AllFreeNovel
Share Us
For the rest of the night, I allow myself to get lost in him, not worrying about the future or what will become of us and our baby if we can’t make this work.
My heart is pounding in my chest the next morning as I sit at a little table outside the café, waiting for my mom. Part of me wants to run away. I don’t know how this meeting with her is going to go. We could end up fighting like we always did.
I want the baby to know their grandmother.
Looking back, she was a great mom when I was growing up. She did whatever she had to for us. She kept me from growing too wild even when I tried my hardest to do everything I knew would piss her off.
“Hi,” a soft voice says from behind me.
I turn around slowly, taking a deep breath. When I look at Mom, the years of not talking seem to fall away. She looks older than I remember her, with streaks of gray running through her hair and fine lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth.
“Hi.”
Her eyes water as my heart races. My stomach is tossing and turning as I stand up, not knowing what else to say to her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers as she looks at me. Her bottom lip quivers and tears slip down her cheeks. “I never should have let you walk away. I should have called you so many times over the years, but I didn’t.”
“I’m sorry. I could have been a better daughter.”
She closes the distance between us, pulling me into a tight hug. “You were the child. It wasn’t on you to keep our relationship together. I should have acted like your mother and stepped up when you pushed me away.”
I hold onto her a little tighter, and in that moment I realize just how much I missed her. The last several years without her have been hard.
“Alright,” Mom says as she steps away from me and wipes her eyes. “Tell me about your life. What are you doing now? How have things been?”
“Well, I’m about to head into my second year of graduate school to become a lawyer. And I’m having a baby.”
Mom’s eyes widen and a new round of tears start. “Law school? A baby? That’s amazing. Congratulations.”
I nod and take a deep breath. Since she agreed to meet with me, I’ve been going back and forth over telling her about Evan. I don’t know what she’ll think about me being with an older man.
Especially since that older man is Dad’s best friend.
“Thanks. There’s something I should tell you though.” I swallow hard as we sit down at the table. I don’t know if there’s any good way to tell your mom that you’re dating a man she knew in high school.
“Are you alright? Is the baby alright? Is there anything I can do for either of you?”
“No,” I say with a smile as the waiter drops off glasses of water at our table. “Evan is taking good care of us. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“Evan?” Though she’s smiling, I can see the sadness behind her eyes.
I hate that we’ve missed out on each other’s lives. My gaze drifts down to her hand where an engagement ring sits. “Yeah. As in Dad’s best friend, Evan.”
Mom stiffens and fidgets with her ring, twisting it around her finger. “Is he good to you?”
Smiling, I nod. “Yes. He is.”
She sighs and runs her hand through her hair. “I’m going to be honest, that’s going to take some time to get used to, but as long as he treats you well, that’s all I care about.”
“What about that?” I ask, nodding to the ring on her finger. “Who’s he?”
“Noah. I think you’d really like him. We’ve been waiting to get married until you could be at the wedding too.”
I clear my throat, trying not to cry. “It looks like we have a lot to catch up on.”
Mom reaches across the table and takes my hand. “We have all the time in the world to do that.”
20
