Congratulations Mom
A moment later another text comes through.
Dinner tonight?
My heart skips a beat. He hasn't forgotten the conversation we had the morning after we slept together. A smile plays on my lips as I think about how to answer him.
I may have been overly cautious about not wanting to get involved with someone while waiting for the adoption papers. But I couldn't take the risk. I didn't know if it would work out with Amos, and it wasn't the time to find out. But now that I have the adoption papers, what's stopping me?
I'm about to text back when another message pings.
And by dinner, I mean you and Kyra me and Sam and the gang at Pizza Feast
The smile falters on my lips as disappointment hits me like a kick to the stomach. I've waited too long. I friend-zoned Amos, and now it's too late. I stupidly thought he meant just me and him for dinner. But I missed my chance. A man like Amos doesn't wait around, no matter what he said in a post-sex guilt talk. He's probably had women throwing themselves at him. Why would he wait?
Kyra twirls around the front of the judge's desk, and my heart warms at how happy she is. She’s come a long way from the timid, suspicious girl who came into my care over two years ago.
"You want to get pizza tonight?"
She squeals again, and I swallow down my disappointment about Amos.
This is the sacrifice I made to become a mother, and I have to live with my choices. And that means accepting that Amos will only ever be a friend.
Meet you there at 6
I message back and add a smiley emoji to pretend I'm not hurting on the inside.
25
AMOS
"Who wants ice-cream?"
"Me, me, me!" scream Kyra and Sam. Kyra jumps up from her seat and jumps up and down on the spot, waving her last piece of pizza in the air.
"Me too!" Avery joins in with the kids but remains sitting. She rubs her protruding belly with grease-stained fingers.
I've never known my sister to eat more than me, but tonight she consumed an entire meat lover's pizza on her own, slapping Ed's hand out the way when he tried to snag a slice.
"Unless it's hokey pokey I don't want it," Marcus says from the booth opposite.
"They don't have your weird-ass New Zealand ice cream." Paige screws her face up in disgust.
"How do you know it's weird if you never tried it? I bet this little guy would eat it" Marcus wiggles a finger at Noah.
"Noah will eat anything."
At the sound of his name, Noah wiggles in his highchair and sticks his arms out, ready to be picked up.
"If you want ice cream, you need to stay in the chair, buddy," Paige says.
We've taken over three booths at Pizza Feast. Everyone's come out to celebrate with Alana and Kyra. Alana thinks Kyra's only got her, but I wanted to show her she's got friends here. She's got support.
The waitress takes our dessert order, and soon the kids are happily digging into their tubs of ice cream. Sam manages to get it all over his face, and I borrow one of Paige's wipes to clean him up.
It's noisy, and it's chaos, but it's fun.
I catch Alana's eye, and she mouths a thank you.
