Second Chance Baby

by Natasha L. Black

  At some point, I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, I was being woken up by the sound of Ava jumping out of bed and running into the bathroom. I went into the kitchen to pour her a fresh glass of water and went up to the door. I knocked on it softly.

  “Are you alright?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she said.

  I heard heaving and Ava struggling to catch her breath.

  “Are you sure?”

  “No,” she finally said weakly.

  “I’ve had food poisoning before. It’s no fun,” I said. “Fortunately, it usually only lasts a day or two. You just need to rest and drink plenty of fluids. That means you have to take the day off.”

  “But I took last night off,” she said.

  I heard the toilet flush and the water in the sink runs for a few seconds. The door opened and she looked at me with bloodshot eyes and a pale face.

  “Yes, and you’re taking tonight off, too,” I said.

  She looked like she was about to argue, then nodded. “Okay.”

  I found her some fresh pajamas while she took a shower, then tucked her back into bed. I made sure the remote was close to her along with a bucket lined with a plastic bag, several towels, tissues, and plenty of bottled water.

  “I have to go to work,” I said. “But I’m going to come back after. I’ll bring you some Gatorade and saltine crackers. They might help.”

  “I don’t want to eat anything right now,” she groaned.

  “You don’t have to. For now, just rest. If you need anything, call me at the bar,” I said.

  She nodded and tucked her head under the pillow, only to move it a second later and lean toward me for a kiss on her head. I gave it to her, and she disappeared beneath the pillow again.

  I had to get to work particularly early to catch up on the work Ava missed the night before and that she would miss that night as well. Since I had taken on most of the manager duties before she got the role, I knew what to do. But I wanted to make sure it was done, and I would be able to stay behind the bar or helping customers throughout the night.

  My brothers came in as I was getting everything set up.

  “What’s going on?” Matt asked. “It looks like you’ve already gotten the place ready for the night.”

  “I had to. I don’t have time tonight to play catch-up,” I said.

  “What’s wrong?” Tyler asked. “Where Ava?”

  “Ava is at home with food poisoning,” I said. “She’s been sick since last night.”

  “No, no,” Jesse said. “I am so sorry. Was it the sushi?”

  Part of me wanted to blame him, but he looked so upset. And the truth was, we didn’t know what had made her sick.

  “We’re not sure,” I said. “All we know is we went from here to dinner, then for a walk on the beach. That’s when she started to feel sick. And she’s been sick since.”

  “Ava’s sick?”

  I turned toward the voice and saw Tom walk into the bar. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Of course he was showing up now. I had no idea he was going to be there, and irritation crawled up my spine. I hated that it always seemed he had the control. He was the one who had the last word. For the past month I had been trying to talk to him, and he’d done everything he could to avoid it.

  But now, he showed up and I hadn’t even had the chance to think about what I was going to say to him. Tom walked up and stood close beside me so our other brothers couldn’t hear him.

  “I need to speak to you,” he said.

  He headed for the office, and I followed him. Tom closed the door behind us and looked at me.

  “I’m going to need to talk with both you and Ava when she’s feeling better,” he said.

  “She should be feeling better soon. Food poisoning only lasts a couple of days,” I said.

  “It better be food poisoning,” Tom said.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “What do you mean?”

  No sooner had the words come out of my mouth than it hit me. My mind went back all those years ago to right before she found out she was pregnant with our baby. I could feel the color drain from my face and worry well up inside me.

  I walked out of the office without another word, pulling my phone out of my pocket as I headed for the back parking lot. Three calls later, Ava still hadn’t answered her phone. It wasn’t an emergency because I knew she wasn’t in danger, but I wanted to talk with her. It couldn’t wait until after work.

  For once, I left the bar for my brothers to clean up rather than staying late. I headed right for Ava’s place, but she didn’t come to the door. She still didn’t answer my calls. I fought not to let myself panic. I didn’t know for sure what was going on. She really could have food poisoning. For that night, I would let her rest. Then we would figure things out.

  29

  Ava

  I had come to the realization over the last couple of years that our idea of shopping and customer service had done a major boomerang since our grandparents’ generation. While we were used to big-box stores and mega mart, they liked to go to specialty markets and could call up the general store and ask for a grocery delivery.

  The concept of that kind of convenience and service was foreign when I was a bit younger. The only thing I could hope to have delivered to my house was a lukewarm pizza or some of the fantastic greasy Chinese food from the place in town. But over the last couple of years, that had changed. Grocery stores, pharmacies, and various other businesses started delivering again.

  I hadn’t thought much about it. A run up to the grocery store or the corner pharmacy didn’t seem like so much of a burden I couldn’t handle on my own. The service didn’t really matter to me much until the next morning after my date with Mason when I woke up still feeling sick. I knew this feeling. I didn’t want to admit that, but I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

  I felt horrible. Exhausted, shaky, and sick to my stomach, I barely even wanted to open my eyes, much less get dressed, get in the car, and go to the store. Besides, the chances of people noticing my purchases were a lot lower if they were delivered to me. Anybody could catch me wandering out of the pharmacy with a bag and get a glimpse.

  A gangly teenage boy with watery blue eyes showed up at my door an hour and a half after I called in my order to the pharmacy. I shoved a handful of bills at him and snatched the bag before he could say anything. Then I went to spend a truly nerve-racking three minutes alone in the bathroom.

  That’s where I was sitting, staring down at the third pregnancy test I had taken. And the third positive result I had gotten. I was still struggling to wrap my brain around it. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

  I was pregnant with Mason’s child. Again.

  Everything was going so well between us, but there was no way he was going to accept this. Not after last time and everything we went through. Us, our families, and our friends. And what if it happened again? What if I built this up and told him I was carrying his baby again, only to have another miscarriage? I didn’t think we could cope our way through losing another baby.

  It was brutal the first time, and there were many times I thought I would never get over it. Having to face that again was unimaginable.

  I was a complete mess. So worried and confused I couldn’t even think straight, I didn’t know what to do. I sat there, staring at the test and its result, hoping something would come to mind. That I would figure out what I was supposed to do.

  The only thing I did know was that I couldn’t deal with it completely by myself right then. I couldn’t hold on to the news and try to figure out how to deal with it totally on my own. I needed to talk about it, to let it out and I have somebody there to hear it.

  Putting a test on the counter, I headed into the bedroom to get my phone so I could call Stephanie. For all her pomp and circumstance, and occasional flailing, Stephanie was strong and clear-headed. She would be the one to stay calm and be able to talk me through this. She would also be the one to tell me the
decision in front of me was one I had to make, and that she would be there for me no matter what.

  But before I could dial her number, I heard a knock on my front door. Throwing my bathrobe on, I went to the door and looked through the peephole. My stomach sank when I saw Mason standing there.

  “Ava?” he said. “I’ve been trying to call you. Can I come in?”

  “Just a second,” I said.

  I ran to hide the tests, then went back to the door and answered it. He looked hesitant as he stepped inside. I was expecting a kiss, but he just leaned against me, wrapping his arms around me in what was close to a hug, but not quite. He could sense there was something wrong. I couldn’t let him now. Not yet. I had to figure this whole thing out for myself before I opened up to him.

  “Are you feeling better?” he asked. “Did getting rest and fluids help you at all?”

  “I think so,” I said.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  I couldn’t really blame him for that. I was pretty sure I looked like crap. At least, I did when I looked in the mirror of the bathroom. Since that was less than five minutes before, I couldn’t imagine there had been a miraculous transformation.

  I glared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It’s just that you still look like you feel sick,” he said. “I don’t want you pushing yourself too hard or acting like you’re all the way better when you’re not.” He held up the bag in his hand. “I brought you the crackers and Gatorade. Would you like some?”

  I let out a sigh and turned around to head into the living room and flop down onto the couch. “Sure.”

  He went into the kitchen and came back a few seconds later with a plate scattered with saltine crackers and three bottles of the sports drink. They were all different flavors.

  “I didn’t know which one you would want. I remember when we were younger, you liked the blue ones, but I didn’t know if that was still the same,” he said.

  I nodded and reached for the blue drink. “It is. Thank you. I really appreciate you helping me. I really do feel a little better. I just didn’t sleep well.”

  Mason lowered himself slowly to the couch beside me. He reached over and rested his hand over mine, tucking his fingers around mine to hold them comfortingly. “Ava, do you think you could be…”

  The question made my heart jump and my stomach flip over. I immediately shook my head, maybe a touch too adamantly.

  “No. No, that’s not it. I’m not. It’s just food poisoning. I think maybe we should call that restaurant we ate at last night and let them know. That way at least our bases are covered,” I said.

  I had a bit of guilt for lying to him, but it was like I couldn’t help myself. The lies just came tumbling out of my mouth without me being able to think of all the way through. I couldn’t tell Mason. At least not yet. I needed to be able to really process it for myself and figure out how I felt about it and what I wanted to do before I brought him into it.

  Mason nodded, looking relieved, and kissed me. “If you’re feeling better, do you want to go to work tonight? You don’t have to if you’re still feeling bad, but I know you really didn’t want to take the night off yesterday.”

  “I want to go,” I said.

  “Great,” he said. “Go on ahead and get ready, and I’ll take you.”

  I took a few sips of the drink and nibbled my way through a couple of the crackers as I walked back into my bedroom. The truth was, I did feel better, but not one hundred percent. I wasn’t going to tell Mason that, though. Saying I would go to work would help to dispel his suspicions.

  That night at work, I found as many excuses as I could come up with to reject the alcohol offered to me. I conveniently walked away from the bar just before the guys took their beginning of the evening shot. I politely declined the offers of drinks from customers. I told the boys I was still a little woozy and didn’t think having alcohol on my stomach without having eaten much over the last couple of days would be a good idea.

  Partway through the night, Stephanie showed up and I rushed to pull her aside.

  “I need you to go to my house,” I said. “I need to talk to you when I get off work. Please, just go and wait for me. I’m going to tell Mason I can’t stay late tonight. I haven’t asked him to bring me back home.”

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “I just need to talk to you,” I said.

  Just like I knew she would be, Stephanie was at my place when I got back that night. I explained to Mason that she and I had plans for a girls’ night, and he accepted it without question. When I got inside, Stephanie put down the cup of tea she was drinking and looked at me with wide eyes.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’m pregnant,” I told her. There was no buildup, no trying to ease into the conversation. I had to just tell her. “I took three tests today, and they all came up positive.”

  She looked at me calmly but with surprise in her eyes. “Am I safe to assume it’s Mason’s?”

  “Of course it’s Mason’s,” I said.

  “Have you told him yet?”

  I shook my head and dropped down to sit on the couch. “No. Not yet. He asked me this morning when he came to check on me, and I panicked and told him I wasn’t. I said it was just food poisoning.” I raked my fingers back through my hair. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “How do you feel about it?”

  I shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. After the miscarriage, I I’m terrified of losing this baby, too. I don’t know how I would deal with that, and I can’t bear the thought of telling Mason and then hurting him so much again.”

  “Ava, listen to me,” she said. “Plenty of women have miscarriages and go on to have perfectly normal, healthy babies. It happens all the time. Everything is going to be fine with the baby. But if you don’t tell Mason soon, things might not be fine there.”

  I knew she was right. This wasn’t something I could just keep to myself and hope I figured it out. Mason and I were in this together, and he had every right to know.

  “I’ll tell him on our next day off,” I said. “This isn’t something I should tell him at work.”

  30

  Mason

  A couple of days later, just as I had promised, I told Tom Ava was feeling better. He immediately made plans for us to go to lunch. From anybody else, that might not have seemed like a red flag. From Tom, it might as well have been a beacon complete with siren.

  Tom didn’t just have friendly lunches. He didn’t get together to catch up and chat. If he was going to spend time with the family, it was going to be at our parents’ house, or he was going to come over to one of our houses to spend time with us. He wasn’t going to ask to have lunch. The fact that he was specifically including Ava only made me more anxious.

  He hadn’t said anything about us. That day at work he said he wanted to talk to us when she felt better, but he seemed to make it a point not to start up a conversation with me. This was a concerted effort only to talk when he had both of us, and when we were alone.

  It felt like walking into an ambush.

  Ava and I sat on one side of a booth at the Indian restaurant Tom chose, holding hands but not saying anything. In fact, it felt like we were barely breathing. He hadn’t gotten there yet, and I felt like he was making a point. Tom was never late.

  “This is about me,” Ava finally said.

  “No, it’s not,” I said.

  She looked at me with a sarcastic scoff. “Of course it is. Why else would he want both of us to come here today?”

  “Okay, so it’s probably about you. But it’s not just you. It’s about both of us. And remember what I said. It doesn’t matter what Tom thinks. It doesn’t matter what he says about us being together. It’s not going to change anything.”

  Just then, Tom walked into the restaurant, striding toward us. I couldn’t help but notice the papers he held in front of him. He sat down across from us and set the papers down on the t
able.

  “Hi, there,” he said. “Ava, how are you feeling?”

  She looked hesitant, almost like she thought the question was loaded and she had to give the exact right answer.

  “Better, thank you,” she said.

  “What are we doing here?” I asked.

  Tom looked over at me. He gave the hint of a smile. “Well, I was going to say thank you for meeting me for lunch, but I guess Mason’s ready to just skip right over all the niceties of the afternoon.”

  “We don’t need niceties,” I said. “We need to know what’s going on. You never just meet up with people for lunch. So, what is this?”

  Tom slid the papers over in front of us. “I’m going to need you to sign these.”

  “Sign what?” Ava asked. She picked up the papers and looked at them briefly, and then her eyes snapped back up to Tom. “A contract?”

  “What kind of contract?” I asked, reaching over to take the papers from her so I could read them for myself.

  “Don’t think of it as a contract,” Tom said. “Think of it more like a special agreement between the three of us.”

  “Among the three of us,” Ava said.

  There was an acidic edge to her voice, and I wondered if Tom should have been the one to be nervous about meeting her for lunch rather than the other way around.

  “Among,” Tom corrected himself. “It’s about dating in the workplace. I want to make sure all of us have an understanding about what a relationship between the two of you would entail and any implications it might have on the bar.”

  “I really don’t think that’s necessary,” I said.

  Ava shook her head. “Neither do I. That seems like it’s going a bit overboard.”

  “No, it’s not,” Tom said. “This is just a precaution so if something happens, Ava can’t sue any of us.”

  Ava’s mouth fell open. She looked offended as hell, and I couldn’t blame her.