Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ALLISON
Allison wandered through Second Rodeo, a maternity wear boutique that she’d been wanting to visit for years in Elliotsville.
It had a mixture of secondhand and brand new pieces, exactly her style.
Her boobs were bigger, and her jeans were getting harder to button up.
So, she’d decided to indulge in some maternity clothes.
Allison walked past the store mirror, and peering over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching, she pressed her shirt against her stomach to round it over her barely visible bump.
She smiled, delight radiating from her. I have a bump. She absolutely couldn’t wait to be a mom, and she finally had the energy to be excited about it.
Finally.
Martha and Pearl were meeting her here. She’d dreamed about doing this with her mom, but things were still awkward.
She’d dropped off a Father’s Day card for her dad at their house, but he’d left the room.
He still wasn’t speaking to her. Silent treatment was his punishment of choice when he was upset with her.
Then things would go back to normal, and they never talked about it.
It had always been her responsibility to repair the relationship.
She looked at her bump, trying to imagine a world where she’d do that to Shortcake.
No. Absolutely not. I’m the mom. She’d do anything to make sure the baby was happy.
She gulped, wondering why her parents hadn’t thought about her like that.
Her one concession in being the perfect eldest daughter was that she was going to do this one thing just for herself. Have a good experience with the lovely future grandma of her child and her best friend who knew exactly how to hype her up.
She liked thinking about how her body was changing and growing so that she could welcome a baby into the world. She wanted to savor every moment that she’d worked so hard for, to remember it.
She turned to look from another angle, seeing if her bump was bigger from the other side.
“I spy an adorable bump,” Martha said as she walked up, wrapping her tiny arm around Allison’s waist in the mirror. “You’re just glowing. How was the Elliotsville Bloom?”
She’d stopped by the new location to talk about a new project they’d be doing together for the Fairwick County Wine Festival. “Excellent, and even better since it’s so close to here. Thanks for meeting me, Martha.”
Martha beamed at her. “I’m thrilled, dear. Now, I am under strict instructions to not let you pay for a stitch—”
“No, I can’t—” Allison interrupted.
“Wells said”—Martha pulled out her phone and held it far from her face, peering down as she tried to focus on it—“and I quote, ‘Supplies are part of the contract.’” Martha shrugged, sporting a self-satisfied grin.
Allison closed her eyes and shook her head. She’d deal with him later.
“Let’s get you some things to try on. Did anything strike your fancy?”
Allison pulled a pair of overall shorts from the clothing rack. They were sage green with little flowers embroidered at the bottom of the shorts. “Maybe something for when it gets hot?” She’d always wanted to wear overalls when pregnant, looking adorable.
“Oh, that’s just darling,” Martha said, pulling two more dresses off the rack.
“Wells is over the moon. He can’t stop talking about it every time I see him.
I knew he wanted to be a dad, but this is the best surprise.
” Martha adjusted her sparkly glasses—bright red today.
“He’s nothing at all like his dad was when I was pregnant. ”
“Wells doesn’t talk much about his dad,” Allison said, dipping a toe in the water.
“They never got along. Wells looked up to him so much when he was a boy, but he constantly disappointed him. Honestly, I thought he would never want to get married with how angry he was at his father,” Martha said, pulling out a bumblebee sweater and looking between it and Allison with an appraising eye, then putting it on the growing try-on pile.
“I met him, you know. He represented me during our contract negotiation.”
Martha sucked in a breath through her teeth. “I’m so sorry, dear. When I told him I was pregnant the second time, he just sighed. I’d been brought up to make sure I was the perfect wife and mother, so I assumed that’s how all men acted.”
Allison started at how familiar it sounded. I’m more like Martha than I realized.
“After he ruined Wells’s Christmas one year, that was the last straw for me. I had to choose the kids.”
“You’re a really great mom,” Allison said with a wistful smile.
“Oh.” Martha fluttered her hands. “I mess up plenty.”
“Do you mind if I ask you something?” Allison said, smoothing a hand over her bump, realizing that maybe she hadn’t had the best role model in the entire world.
She wanted to do better than her mom.
Maybe I’ll only have the one chance.
“How do you...” Allison laughed, thinking of how ridiculous it was that she was asking this now. “How…are you such a great mom? I mean, your kids still love you, love being with you. They are awesome people. Yes, Wells is bossy, but…”
“You liked him enough to have a baby with him?”
Allison nodded.
“Well,” Martha said, picking up the pile of clothes that was roughly the size of her to the dressing room and sitting down on a bench there. She patted the spot next to her. “I’ll tell you the secret, my dear.” She took Allison’s hands. “I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.”
Allison cackled with her, not believing her for a minute.
“I messed up plenty. Probably more than I even know. And you will too, unfortunately. But as long as you love them as hard as you can, it usually works out. Say you’re sorry, keep learning, keep trying.
And love them as hard as you can. Wells told me things are tough with you and your mom,” Martha said, squeezing her hand.
“I hope they get better. But I’m here for anything you need, okay? ”
Allison gulped past the lump in her throat and bundled the tiny woman into a fierce hug. Martha squeezed her back just as hard. “I’m so lucky you’re Wells’s mom,” she whispered.
Martha sniffled as she pulled back. “I’m so lucky that I get to have you in my life forever, dear. Now, why don’t you go try these on, and we’ll see which one shows off your bump best.”
Allison tugged on the green overalls and walked out to the fitting room mirror as she was catcalled loudly from outside the fitting room area.
“Look at that hot pregnant lady over there,” Pearl said loudly, shoving her black sunglasses up on top of her hair. “Lookin’ hot, bestie. You gonna seduce Daddy Wells with that? Sorry, Martha.”
“That’s okay, dear. I’ve met you,” Martha said with a sweet tap on Pearl’s cheek, going back out to meander through the store.
“It looks okay,” Allison said, turning this way and that in the mirror.
“Yeah, especially if you don’t wear anything under it,” Pearl said, chomping on her gum as she flipped through a nearby clothing rack.
Allison second-guessed herself. It looked like she’d eaten a very large burrito. “Maybe it’s silly to get clothes this soon. I don’t really need them.”
“Daddy Wells came into Blackbird Bakery this morning and made me promise that I wouldn’t let you deprive yourself.”
Allison rolled her eyes. “Stop calling him that.”
“That’s what he is. Or do you prefer former sperm donor? Or is he still donating sperm?” Pearl said, waggling her eyebrows and looking through the clothing options.
“I…should go back and keep looking,” Martha said, pressing clothes into Allison’s hands and walking out of earshot again.
“Behave,” Allison said, poking Pearl as she went back into the dressing room to try on more things.
Her phone dinged.
WELLS
Coming over tonight? I thought of some new creative uses for my shower head.
She clenched her thighs together.
They’d seen each other nearly every day in the last week for sex. Wells never slept over, though, so she never slept at his place either. She actually loved cuddling, but he was almost always immediately up and on to the next.
ALLISON
Maybe. Are you going to quit bossing me around via our friends and family?
WELLS
Never.
Allison took Pearl’s idea, pulled off her t-shirt and bra, and sent Wells a picture of her in only the overalls, bump visible with her breasts pressed against the bib of the overalls.
WELLS
Holy fuck. Buy those. Immediately. Wear that tonight.
Please.
Pretty please.
She chuckled.
ALLISON
Look at you, saying please.
“What are you doing in there? Get stuck in a pair of those crazy maternity jeans?” Pearl asked.
Seducing my former, current, and hopefully future sperm donor.
WELLS
Week 17: Your baby is the size of nine French fries
Wells
Need some help again?
Allison
Toy number 14 took care of it this morning
Wells
Damn.
Foiled by my own generosity.
Allison
But...check back later
It had been three weeks of random hookups with Allison, helping her work out the hormones that had come raging to the surface.
It’s a hard life, but somebody has to do it. He smirked to himself, a towel slung over his shoulder.
The diner was hopping, and to launch their new evening hours, he’d advertised a two-for-one date night during the Barbershop Quartet Festival.
He’d finally found a good rhythm. Tiny covered half the shifts. The new dishwasher, Brayden, helped them catch up after school. And he’d even had to hire a part-time waitress because Jessica was complaining about being overworked.
Overworked, he thought smugly, whistling, frying a batch of fried chicken that was the special tonight. The theme was Picnic Date, and he’d already sold out of all his grab-and-go boxes that people could enjoy in the warm night air.
Though he’d had to enforce a strict no quartet singing in the café rule since a dueling quartets incident on Friday.