AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Most men don’t,” Mom whispers, cleaning up her hand mixer and bowl. Turning to face me, she adds, “Just promise me you’ll be careful. If she’s just coming out of a divorce, she may not be as ready to date as she thought she was.”
“No, I’m pretty sure she’s ready. She told me a bit about her ex and why she left. She wanted a baby and he wouldn’t give it to her. But even before that, she says the marriage was over. He wouldn’t ever do anything with her and worked twenty-four seven.”
“Hmmm. You’ve always said you wouldn’t marry. And you work two jobs,” she reminds me. No, I know she’s not trying to upset me, but more like playing devil’s advocate. Still, her comments make my gut burn. Yeah, I might have said I wouldn’t marry, but that was after watching my mom try to divorce an ungrateful prick who used the fuck out of her and then ran like the fucking coward that he is. And yes, I do work two jobs, no thanks to the ungrateful prick.
“I know I did, but she’s different.”
Her deep brown eyes, reflecting so much love and hope for me, stare up at me. “I’d like to meet her. It’s not right that the boys got to meet her – and kill her, as I was told after I picked them up from school the next day. Promise you’ll bring her by soon.”
“I promise,” I tell my mom, bending over and kissing her forehead. Her brown hair has much more gray in it than it used to, and she refuses to color it. Every bit of extra income is gone and things like hair dye, pedicures, and manicures are things she doesn’t indulge in.
Thinking of Lexi, that gives me an idea.
The front door bursts open with a bang and noise follows in the wake of two brown haired little eight-year-olds.
“Linkin!” Jeff hollers as he runs into the room, tossing his book bag onto the middle of the floor and causing Jack to trip over it.
“Hey, dorkface! Pick up your stuff so people don’t trip over it,” Jack reprimands his twin brother.
“Whatever, peabrain! You leave your Legos all over the room for me to step on,” Jeff says, standing right next to me, his arms crossed over his chest, mimicking my own stance.
“Both of you need to be more considerate and pick up after yourselves. One of these days, Mom is going to trip over something that one of you left lying around and she’s going to get hurt.” I give them both a pointed look, waiting for them to make their next move.
“Sorry,” Jeff says, walking over and grabbing his book bag.
“Come on, doofus. Let’s go booby-trap the door so the Army guys shoot Linkin when he comes in,” Jack suggests as they both take off down the small hallway.
“That went well,” I huff, making Mom giggle.
“They’re constantly booby-trapping everything. I have to check the toilet seat before I sit down.”
“I don’t know where they get it,” I retort, waiting for her attack.
“Whatever!” she exclaims. “Those boys are the spitting image of their older brother,” she adds, snapping the towel again and hitting me in the bicep.
“Fine, they might get it honestly.”
After a few minutes of silence–well, silence in the kitchen. You can hear what sounds like a war zone coming from the small bedroom at the back of the house–Mom continues. “Promise me you’ll bring her by. I want to meet her.”
“I already promised.”
“I know you did, but I just wanted to make sure you knew how serious I was.”
“I wouldn’t have told you about her if I wasn’t ready for you to meet her,” I whisper, wrapping my arms around the woman who raised me. She’s small and frail-like, which pisses me off all over again. Mom has always been full of life and energy, but the king-sized dick sucked it out of her in just eight short years of marriage.
Mom and Arnie hadn’t dated long before she got pregnant with the boys. For some reason, she decided to marry him. At first, it seemed all right. I was in high school, working part time at an auto parts store, chasing girls, and drag racing cars, so I’ll admit that I didn’t pay as much attention to her and him as I should have. Everything seemed fine–at least on the outside–so I went about my teenage life, making money, chasing tail, and getting my own shithole of a place. Things had been going well, until about nine months ago.
Then everything changed.
Everything came crashing down.
I’m a lot more cautious with my own life, but I’m damn sure more aware of her and the boys. I know I’m going to have to tell Lexi about it, but I just hate reliving this bullshit. I don’t want her to look at me with pity in those deep green eyes. That would kill me. Because I don’t want or need anyone’s pity. I’m fixing the mess he created, and that’s all anyone needs to know.
When the brownies are done and the bags are loaded into my car, I head towards my place with two mini tornados riding in the backseat. I can’t help but wonder what Lexi’s doing tonight. If I’ve only got a week to convince her to let me father her baby, then I’m going to take advantage of every free moment I can get with her.
Starting tonight.
It’s time that ‘Operation Knock Her Up’ commences.
