Break You (25 page)

My happy bubble popped from her sharp dose of reality. “I wasn’t asking for money and I know what I need to do.” I raised my eyes to meet with hers. “I’ll figure it out.”

“I know you will,” she said. She rubbed my forearm a few quick times and removed her hand. “Let me see my grandbaby one more time.”

I grinned and handed the picture to her. Then I proceeded to point out all the areas Dr. Kress had. “That’s where the head is.”

“Honey,” she muttered. “I know. I’ve looked at one of these before, you know.”

“I know. I’m just excited is all.”

“Well, when do I get to meet her?”

I scrunched my eyebrows together. “Who?” I’d honestly thought she’d been able to see something in the picture I hadn’t.

“Blaire,” she said, looking at me like I was a blubbering idiot. “We should set something up for one night this week. Let’s do a dinner or something.”

 “Umm, I’ll have to ask her when the next time she’s off is.”

Nerves set in. I swallowed hard, already feeling the anxiety from the dinner pressing on my shoulders and constricting my throat.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

BLAIRE

The week flew by at breakneck speed. I knew it was only because I was so nervous about having dinner with Jason and his mother on Sunday.  I was sure Mrs. Bryant was nice, it was just the entire situation and the way things had happened that made me nervous. Telling Bonnie had been hard enough, but telling Jason’s mom seemed as though it would be even harder, simply because there was that fear eating at my insides that she would think I wasn’t good enough for her son, that she would assume I was some slut who had somehow taken advantage of her precious baby boy.

Maybe I’d seen too many reality TV shows lately. There was no reason for Jason’s mother to not like me.

“How do I look?” I asked Paige. She was lying across my bed, flipping through some beauty magazine, when I came out of my bathroom. “Is it too much? Do I look like I’m trying too hard?”

Paige glanced up from the glossy pages of her magazine and did a once-over on me. “No, you look super cute!”

“Really?” I was shocked. It was rare that I ever coordinated an outfit to Paige’s liking.

“Yeah, the only thing I would do is change out your earrings.” She hopped off my bed and walked to the jewelry box on my dresser. “Put in these ones, they’ll look more fun and happy.”

She handed me my newest pair of chandelier earrings and I popped them into place. “Better?”

“Much.”

Glancing at myself in the mirror above my dresser, I smoothed my hands over the deep blue cotton T-shirt I wore and let out a breath. My stomach wasn’t poking out much yet, but it did have a slightly noticeable bump to me. Placing my hand over my little pooch tenderly, I pulled another deep, calming breath into my lungs.

“What time is Jason supposed to pick you up?” Paige asked.

I ran my fingers through my hair and dragged my fingertips under my eyes to erase any smudges of eyeliner there. “Around six.”

My stomach knotted as I glanced at my phone; he’d be here any minute now.

“Take another deep breath,” Paige insisted. Her hand came up to rub my back and she smiled at me through the mirror. “It’s going to be okay, his mom will love you!”

“Thanks.”

A knock sounded at the front door and Paige left the room to go answer it. I started down the hall after her, ready to grab my purse off the kitchen counter and get this dinner over with. Jason stood in the door when Paige opened it, looking calm and collected. I smiled at him and felt some of my anxiety roll off me at the sight of him. He was dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a simple white-and-tan striped polo shirt. He looked nice, but not too nice, making me feel as though I’d dressed along the same level. This relaxed me even more.

“You ready?” he asked.

“Yeah.” I tucked my purse underneath my arm and waved goodbye to Paige on my way out the door.

“See you later!” she shouted after me.

Jason threaded his fingers through mine as we walked down the sidewalk to his Jeep. After an entire week of us hanging out and getting to know one another, the sensation of his large, warm hand in mine still gave me a fuzzy feeling in my stomach. A warm breeze blew across my skin and I inhaled deeply.

“You nervous?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t be, my mom was happy about the whole thing, remember? Everything will be fine. She isn’t even cooking; she ordered out, so you don’t have to pretend to like her horrible cooking.” Jason smirked.

I slapped his chest with my free hand. “That’s a nasty thing to say about your mother, that her cooking is
horrible
. Piss me off and I will so tell her you said that,” I teased.

He shrugged a shoulder. “She already knows, why else do you think she would order out for tonight?”

I pursed my lips. “Okay, point proven.”

“Seriously though, you have nothing to worry about. Trust me,” he said, his voice soft and sweet.

“Thanks, but that’s easier said than done. You wait till it’s your turn, you’ll understand then.”

We released each other’s hand and parted to climb into his Jeep.

“Yeah, I don’t even want to think about that right now,” he said. He started the engine and pulled out of the parking space.

I took in another deep breath and felt my stomach begin to roll. If I threw up in his Jeep, or while at his mom’s house, I would be mortified.

* * * *

The house was white with navy blue shutters that matched the color of front door. “This is it,” Jason said. He cut the engine and twirled the keys in his hand.

I glanced at the house through his windshield again. “It’s nice. I like it.”

“Still nervous?”

“Even more so,” I admitted.

He put a hand on my thigh and squeezed. His touch was warm and comforting, just like it should be. I smiled at him from under my lashes. There wasn’t even an ounce of nervousness etched into his features. He was so sure this entire dinner would go perfectly fine.

“Don’t be. Trust me when I say she’ll love you.” He released my leg and opened his door. “Come on, let’s head in and get something to eat. I’m starved.”

I nodded and forced myself out of his Jeep. When I walked to the front, Jason reached for my hand and interlaced our fingers. The same comforting warmth seeped through me whenever he initiated a handhold. Jason’s mom opened the door for us as soon as my feet touched the first step, and I realized he looked just like her. They shared the same dark hair and bright blue eyes. Her lips twisted into a wide grin that came up to the edges of her eyes, crinkling them a little with her happiness.

“Hey, how are you?” She stepped aside to let us in. “I’m Sharon, you must be Blaire.” Her eyes grazed over me and I noticed her smile grow.

“I’m good, thank you. And yes, I’m Blaire,” I said. A smile of my own pulled at the corners of my lips. The scent of marinara sauce and garlic met with my nose, making my mouth water. “Smells good.”

“Yeah, where did you order from?” Jason asked. He closed the door behind him.

Sharon slapped him playfully on the shoulder and smirked. “You little rat! She might have thought it was home-cooked pizza.”

Jason laughed and rubbed his arm. “Nah, I already told her you were ordering out, because you can’t cook.” A shit-eating grin spread across his face and his mom burst into a fit of laughter.

I chuckled at the two of them and felt the tension release from my shoulders. Jason was right; his mom was amazing and tonight was going to be fine.

“Anyway.” She rolled her eyes. “I ordered from Chandler’s Pizzeria. I’m not sure what you’ve been craving lately or what sort of things you’ve suddenly been turned off by food wise, Blaire, so I went with one supreme, one pepperoni, and an order of Italian cheese bread. Is that all right?”

Jason handed me a paper plate from in a cabinet and winked. “Fine china.”

“Easy cleanup, nothing wrong with that,” I said to him, before directing my attention back to his mother. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

 Sharon handed me a napkin. “Which kind do you want, sweetie?”

“I’ll take a supreme, thanks.”

“How has the pregnancy gone so far? Have you been miserably sick?” she asked.

I scrunched up my nose. “Mildly sick, I guess. I’m hoping it will go away soon.”

“You should try putting some saltine crackers beside your bed at night and taking a few nibbles of them first thing in the morning before you get up. That’s what I did with Jason to help with the nausea,” Sharon said. She pulled apart the cheese bread and placed two sticks on her plate.

“That’s a good idea. My sister said I should drink some sort of ginger tea,” I said. Jason handed a stick of cheese bread out to me and I placed it beside my pizza.

“Oh, so your family knows about the baby?” Sharon asked. She licked some sauce off her finger and I got the impression she was slightly nervous, either that or else she didn’t like being the last to know.

“My sister does, but I haven’t told my parents yet.” I couldn’t meet her eyes when I said this.

My cheeks and neck grew warm. It wasn’t that I was ashamed to tell my parents; it was just the simple fact that I knew my mother wouldn’t handle the news well.

When I talked with Paige a few days ago about it, she’d reminded me that I was an adult and my parents didn’t pay my bills, so they should have no say-so in whether I wanted to have a kid. While that was true, it still didn’t ease my nerves any.

Memories of when Bonnie had first revealed she was pregnant with Tinley came to mind. Bonnie had been twenty-two—a year younger than me—when she had Tinley. She and Brice had already been married, but Mom still wasn’t thrilled about the news. Dad couldn’t care either way, but Mom was another story. She’d had both Bonnie and me young and had always wanted the two of us to go to college and travel the world before we decided to settle down. Bonnie had let that dream of hers for us die a little when she’d gotten married and had Tinley so young, and now I was getting ready to kill it off completely.

“Do you think they’ll approve?” Sharon asked. There was a softness to her words, as though she already knew the answer without me having to utter a single word.

I followed Sharon to the little square dining table in the corner and sat. Ripping a piece of cheese bread off, I popped it in my mouth and thought of the best way to answer her question. I could feel Jason’s eyes on me, waiting for my answer. He already knew he was going to have a hard time getting Bonnie to like him after how he’d reacted when I’d first told him, but now he was about to find out how my parents might react to the news. I swallowed hard before answering.

“I’m not too sure,” I said honestly. “My mom has always had these hopes and dreams for my sister and me involving college and traveling the world. She wanted us to explore the things life had to offer she never could, because she had both of us so young. I’m really not sure if she’s let go of that dream entirely, even though my sister is married with a little girl now.”

“You think she still has those dreams in place for you?” Sharon asked.

“Yeah, somewhat.”

“Well, it’s your life. She’ll just have to get over it, won’t she?” Jason took a large bite of his pizza and gripped his glass of water tightly.

“I’m sure everything will be fine; things will work out,” Sharon said, obviously taking note of her son’s drastic shift in mood. “Who knows, maybe now that she’s gotten used to the idea of being a grandma, and spending time with your little niece, things will go smoother than you think when you tell her.”

I smiled at Sharon. She was the type of person I needed to be around, so positive and happy. No wonder Jason loved her so much.

“Maybe,” I said.

I took a small bite of my pizza and found Jason’s knee underneath the table. His eyes lifted to mine and I smiled at him. The tension melted off him and he grinned back.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

JASON

“Man, what the hell?” Matt shouted. He’d cornered me in the girls’ locker room of the pool. I’d been sweeping up the floor, finishing my cleaning duties for the evening, when he’d walked in and shoved me against the wall. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me working here wasn’t good enough for you?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked. I leaned the broom against the wall, because if he pushed me one more time I was going to deck him, friend or not.

“Dad just said you put in your two-weeks’ notice.”

“And?”

“And, what the fuck did you do that for? You haven’t even worked here long enough to reap the benefits of the place fully.”

I rolled my eyes. “What benefits? When Sasha Coleman asks you to put more sunblock on her back? I’m not sixteen anymore, man. I’ve got a kid on the way. You didn’t expect me to support my child by working here for forever, did you?”

“Not forever, but damn it, dude, you were only here for a few weeks,” Matt said. He folded his arms across his chest and reminded me of a little kid pouting because he wasn’t getting his way. “So, where did you get a job at?”

“Haven Software. I’m also interning at the children’s home on Woodmont Avenue.”

“What?” Matt shouted. “Jesus, dude, you went from fun to strictly grown-up in two seconds flat! I mean, Haven Software? You’ll be stuck inside a cubical wearing some constricting button-up dress shirt every damn day.”

“You have to grow up sometime,” I said. I patted him on the back and went to put the broom in the utility closet.

“Not all of us,” I heard him mumble.

Shoving all of the cleaning supplies back in the closet, I grabbed my keys and the T-shirt I’d worn this morning from in the office and clocked out. Dan, Matt’s dad, had understood my entire situation. I hadn’t even had to mention the fact that I was leaving because I had a kid on the way and wanted something more stable than a summertime job as a lifeguard. Dan had actually said he wished Matt would grow up at some point and realize being a lifeguard in the summer and a full-time college student the remainder of the year wasn’t his cup of tea either.