maybe in another few months I’d be able to nab it before it was sold. Of course, that became a fantasy when the For Sale sign was removed last month and the movers were here earlier. Who was he? I refused to believe he was the owner.
I closed my eyes and chanted, only four more months, only four more months. Graduate nursing school. Pass my exam. Get a job at the hospital. Leave these apartments. I was getting antsy being so close to having all of my goals checked off.
As if Eli could sense my anxiety, he kicked me right in the bladder, and my legs bent inward. I turned away from Bad Man-Devil-Demon Worshipper and rushed to the opened trunk. “Help Mommy carry these. I’ve got to pee.” I took a deep breath and frowned at Lucy. “Stop staring, and for heaven’s sake, stop pointing!”
She dropped her hand and walked over to me. I knew better than to grab too much from the store. One, because I was too pregnant to carry too much up three flights of stairs. Two, I was too broke to afford much more than the frozen pizzas and juice that had to last until payday in two days. I gave Lucy the pizzas to carry while I got the juices, then shut the trunk and rushed as quickly as a pregnant lady could move.
By the second flight of stairs, I was singing, “Gotta pee, gotta pee, gotta pee so bad.”
So Lucy followed up with, “Mommy’s gotta pee, gotta pee, gotta pee so bad.”
I slammed through the door and dropped the juice on the floor. “Make sure the door’s shut!” I yelled at Lucy as I ran for the toilet. My back hurt constantly. My vagina hurt. I couldn’t stop peeing. I went to the doctor last week and was already dilated two centimeters. I had to be careful at this point. Eli needed to stay put at least one more month even if I was ready for this pregnancy to be done.
I washed my hands and glanced at myself in the mirror. Fudge, I looked so horrible, but I didn’t have it in me to do anything about it. Maybe after Eli was born… Hadley, you’re a terrible liar.
Truth was, I barely had time for myself when Scott lived there. These days, I definitely didn’t have the time to take care of myself.
It would get better.
Just like Scott’s betrayal didn’t hurt as much as it did months ago…almost. After I kicked Scott and Briana out that night, a terrible numbness came over me. It took a few hours of Lucy coaxing words out of me before I finally broke down and cried. What more could I have said or done? Everything I thought I had was ripped out from under my feet. God, I was so stupid. So foolish. So ashamed of myself. It was amazing how fast a person matured when someone destroyed your fantasy. I found out quickly that Prince Charming was only a toad, first loves were just a scam, and love only existed with one’s parents and sister.
I could never love another man like I loved Scott. I wouldn’t even give anyone the chance after him. No one else would hurt me again.
Good thing I was a mom. The last thing on my mind was a man. Well, except for the little man in my stomach. I rubbed it soothingly as I waddled to the hallway. Lucy had already carried everything to the kitchen.
“Pizza again?” Lucy whined.
“Just a couple of more days until Mommy gets paid,” I told her while patting her head. I paused a second. “Want to go to Mamaw’s and let her feed us?”
Lucy bounced on her heels. “Yes!”
I called my parent’s house and Dad answered, “Y’all coming over?”
I smirked even though he couldn’t see. “We want spaghetti and peach cobbler.”
“You mean you want peach cobbler? Don’t be using Lucy to get what you’re craving when you know your mom will make it if you simply ask. You wanted to be a mom that’s just the way it works.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Tell her I want peach cobbler.”
“Tell her yourself.” He hung up.
Cranky old man.
_____
Dad did tell her I wanted peach cobbler. She was sticking it in the oven when Lucy and I arrived. When we entered the house, Dad got out of his recliner and took Lucy in the kitchen with him. I knew it was just a ruse to get up and let me have his seat. I groaned in relief as I laid back and propped my feet up. I didn’t get a chance like this at the apartment. I was always noticing all the cleaning that had to be done. It was a small reprieve from being on my feet all night too. I was trying to work for as long as I could before Eli came, but I didn’t think I’d make it much longer. Being a CNA at the nursing home was a lot of heavy lifting—a lot of everything to be honest. Although I lifted no one without an assistant, I shouldn’t be doing it at all this far along in my pregnancy. Georgie didn’t even know that sometimes I still did it because other workers moped around. I couldn’t handle not getting things done when they were supposed to. I’d admit the nights I worked with Georgie though, she forced me to sit around and would hardly let me do anything.
I pulled my phone out and shot Scott a text.
