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He smiled down at her.“Help yourself. You always did.”
They smiled knowingly at each other. Jacob changed the subject before things got awkward. “How’s Granny doing? I didn’t see her at church on Sunday.”
“She was getting over a cold Sunday, so she thought it best to stay home. She is feeling much better and wanted her weekly stand-by, so here I am. She has a movie she wants us to watch tonight—one of her old favorites.”
“You know, Jacob and I were planning on grabbing pizza Friday night and going bowling. Why don’t you and Elizabeth show up and join us?” Chad commented smiling at Jessica.
Jacob interrupted, “Just so you know, I happened to ask Elizabeth already when I stopped in and saw her at the boutique Saturday. She said she would, and she was going to ask you, Jessica, but that was before she was in the hospital.”
Jacob and Chad shared a quick glance.
“How is she doing? Has anyone talked to her?” Asked Chad.
Jacob answered with a little bit of a nervous and uncomfortable edge to his voice. “I haven’t seen her at all, and she hasn’t answered my phone calls.”
Jessica answered. “I stopped by and saw her for a little bit today. She is getting better, and insists it was just dehydration from all the excitement of leaving school, graduating, and coming home. But anyway, she and I will be there, and yes, she mentioned to me that you asked her already. So, we will both be meet you here.”
They planned a time and Jessica, Chad, and Jacob continued with their small talk while eating breadsticks and drinking beer.
The conversation was easy and fun, as it always was. The three of them were laughing and joking at something ridiculous Chad said, when Chad’s face got suddenly serious.
He reached over and grabbed his beer mug while looking away quickly. Jessica and Jacob just gave each other a questioning glance as Jessica took another drink of Jacob’s beer.
“Well, look who it is. Nice to see you, Jessica.” Kristen slid in the booth on the other side of Jacob, placing her arm around his shoulders and taking the extra beer glass sitting on the table as Stacey slid in next to Chad.
“Thank you for ordering a beer for me, Jake. Have you two already ordered our dinner? Mmmm. This beer is good. I so appreciate you thinking of me.” As she said this, Kristen leaned over and planted a light kiss on Jacob’s cheek and ran her fingers through his hair.
“Why are we blessed with your presence tonight?” Kristen took her eyes off Jacob and threw an icy glare at Jessica as she said this.
“Just waiting for my dinner, and I will be getting out of here. It was great seeing you two. I’ll see you both Friday.” Jessica directed this at Jacob and Chad and slid out of the booth as her name was called to pick up her to go order.
“Stacey, I wish we could have talked more.” The only reply to Kristen was a smirk and eye roll. “Bye, Chad. Bye, Jacob.” She smiled at them both as she turned to walk toward the front and pick up her food.
Elizabeth’s alarm went off early Tuesday morning. She rolled over to turn it off, realized she did not have to go to work this morning, groaned loudly, and put her pillow over her face trying to block out the sun.
She heard a car driving and honking as it drove slowly down the road, a neighbor’s dog was barking, and someone was mowing their yard. It should be against the law to mow your grass before noon, Elizabeth thought. She tried her hardest to block out all the noise and go back to sleep, but it was no use. It was morning and time was moving on even though she really would like it to stop so she could think and fully evaluate her situation. But no, it’s time to wake up and face the music. She needed to talk to her mom about her pregnancy.
Elizabeth spent most of the night looking up her options. She knew what her only choice could be. She had plans for her life, and not being positive about who the father was, just proved that being a mom was not a good idea right now.
Thinking about an abortion, though, made her feel extremely guilty.She was not raised to have an abortion. She considered doing it without her parents’ knowledge because she didn’t know how to face them. They would be so disappointed in her. In the end thought, she realized she had to let them know. She needed their support. She had to talk to her mom.
Elizabeth pulled herself out of bed, went into the bathroom to throw water on her face, grabbed the pamphlets she received from the pregnancy center from her side table, put them in the pocket of her pajama bottoms, and slowly trudged into the kitchen where she found her mom drinking coffee and reading a book.
“Well, good morning, beautiful.” Her mother looked at her, put her book down, and pulled her daughter into a hug. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“Good morning, Mom. I feel better today.” Elizabeth went to the coffee pot, filled a mug with steaming, hot coffee, added half n half and sugar, and leaned against the counter.She stared across the room, enjoying the heat from her mug, and the aroma of the coffee in the air.
“Do you want me to fix you anything to eat?” asked her mom. “Eggs and bacon, or would you prefer a bagel and banana?”
“Is the bagel from the bakery—cinnamon and raisin?” Elizabeth asked with hope.
“Yes, it is. I know you love them.”
“Well then, absolutely. A bagel with cream cheese and a banana sounds like heaven,” replied Elizabeth.
“Take a seat in the sunroom, relax with your coffee, and I will get that for you and bring it in.”
“Mom, I can do it.”
