The Baby Package

by Sarah J. Brooks

  Ashley was in rehab taking control of her life and making good decisions for the first time in several months. It was funny how she was now my role model as I wrestled with the whopper of a lie I’d been telling.

  “You’re lucky to have Lilli now. Don’t make the same mistakes you made with me,” Ashley said as she reached her hand out and put it on top of mine.

  We were both in tears as we sat there silently for a minute. There was finally some closure to our relationship, and it felt good. We were blabbering teary eyed idiots, and it had taken us ten years, but we finally found a good spot to end our relationship on.

  “I should get going,” I said as I wiped away the tears. “Thank you for agreeing to let Izzy come stay with me.”

  “I better get going too. I’ve got a group therapy class starting soon,” Ashley said as she shrugged her shoulders. “And I’m kind of excited to tell everyone that you and I are in a good spot now. Take care of yourself Devin, and tell Izzy that I love her.”

  “I will.”

  Ashley pushed the photos back toward me and turned to walk away. The top photo was the one the photographer caught when I first looked at Lilli after turning around. The emotion in my eyes was intense, and there was a tear forming on the edge of my eye. It was a compelling photo and surely helped convince Ashley that my lie was true.

  “Wait, Ashley,” I said as I held the photo in my hand.

  “I need to tell you something, and I hope you won’t hate me and change your mind about everything.”

  She stopped and walked back over to her chair to sit down. I held onto the photo and tried to gather enough strength to tell her the truth.

  “What’s up?” she asked.

  “I’m not really married. I lied to your parents when they first told me what happened because they insisted I wasn’t responsible, and I wanted them to believe that I was. Then the lie got out of hand, and I had to continue it. Lilli is my neighbor. I convinced her to come out here and help me. It was a lie; I’m so sorry. Please let Izzy come with me still.”

  Ashley was silent as she looked through the photos on the table and finally grabbed the one that was in my hand. She took a long time analyzing it, and I felt like I was going to puke from the stress of the moment and the unknown of what she might do next.

  “So you’re not in love with this girl?” Ashley asked as she held the photo.

  “Well, actually I think I am in love with her, but she broke it off over this whole lying thing.”

  “She broke your fake marriage off?” Ashley asked a little confused.

  “We became close. We went on some dates. She met Izzy. And basically, she said she couldn’t keep seeing me because of the lie.”

  “So was it really a lie?” Ashley asked.

  “Yes, it was. I’m so sorry.”

  “But I don’t think your feelings for her were a lie. Look at this photo. You can’t fake emotion like that. You care about her, don’t you?”

  There it was, the truth of all truths. I did care about Lilli. It had been eating me alive to think I wouldn’t even get a chance to make things work between the two of us. I’d ruined the first good relationship I’d had in ten years. Only I could do something so stupid.

  “I care about her very much,” I finally admitted.

  “Devin, I knew you weren’t married. Look at these photos, not a single one of them has an engagement ring, and my parents said Lilli didn’t have one when she visited either. Trust me, a girl is going to show off her engagement ring if she’s marrying a catch like you.” Ashley laughed.

  “You knew?”

  “Well, I wasn’t positive, but I had a suspicion.”

  “But you said yes to Izzy coming to stay with me?”

  “Because it’s the right thing, Devin. Despite what you might think about my past behavior, I genuinely have only been thinking about what was best for Izzy. And after talking to her and hearing how well the two of you got along, I knew she would never forgive me if I didn’t let her come stay with you.”

  “Wow, okay. Wow,” I said as I tried to hold back the tears.

  “So now you have an entirely new problem,” Ashley said as she held the photo up toward me. “You love this girl. I remember this look. I remember it the day Izzy was born, and you looked at her like this. You love Lilli, and you have to go after her and fix this.”

  “She won’t see me,” I said.

  “She’s in love with you, Devin, she’ll see you. Don’t let another day go by. Get your ass home and fix this. I’ll have my parents get Izzy ready, and you can come back next weekend and get her.”

  “Do you really think Lilli will forgive me?”

  “Devin, do you really know so little about women? She cares about you. She cared so much about you that she tried to make you do the right thing. Even though it took you a little while, I suspect she’ll be happy to hear that you finally came around and did the right thing.”

  “Shit, okay …” I clenched my hands as I tried to think through how I could possibly get Lilli to agree to see me again.

  “Look at you, man. You’re so nervous and look like you might pass out. I’m pretty sure you love this girl.”

  “I thought it might be love, but then I talked myself out of it.”

  “Always a man. Don’t talk yourself out of anything. Get your butt on that plane and get home. Do something uber romantic and win your girl back,” Ashley said as she stood up and gave me a good-bye hug. “I’m counting on you not to mess up this time.”

  “Me too,” I said nervously as I gathered the photos and slipped them back into my pocket. “Thanks, Ashley.”

  “Go already. I’ve got a group to get to,” she said as she dramatically waved me away.

  I did as she asked, hurried out the door and through the security steps to get my things. My heart pounded with excitement as I got into my car and drove back to the hotel. It only took me five minutes to gather my things and then get back on the road to the airport.

  But when I arrived at the airport, I realized that I didn’t have the jet reserved to go home until Sunday. They weren’t in town any longer, and I had to go over to the commercial ticket counter.

  The car rental company was easy enough to drop off the vehicle, but when I got into the main building, I had no idea where to go next. There were dozens of airlines, so I picked the smallest line and started waiting.

  My hands were sweating with excitement as I finally got up to the counter of Frontier Airlines.

  “I need to go to Chicago,” I said excitedly. “The next flight. Any seat you have.”

  “You don’t have a ticket?”

  “No, I’ll buy one, though.”

  I pulled out my black American Express card and set it on the counter. She knew right away the power that was behind such a card and started typing away. My fingers tapped nervously as I waited for her to find something for me.

  “I’ve got a middle seat in a coach for a flight leaving in thirty minutes,” she said as she frowned.

  “That’s fine; I’ll take it.”

  “If you’d like to wait until five o’clock, I have a seat in first class,” the woman offered.

  “Nope, I can’t wait. I’ll take this one.”

  She plugged in my information and printed me a ticket after looking at my driver’s license. I hurried through the security line and jogged down the terminal to the door for my flight just as they were calling the last group to board.

  By this point, I was drenched in sweat from a combination of nerves and exertion. The woman took my ticket, and I boarded the flight. It was easy to see which seat was mine because it was the only empty seat on the plane.

  There was a very large man sitting in the seat by the window and a muscular man in the seat by the aisle. They were both leaking over into the center seat as I climbed into my spot and held my arms close.

  I’d never imagined that flying commercial could be as uncomfortable as that three-hour flight was. The three of us could hard
ly move as we all sat still and tried not to disturb each other on the flight. We were all uncomfortable. It was like a row of giant sardines had been packed together into a tiny little tin.

  By the time we arrived in Chicago, I felt like I had a new case of claustrophobia. It was impossible to hurry off the plane as everyone stood up at once and tried to get off. I waited patiently for my turn and then filed off the sardine container with the rest of my fellow sardines.

  When I hit the terminal, I grabbed some water from a vendor and drank nearly the whole thing by the time I got to the shuttle service. It took me nearly thirty minutes to find the right shuttle that could get me to where my car was parked by the private jet terminal, but I finally got on the right one.

  The shuttle dropped me off outside the chained link fence, and I had to wait for a security guard to come and let me in. Luckily, it was one of the guards who knew me well, and he chuckled at the sweat that was pouring down my brow.

  “Had to fly commercial?” he asked.

  “Yep. That was torture.”

  “Welcome to the real world that the rest of us live in.” He laughed as the gate finished opening. “Better not quit your day job.”

  “Oh, I’m going to work harder than ever. I can’t ever do that again.” Laughing, I ran over to my car and hurried out of the parking lot.

  When I pulled into my driveway, I was so excited to see that Lilli’s car was in her driveway. Without thinking, I hurried over to her door and knocked hard.

  “Hello,” Lilli’s father said as he answered the door.

  “Um, hi Mr. Baxter, right?” I said as I tried to find the words.

  “Yep. Lilli just went out for a run. I can tell her you stopped by if you’d like?”

  “Um … no … I mean yes. Or, I’ll just call her later.”

  “Whatever you’d like,” he said and shut the door.

  I couldn’t wait, though. I ran into my house and changed into my jogging clothes and then took off down the street to see if I could catch her. Then I remembered the route she had taken when we ran into each other, so I went the opposite way, hoping I would find her.

  My muscles tensed from the dehydration I had going on, but I pressed on. I had to talk to Lilli. There was no waiting. I needed to see her right away.

  I was lost in thought as I went around a corner and felt the impact of a collision. It was hard, and I was knocked to the ground from the impact.

  “Devin?” Lilli laughed as I noticed she had been knocked to the ground as well. “We have to stop meeting like this.”

  She looked radiant even as she sat on the ground. Her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her beautiful blue eyes reflected so much of the sun that they had become hard to look at. She had her tongue ring back in but no makeup on as she smiled at me from the ground right next to me.

  “I need to talk to you,” I said as I took in a big breath and stood up.

  I grabbed her hands and pulled her up as well. For a moment, I held onto her hand, but she pulled it away from me when she realized I still had a grip on her.

  “I can’t Devin. We can be friends, but even that will take me some time. I better get going,” she said and turned to leave.

  “I told Ashley the truth,” I blurted out.

  Lilli stopped, but she didn’t turn around. I had to say something to keep her from leaving, so I continued talking.

  “She was understanding. We worked things out. You were right; I should have told the truth right away.”

  Lilli was still facing away from me, and I reached out and grabbed her hand, but this time she let me hold it.

  “That’s great Devin; I better get going,” she said as she tried to walk away, but I held onto her hand.

  “Lilli, will you go out with me?” I asked.

  She was silent, and my heart felt like it might explode out of my chest. Lilli had to agree to go on a date with me. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing her after everything. I pulled on her hand to get her to turn around.

  When she did turn around, there were tears streaming down her face. She could barely contain them as she looked down at the ground and tried not to look at me.

  “Devin,” she said and then stopped.

  “Lilli, hear me out. I know I was wrong, and you were right. I was a giant ass for not listening to you and for going along with the lie at all. I’m not asking for you to commit to anything more than a date. Maybe a couple dates,” I said playfully as I shrugged. “I mean if you want to.”

  “Can I talk now?” she asked as she wiped away the tears and smiled at me sweetly.

  “Um, yes. Unless you’re going to say no, then I should keep talking and try to convince you.”

  “Yes, I’ll go on a date with you,” Lilli said as she smiled from ear to ear.

  “Yes?”

  “Yes!” she said, and I wrapped her up in my arms as soon as the word processed through my brain.

  “A real date. You pick me up at my house. I wear a pretty dress, all that normal stuff,” she insisted.

  “Of course.”

  “And you have to meet my dad.”

  “Done, I just talked to him a few minutes ago. I think he likes me,” I said playfully. “Should we bring my new drone to take photos to document the date?” I asked as I turned and pointed to the drone that had been following me on my run.

  “What is that?”

  “It’s my new venture. I bought the company out, and I’m going to sell these. Aren’t they cool?”

  “You’ve got your own company now?” she said with a sweet smile as she hugged me and looked up at the drone. “That’s pretty damn cool.”

  “This is by far the best day I’ve had since Izzy was born,” I said as I leaned in and kissed Lilli softly. “I can’t wait to wow you on our second date.”

  Lilli and I both laughed at the thought and cheekily posed for a photo as the drone hovered nearby. My life was finally getting started the way I wanted it to be, and I had Lilli to thank for it all.

  A few weeks later

  After a month and a half, things were still going well. To show it, Jeff had come out to see me. Of course, this time, I had to let him meet my parents, which they loved.

  I sat on top of him, alone in our bedroom. My lips raced over his muscular chest. His fingers tangled into my hair.

  “God, I missed you,” he whispered.

  “I missed you, too.”

  The time was getting close. I was going to quit my jobs soon and head out to the ranch for a trial month. My heart raced just thinking about it. It was going to be interesting to say the least. I had no clue what to expect. I just knew it would be a whole new world for me and Jeff.

  “Are you going to get sick of me?” I asked, almost teasing.

  He laughed softly as I pulled away. I was glad he thought I had been joking. “I doubt I’ll ever get sick of you.”

  I snorted. Such a line. But it did make me feel a little better.

  “I mean it. Sure, there might come a time when I see so much of you for a day or two, but I don’t think I will ever be able to get sick of you, Tasha.”

  His words made my heart do a backflip. I lowered my mouth to his. “What did I do to deserve you?” I asked.

  He laughed softly against my lips, our kiss growing hungry. “I wonder the same all the time.”

  The truth is, I knew exactly what we had done that allowed us to be lucky enough to find each other. Despite the fact it had been hard, we had done it. Even though when I first met the man I love, I hadn’t wanted to risk my heart, but I did. He was scared I would end up hurt, and even though he sworn he would never fall in love again, he did.

  We both took a chance.

  A chance on us and a chance on love. And now, here we were. My fingers tangled together with his, pinning his arm above his head. The sex was over, now this was playful. This was about being together and cuddling.

  I laid down beside him. “When I get back, I’m going to learn everything about the plac
e,” I promised.

  “When you get back, you’re going to get put to work in the kitchen to see if you’re a good enough cook for us.”

  “I will be.” I had total faith. No fear.

  Jeff already seemed to have faith in my ability, which was all I needed to know that the rest of them would, too.

  Chapter 19

  Lilli

  “I will never get used to this part,” I said as I grabbed on tight to Devin’s hand.

  “You’ve been in this plane at least a hundred times over the last three years. How is it possible that you still get nervous?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t explain it. But I’m clearly freaking out,” I said and closed my eyes to try and relax until the plane leveled off at the normal flying height.

  “Lilli, it’s fine. You’re being a baby,” Izzy said as she sat cross-legged listening to her music and ignoring the fact that we were jetting up quickly into the sky. “You do this every single time. I can’t believe you’re still so nervous.”

  “Hey, young lady. I know you’re a teenager and know everything, but I can’t help it.” I laughed without opening my eyes at all.

  “You’re doing alright Izzy?” Devin asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m not a baby,” she said with that familiar teenager tone we had become accustomed to. “Will my mom be at the airport?”

  “Yep, I talked to her this morning, and she’s coming over with your grandparents,” Devin said as he let me squeeze his hand tightly.

  Ashley had finished serving the three years from her plea deal. At first, three years seemed like it was going to be forever, but the time had flown by. Izzy was having a blast with Devin, and I’d been staying over there more and more. My schedule was busy with school, though, and this trip was the first time in the last three years that I’d felt relief from all my homework and tests.

  As the plane finally leveled off at our cruising altitude, I opened my eyes and let the tension leave my body. Devin laughed a little at my relief, but I couldn’t help how nervous I still got on our flights.