is up. Unless, of course, you think this baby was immaculately conceived?”
Lex laughs as my dad cringes.
We speak a little bit more about life back in the city when Debbie arrives home. I’m excited to see her. She is possibly the best stepmom you could ask for. Lex heads out, saying he needs to pick up a few things from the store.
I shout out, “Hey, if you’re heading that way, anyway, how about you pick me up a tub of vanilla fudge ripple ice cream?”
With Dad cleaning up and Lex gone, it gives Debbie and me a chance to catch up in the living room.
“Honey, I’m so glad you’ve come back to visit. We’ve missed you.”
“It’s actually nice to be back. I probably wouldn’t have been able to say that a few months ago.”
It’s the honest truth, and I thank my lucky stars the nightmare is over.
I tell Debbie all about Julian and how Lex and I ran into each other, including every insane thing that happened since then, excluding the nuptials, the angel on my shoulder whispering, “Your dad will kill you with his bare hands.” Debbie nods and listens intently, and by the end, she’s hugging me so tight that I can feel her tears drop onto my shoulder.
“Oh, Charlie. You deserve to be happy… and a baby? What a blessing. Your dad has been waiting to be a granddaddy. We both knew it would be you before your sister.”
“Aww, please, Melanie? Unless a baby can travel in her backpack, there’s no chance in hell.” I laugh.
“It’ll be nice to have a baby around,” she says with a smile on her face.
It dawns on me that Debbie is also waiting in anticipation for this moment. She never had kids, and by the time she met my dad, they were both too old to start a family.
“Well, lil’ bubba can’t wait to be spoiled by its grandma, too,” I mention softly as I place my hand over hers.
Her face lights up, and with ease, she pulls me into a tight hug, not letting me go for what feels like an eternity.
Lex has some work he needs to catch up on, so I take the opportunity to head down to the local fire station. The building looks exactly the same, its worn-out brick gives it history, built sometime in the early 30s if I remember correctly from history class. The bright red trucks sit horizontally in front of the building and coming from inside are the sounds of rowdy men yelling and cussing at the television.
“Talk about productivity,” I say out loud.
They all turn around to look at me. Finn’s face lights up as he runs over and grabs me, lifting me high in the air as if I were light as a feather.
“Charlie, are you kidding me? Is it really you?”
“In the flesh.” I grin.
“How… why?”
“We need to have a long chat. When are you off?”
“In about two hours… I’ll pick you up, say, around three?”
“It’s a date.”
Smiling, I say goodbye and head back into town.
Exactly two hours later, the doorbell rings. I couldn’t have run any faster, Lex and my dad scolding me for almost tripping down the stairs. As I open the door, I’m met with a goofy grin belonging to my childhood best friend, Finn Rodriguez.
“Hey, girl.” Finn wraps his arms around me. I miss his suffocating hugs, although I don’t miss his man sweat.
“Mark, Alex,” he nods.
Oh, he called him Alex. Lex doesn’t correct him. In fact, Lex smiles at him, which is weird. Am I missing something here? Mr. She’s-mine-and-no-one-can-touch-her-including-that-Rodriguez-kid?
“You wanna grab a bite to eat?” Finn asks, eyeing Lex.
“Sure, let’s go.” I kiss Lex goodbye, and thank God he understands I need some alone time with Finn. Last night when I raised the topic, I thought he would go crazy demanding he be there, but much to my surprise, he shrugged it off and said to have fun. Have fun? Okay, seriously, something was up with the universe.
As we sit in the local coffee shop, I know there’s no better time than now to let it all out in the open.
“Go, ask me your million questions,” I say while shoving the most appetizing chocolate cake into my mouth.
“I have no questions. You broke it off with Julian, and you’re back together with Lex.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s the main… wait, did you just call him ‘Lex’?”
He shuffles his feet but laughs it off. “Sorry, I heard you call him that once, and it must