Faithful (14 page)

Shit!
There was that love word again.
Fuck. I must have really changed.

I could hear Jeff and Matthew laughing in the backseat as we got closer to the lake. I smiled, thinking about Jeff and Gunner being fathers and how good they both were with Matt. Just then, I had the strangest feeling come over me.

I want to have kids with Heather.

“Holy fucking shit! What the hell?” I said without thinking.

“What the hell!” Matthew called out from the backseat.

“Josh!” Jeff and Gunner said at the same time.

I needed air. When I saw a store, I pulled in. I jumped out of the truck and started taking deep breaths.

Gunner came running over. “Jesus, Josh. Are you okay? What’s wrong? Are you hurting anywhere? Can you not breathe, dude?”

“Matt, stay in the truck buddy, Jeff said.

“Jesus H. Christ, Josh, stop swearing in front of Matt. Ari’s gonna chew my ass out!” He ran his hand through his hair, obviously frustrated.

“Really, motherfucker? I’m having a moment of sheer panic right now, and that’s what you’re worried about?” I asked.

Jeff shrugged his shoulder. “Hey, I can’t help it if you don’t remember how Ari is about this kind of shit,” he said with a shit-eating grin.

Gunner punched Jeff in the arm and turned back toward me. “Josh, what’s wrong?”

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I looked back and forth between Jeff and Gunner. “I, um…I just, um…I just had a thought, and, um…”

“Good god, son, spit that shit out. I want to get in some fishing at some point today,” Jeff said as he leaned up against the truck.

“It’s just…I heard you laughing with Matt, and then I thought about the two of y’all being dads, and how much I love that kid in the backseat, and I don’t even know him, and then I thought…I thought…”

Gunner was smiling from ear to ear.

“Why the fuck are you smiling at me like that?” I asked.

“You thought what, Josh?” Gunner asked.

I took a deep breath. “I thought it would be nice to have kids with Heather.” Bending over, I put my hands on my knees, taking more deep breaths.
Oh. My. God. I said it out loud!

Jeff pushed off the truck and smiled as Gunner did a fucking fist pump in the air.

“Yes!” Gunner came over and put his arm around my neck, pulling me closer to him.

“You, my friend, are on your way back. Come on, let’s go catch some fish.” He turned and walked back to the truck, giving Jeff a high five on the way.

What in the hell just happened?

I looked down at Matt. He seemed like he was in pure heaven. Jeff had said the feel of the boat on the water made Matt feel calm. It had been a great afternoon so far. We talked about everything from fishing to the girls to trucks to my stupid-ass birthday party tomorrow.

“Why do you like girls?” Matt busted out.

We all just looked at each other.

“Jeff?” Gunner and I both said at the same time.

Jeff snapped his head over to both of us as his mouth fell open. “Why the fuck do I have to be the one to handle this one?”

Gunner let out a laugh. “Dude, you’re his big brother.” He winked at Matt.

I glanced down at Matthew, and it almost seemed like the little guy knew exactly what he was doing.

“What the fuck? Josh, you handle this one. Matt, you want your best buddy Josh to answer that one, don’t you?” Jeff said.

Matthew shrugged his shoulders and looked at me. “What the fuck, Josh? Why do you like girls?”

I tried. I tried really hard, but I couldn’t hold it in. I started laughing. I laughed my ass off. Then, Gunner started laughing, and before I knew it, the three of us were laughing so hard we each had tears rolling down our faces.

It didn’t help that Matt was now saying, “Holy shit,” and “Ah, mudderfucker,” over and over again.

Just then, Matt’s line started moving.

“Shit!” I yelled out.

Of course, Matt followed suit and yelled out, “Shit,” as well.

Jeff told Matthew to start reeling it in. Then, the bastard tried talking Matt into letting him bring in the fish.

“What the fuck, Jeff? Why are you trying to take this away from my little buddy?” I said as I pushed Jeff away from Matt.

“I am not, you asshole. He needs help,” Jeff said, pushing me back.

“Josh, you’re an assmole like Jeff!” Matt said with a huge smile.

“He’s the bigger assmole, Matt,” I said with a laugh, pushing Jeff harder.

He stumbled backward, and the next thing I knew, we were both in the water.

“You motherfucker. You just cost me a fish, you asswipe!” Jeff yelled as he kept trying to dunk me under the water.

“Oh shit! My ribs! I can’t move!” I yelled out.

Gunner jumped into the water, and it was all I could do to not start laughing. He swam over and pulled Jeff off of me.

“You fuckin’ idiot! Are you trying to kill him?” Gunner yelled at Jeff.

Jeff gave me the finger when Gunner pushed him away from me.

I looked around Gunner and smiled at Jeff.

“He’s faking! Gunner, that motherfucker is faking! His ribs don’t hurt. Lying asswipe!” Jeff yelled out.

I glanced back up toward the boat and saw Matt.

“Oh no! Oh no, little buddy, don’t do that!”

Jeff and Gunner turned.

Jeff called out, “No, Matt! Don’t jump!”

Too late.

For some reason, a feeling came over me, and I shuddered, thinking about how pissed Ari would be about this.

When Ellie called and said they were at Ari’s parents’ house, I rushed over. I couldn’t wait to see them. When I pulled up and got out of my car, they both came out of the house, each carrying a baby in their arms. I smiled as I looked at them, and then the strangest feeling came over me.

I want a baby.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“Hey! What’s wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost! Ah shit, are you still feeling sick?” Ari asked as she turned Luke away from me.

I felt almost a hundred percent better since I had been staying at Josh’s parents’ house.

I let out a laugh. “No, I feel fine. I think it was just a stomach bug.” I ran up the steps and took Luke from Ari. “Hey there, my little man! Oh my gosh, you get bigger every time I see you!”

Luke giggled, and then he was trying like hell to get out of my arms.

“Yeah, he just wants to crawl everywhere now,” Ari said as we walked into the house.

I smiled as I looked at Ellie. She was holding Alex, and I’d never seen her look so happy in my life.

“Hey, Ells. How’s motherhood treating you, sweets?”

Ellie smiled even bigger. “It’s amazing…beyond amazing. I’m just ready to have sex though.”

“Oh. My. God. TMI, Ells,” I said as I shook my head.

I put Luke down and watched him take off. I smiled as soon as I heard Susan calling out for me to get in the kitchen and give her a hug. I walked into the kitchen, and when I stepped in, I found myself wrapped up in Sue’s embrace. She pushed me back and gave me a once-over. I smiled as she tilted her head.

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing. You just seem…different,” she said with a wink.

“Well, Jesus H. Christ, Mom. The love of her life doesn’t remember her, she left her job to keep a crazy bitch from getting her claws into said love, and she hasn’t been feeling good. Way to bust her self-esteem,” Ari said as she grabbed a jar of baby food out of her bag.

“You’re not feeling good? What’s wrong?” Sue asked as she picked up Luke and put him in his high chair.

I stood there and watched the whole scene play out. The way Ari moved around the kitchen and took care of Luke was wonderful. She seemed so happy, and her skin was glowing. I noticed she kept putting her hand on her stomach.

Oh. My. God.

“Ari!” I yelled, standing up quickly.

Ari and Sue both jumped at my sudden outburst, and Luke started laughing.

“Holy hell, Heather!” Ari said. “You just scared the piss out of me!”

“I need to talk to you. Now.”

Walking in with a bottle, Ellie stopped and looked between Ari and me.

“Um, okay…right this second, Heather?”

“Yes. Yes. Right this second. Sue, will you excuse us?”

I turned toward Ellie. “Come on Ells.”

As soon as we got on the back porch, I spun around to face Ari.

“Are you pregnant?” I busted out.

“Wait! What?” Ellie said as she turned to look at Ari.

The smile that spread across Ari’s face caused me to let out a gasp.

“Oh my god! Oh my god, Ari!” Ellie said.

“How the fuck did you know, Heather? I just found out this morning!” Ari said.

I walked over and gave her a hug. “You’re glowing like all get out, Ari, and you keep touching your stomach.”

I reached for Alex and sat down with her while Ellie took Ari in her arms.

“Does Jeff know?” Ellie asked, jumping up and down with excitement.

Ari threw her head back and laughed. “Nope. I’ve been feeling like shit, so I bought a test yesterday. I used it when we got here this morning, but then everyone started showing up. I haven’t had a chance to tell him.”

“How late are you?” I asked.

While looking down at Alex cooing as she drank her bottle, my heart filled with so much love that I wanted to yell it out to the world.

“I was supposed to have my period two weeks ago. And I realized how I was feeling and all, so I figured that I must be!”

Just then, it dawned on me. I was late. I was three weeks late.

Oh no. Oh my god. I can’t be. I’m on the pill!

“Um…Ellie…can you take Alex real quick?” I asked. I stood up and handed the baby back to Ellie.

“Honey, what’s wrong? You look like you’re about to be sick,” Ellie said, taking Alex from my arms.

I covered my mouth and ran into the house.

“I knew it! I knew she was still sick! If you get these kids sick, Heather Lynn Lambert, I’m gonna kick your ass!” Ari called out.

I ran past Sue and into the bathroom. After five minutes of puking and then dealing with the dry heaves, I heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” I said in a weak voice. I looked up to see Sue standing there. “Sue…” I couldn’t manage to get another word out.

Sue fell to her knees and took me in her arms.

I started crying. “I can’t be pregnant. I just can’t. I’m on the pill.”

She stroked my hair. “Shh…it’s okay, sweetheart. First, let’s find out if you are before you start wondering about anything else.”

I glanced up to see Ari standing in the doorway. Her face was white as a ghost.

“I have another test! Let me go get it!” She spun around and ran upstairs.

“What?” Sue pulled back from me and turned to watch Ari leaving. “Why does she have a pregnancy test?” she asked, looking back at me.

I just smiled.

Sue wiped the tears from my eyes and shook her head. “Oh holy hell, this house is going to be filled with kids soon.”

After Ari came barreling back down the stairs, she skidded to a stop. “Mom! Who’s watching Luke?”

Sue just looked at Ari. “I’ve raised two kids. I’m not that stupid. Your father is feeding him, or I should say your father is eating all the poor kid’s Hawaiian Delight.”

I let out a giggle. Josh, Gunner, and Jeff also loved that stupid baby food, and they ate it all the time.

Josh. Pregnant. There is absolutely no way I could be pregnant.

I let out a laugh again. “Sue, this is just silly. I’m on the pill, so there is no way—”

Ari let out a gasp and covered her mouth. “Oh my god! Oh my god!”

Sue turned and took the stick out of Ari’s hand. “What the hell is wrong with you? And when were you going to tell me you had taken a pregnancy test, young lady?”

Ari peeked down at her mother and shook her head. “Never mind that, Mom. Heather, remember when you were so sick right before the accident? Remember you had, like, all this shit wrong with you? Do you remember?”

“Of course I remember. I was sick for, like, two weeks. Why?”

Now, Sue let out a gasp before she started smiling. “Sweetheart, were you on any kind of antibiotics?”

“Yes…two different ones. Why? What does that have to do with me getting the flu again?”