Limitless (Journey Series) (7 page)

Caleb tugged Roy along by the hand
back to the booth when he saw the waitress deliver our pizza. “So Roy, tell us
exactly how you met Leah’s mom. I know what her type was and you certainly
don’t look like it. Are you some motorcycle dude who just dresses up in
business suits or what? Because I don’t want to be playing any games here.”

“Chase!” Leah’s hand stopped midair
where she was sliding a piece of pizza onto Caleb’s plate, narrowing her eyes
and thumping me in the chest. Did she actually think that would hurt or
something? “I don’t think that is a very appropriate thing to say.”

“No, it’s all right, Leah.” Roy
shook his head and gave me a small smile. “I’m sure Chase has questions since
this is the first time we’re meeting and I completely understand.  I was on a
business trip when I passed through and stopped at the bar Marie worked at.
Honestly, the place looked seedy and most definitely wasn’t the kind of place I
frequented. A long- term relationship that I had been in just ended and I was
down in the dumps.

“Trust me, I’m not one to typically
drink but that day sort of called for it. Somehow, I ended up going home with
Marie, and well, one thing led to another. I can’t say it was a mistake since
this little guy is here now, but it was totally out of behavior for me.”

“Alright, I guess I can accept
that. I just want to know what your intentions are. Leah has done an awesome
job raising Caleb on her own and now the three of us are a family.”

“I understand that, but I would
like to get to know Caleb. I’m not trying to steal him away.” I nodded my head,
mulling his words over as we all dug into the pizza. Caleb kept up a constant
chatter in between bites, telling Roy all about his school and friends.

By the time we were ready to leave,
I knew he would crash as soon as he was buckled into his booster seat. I was
sure all of that talking had worn him out.

Leah stayed to talk with Roy a few
minutes longer while I buckled Caleb in. “All set, baby?” Leah boosted herself
up into the truck and quietly shut the door behind her. Sure enough, Caleb was
out.

“Yup, I just wanted to talk to Roy
about a few things, but not in front of Caleb. He wanted to set up some time
where Caleb could come visit him at his house.”

“Do you really think that’s a good
idea?” I gripped the steering wheel tight as I pulled out of the parking lot and
headed for home. I couldn’t imagine sending Caleb off to this guy’s house, he
lived an almost an hour away. As far as I was concerned, he was still a
stranger in my book. Wasn’t this a little too soon?

“I don’t know, I told him I would
think about it. Before that happens, I think I need to actually explain to
Caleb who Roy is and I think we should have a few more meet ups like this one
with all four of us. What did you think of him?”

“He seemed nice enough, but I
agree. Before he goes taking Caleb to his house, we need to get together a few
more times and we need to check out his place to make sure it’s kid friendly.
You know how Caleb gets into everything, especially at new places.”

“Sounds like we have exactly the
same idea.” She slid across the seat, resting her hand on my thigh, and laid
her head on my shoulder where it seemed to fit perfectly. “I think we already
have this whole marriage thing figured out pretty well.”

Leah

A couple of months had passed since
Roy had come into our lives. He not only was trying to get to know Caleb, but
also Chase and I. The first meeting had been a little rough between him and
Chase, but after that Chase warmed up to the idea of getting to know him
better, he quickly took a liking to him.

I had finally explained to Caleb
that Roy was his dad. He was a little confused at first since he thought Chase
was his dad, even though he had actually never called him that, but just like
any typical four year old, he quickly took to the idea. I think Chase
occasionally got jealous at the natural bond that Roy and Caleb had, but he
still got his bonding time with Caleb and he still followed Chase around
constantly.

I had been busy between finishing school,
work, and spending time with my new husband and Caleb. The weekend had finally
came where Caleb would be staying overnight at Roy’s house and I was nervous as
hell. I trusted Roy, but I just wasn’t sure how I would handle Caleb being away
so far.

The doorbell rang, pulling me out
of my thoughts of the upcoming weekend, and I ran to get it so Caleb wouldn’t
wake up from his nap. Those were a rare commodity lately and he had been so
high strung this morning, I had needed the break.

Luckily, our new family member,
Tootsie, hadn’t seemed to hear it either. It had taken me a little while to
warm up to him when Chase and Caleb had first brought him home. I had never had
any kind of pet growing up since I had to worry about taking care of myself and
Caleb when he came along. Chase had always had some kind of pet in house, so he
helped out a lot when it came to learning how to live with a dog.

 It was cute at how protective
Tootsie was of Caleb. The two of them were best friends, and pretty much
anywhere Caleb went, Tootsie went. Which was why the two of them were currently
curled up in Caleb’s bed, snoozing away.

“Hey honey.” Ally wrapped me in a
quick hug when I opened the front door and stepped into the living room,
dropping her bag on the couch. “Where’s the little man? I figured he would be
attacking me by now. You know I actually come over here for him and not you,
right?”

“Gee, thanks, best friend. I love
you too. Caleb is napping. I’m sure he’ll be up soon enough.”

“Oh, okay. Well I wanted to talk to
you about something anyway.”

“Alright.” We both slid out bar
stools at the island and I turned towards Ally who looked happier than usual
for my perky best friend. I swear she took some kind of happy pill. Something
was definitely up. Or she had taken an extra dosage. “Spill it woman.”

“Okay, well… I guess I’ll just put
it right out there. I’m going on tour with the band! Tyler asked me if I wanted
to come along and I agreed. Honestly, I was a little surprised since we haven’t
been too serious, but I jumped at the chance. Doesn’t that sound awesome? I get
to be like one of their roadies; traveling all over the country and I know Remy’s
going too, so I’ll have someone to hang out with backstage. Ah, I’m so
excited!”

I raised an eyebrow at her and her
smile lessened just a bit. She was right when she had said her and Tyler
weren’t very serious. I think what was holding her back, or should I say who,
was Teddy. I think she was still hoping he would realize he wanted an actual
relationship with her. Judging by the stream of girls I had seen him with
lately, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

“Are you sure you want to do that,
Al? What about school?”

“Well, the tour dates don’t start
up until after the semester is over.” I had already known that, it was one of
the reasons Mark had been able to talk Remy into going along. She would already
have her nursing degree and she figured she could take a little bit of a break
before starting to look for a job.  “And I think I’m just going to put next
semester off for a little while, have a little fun. I thought you would be happy
for me. I’m doing this for Tyler, and maybe it will take our relationship to
the next level.”

“Okay, Al, I’m happy for you then.
I just want to make sure you are doing this for the right reasons. Teddy
doesn’t have anything to do with your decision of going, does he?”

“Absolutely not. I’ve barely looked
at that asshole since Tyler and I started dating. He has a different skank
every night; I don’t want any part of it.” Her bitter tone led me to believe
otherwise, but I was trying not to judge. For some reason, it seemed like Ally
and Teddy had this pull between them, like two magnets. I know how that felt,
it had been the same way for Chase and me, but I was hoping that somehow that
magnetic pull would be broken between the two of them.

“Okay, well good then, I guess. I’m
sure you’ll have a ton of fun, but you know you’ll have to call me like every
day. I’ll miss you so much.”

“Of course. Who do you think I’m
going to fill in about all of the scandalous stories out on the road?”

“Good, I’m glad we have that all
cleared up then. You want something to drink?”

“Sure, I’m going to run to the
bathroom real quick.”

I wasn’t sure what to think about
Ally going on tour. We had gone out on a couple of double dates with her and
Tyler since they had started dating. Chase and Tyler seemed to get along really
well, it almost felt like they were on more of a date, than him and Ally. Ally
just seemed to be bored with him and stayed with him, just so she wasn’t alone.

Tyler seemed like a nice guy and
you could tell how infatuated he was with Ally. Who wouldn’t be? But she didn’t
look at anyone like that except for Teddy. I guess she would figure everything
out on her own. At least I hoped.

“Hey, look who I found wandering
the halls. I swear he looks like a little zombie when he wakes up.” I set our
glasses on the counter and smiled when I turned around to see Caleb perched on
Ally’s hip and still half- asleep, with his head resting on Ally’s shoulder. Of
course, Tootsie was following closely behind and stopped to sit at Ally’s feet,
keeping his eyes trained on Caleb. “By the way, do you have any feminine
supplies stashed anywhere? Looks like you’re all out in the bathroom.”

“Um…” I tapped my chin, wondering
exactly when the last time I actually had to run to the store for tampons. Now
that I thought about it, it had been awhile, like a long while.

“Okay, so I take that as a
negatory?” Ally scrunched up her nose and narrowed her eyes at me when I had
yet to respond. Truthfully, I didn’t know what to say. My head was beginning to
spin a little at the question.

 “Wait, Leah, when was the last
time you had your period?”

“I’m not really sure,” I responded
slowly, trying to picture a calendar in my head. “I guess right after the
wedding. Chase was bummed that I got it since it put our honeymoon celebrating
on hold for a little while. I haven’t really thought about it because I’ve been
a little stressed out about the whole situation with Caleb.”

“’Kay, I guess that’s
understandable, but we aren’t going to sit here and question the what- ifs.” “Here.”
She shoved Caleb at me and somehow I numbly took him into my arms. “I’m going
to run to the drugstore real quick, I’ll be back in ten minutes tops. And
Leah?”

“Yeah?” I answered back with my
eyes squeezed shut. I could feel a major headache coming on.

“Don’t freak out yet. Please.”

Easy for her to say.

 I kept myself busy with getting Caleb’s
snack fixed and set him down on one of the barstools when I was finished. He
kept up a constant chatter while eating, which helped to keep my mind off
things for the most part, until I heard the front door slam shut, bringing me
back to reality.

“Into the bathroom now.” A plastic
bag was shoved into my hands and Ally was behind me pushing me down the hallway.
“Let’s just get this over with, Leah. Nothing’s going to change if you put it
off, better to know now rather than later on.”

I could understand what Ally was
saying but she wasn’t the one in my shoes. I emptied the bag out onto the
bathroom counter and a quiet laugh escaped when I saw she had bought five
different tests. How in the hell was I laughing right now? Clearly, this was
not a laughing matter.

The door creaked open just as I was
standing up to set the stick on the counter. “Mommy, why are you peein’ on a stick?”
Caleb peered onto the counter, looking quizzically at the test. I was probably
just about as confused as him, so I ignored his question.

 I looked at my watch, watching the
seconds tick away until the three minutes were up. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted
kids of my own, Caleb really was enough for me to handle. I knew Chase wanted
kids, but we really didn’t need them
now.
I know he liked things to move
quickly, but I don’t think this was one of those things.

The door flung open all the way and
Ally came in to peer over my shoulder just as the little digital hourglass
disappeared on the two tests that I had taken and the word pregnant replaced
it. I swear my heart literally stopped when that popped up. Ally let out a
squeal and started jumping and down behind me.

“C’mon Leah, you have to be a
little excited, right?” She grabbed onto my wrists to spin me around where my
feet had been frozen into place, and proceeded to bounce around the small
confines of the bathroom. Pretty soon, Caleb joined in clapping his hands
together, even though he had no clue what was going on.

After the two of them finally
calmed down, I pushed Ally out the front door. “You need to leave. I need time
to process this and I can’t do that with all of your squealing.” She was way
too bubbly about this and I really needed to have as much peace and quiet that
I could get before Chase came home.  What in the hell was I going to do?

Chase

The house was unusually quiet when
I came home from work. I was already a little nervous to tell Leah about what
exactly had happened at school today, and the silence really wasn’t helping my
nerves. Normally, Caleb was running around like crazy and Leah was cooking
dinner on her nights off. I quickly found Caleb in his room with a stack of
books, reading to his favorite stuffed animals and Tootsie. I swear, that dog
had some patience and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the story about the
little bugs that I had heard about a hundred times.

“Hey buddy, did you have a good
day?”

His brown eyes flicked up for just
a second before going back to being glued to his book. “Yup, me and Mommy
played all day after she picked me up from school. Then Auntie Ally came over
but Mommy kicked her out.  She told me it was quiet time now.”