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Didn’t want to put it off any longer now that he and Elaina had a solid plan. Truth be told, he was excited about his life for the first time in a very long while. No, it wasn’t ideal. But nothing ever was. Ideals were just fantasies that people built because they didn’t know any better.
Reality was what you made out of what life gave you.
His mom wanted to make more of that moment than it was. Half an hour into what turned into a video call, after he’d answered both of his parents’ questions, assuring them th
at he was happy, that while yes, he acknowledged his situation with Elaina was out of the ordinary, it was working for them and was best for the baby.
“And if there comes a time when it doesn’t work for us, I’ll buy a house close by.”
“You should have your own place, son,” his father said, but with a knowing tone in his voice. His dad loved kids, and he loved Greg. He’d known how devastating it had been for Greg when he’d found out he was infertile and Wendy wouldn’t consider adoption. “It’s a secure investment.”
“I can always buy a place and rent it out.”
“You don’t get the tax break if it’s a rental...”
And so it went. As always, his parents jumped right into every aspect of his life that they knew about. He loved them dearly. And they drove him nuts.
Just as he might drive his own child nuts someday. What a glorious thought. He was going to have an adult child in his future.
“What do Elaina’s parents think of all this? You living in her home, but not marrying her?”
“I’m renting a suite at the opposite end of her house that, for years, was occupied by her brother-in-law, Mom. I told you that. And Elaina’s parents were killed when she was in college. In a car accident.” And he figured it didn’t hurt for them to know. “She was an only child. She married her college sweetheart and then lost him in a car accident, as well. Only that time she was in the car, was left paralyzed. With help from her brother-in-law, she managed to handle that, as well. With a well of determination I can only stand in awe of, she made herself walk again, and to look at her now, you wouldn’t even know she’d ever been hurt.”
To look at her, you wouldn’t know. But to know her... Elaina had been so badly hurt... Greg wasn’t sure she’d ever completely recover. Wasn’t sure someone who’d been through all she had could allow herself to let go of the barriers that protected what was left of her ability to love.
“It sounds like you love her,” his mother said, her words soft now, and powerful. His defenses shot up.
“Don’t make more than there is, Ma. I care about her. But it’s not like that. We’re sharing parenting, living on the same premises. We aren’t committed to each other. We’re committed to the baby.”
That had to be clear. Period. They didn’t have to like his choices, but he expected their acceptance of the terms.
And as they hung up, his parents made it very clear to him that he had their complete support. And a fervent desire to visit him and meet Elaina. He put them off with a promise that he’d talk to Elaina about a possible trip to Nevada sometime in the near future. And hoped that would be enough to get them to stay put for a bit. Things were still so new with him and Elaina, felt too fragile, to think about having company just yet.
Kind of like having a newborn, he figured as he finally pulled into his reserved parking spot at work. You wanted everyone to love your baby. You wanted your child to know everyone who cared about it. You just didn’t want everyone descending on you the first day you brought that new fragile life home from the hospital. It needed time to grow, to gain some weight, build an immune system and antibodies, before being exposed to the outside world.
Shaking his head at the somewhat goofy thought, Greg was smiling as he walked into work.
He wasn’t smiling a few hours later as he closed the door of his office with his phone at his ear.
He’d been about to head to the cafeteria to pick up some lunch when he’d seen an incoming call. He hadn’t recognized the number, but he’d known the exchange—it had been his for most of his life. Someone was calling from his rather small hometown.
Not his parents. Or anyone else who’d come up on his speed dial.
“Hello?” he asked, having spent the morning dealing with the emergencies that had befallen other people. Some serious. Some not so much so.
“Greg?”
Glad that he was behind his closed office door as he recognized the voice, Greg strode to the window. “Wendy?” The ocean beckoned. Reminding him that life ebbed and flowed. Even when relationships and dreams died.
“I just ran into your mom at the store,” she said. “She told me you’re going to be a father!”
He hadn’t known Wendy had moved back to his hometown. Hadn’t asked. Hadn’t cared.
Last he’d known, she was working maternity at a hospital in Vegas, having quit her job at the hospital where they’d met after the divorce. Maybe she was just visiting...
“I am.” He didn’t see that it was any business of hers. But maybe it felt good for her to know that though she’d deemed him broken and therefore of no use to her, he was all in one piece after all.
“Listen, Greg, I’ve been meaning to call you for some time. I think about it, and you, a lot. I just...kept hoping you’d come home and I could, you know, do it in person.”
