Chapter 16
Melinda
Aaron and I sat in his Jeep talking for most of the afternoon. Time seemed to fly by, but it was easy to open up now that we didn’t have any secrets. We talked about everything, and nothing all at the same time. I stayed until I needed to go in to get ready for our date.
“I’m going to go back to the dorms and beg Em to let me use her shower,” Aaron chuckled. “She owes me,” he cranked the engine. “I’ll be back in about an hour. Is that enough time for you?”
“Sure,” I shrugged. “Brook is usually up from his afternoon nap by now, and all I’ll have to do is get him dressed.”
“Hey Mel,” he called as I climbed out “relax,” he squeezed my hand before offering a wave.
I nodded as I waved back, and jogged back up to the house. I had no idea what to expect with our date tonight. I’d never taken Brooklyn out with me before. I didn’t really date, but then again, I was always worried that as soon as whomever I was out with discovered I was a mom it would send them running.
“You be careful tonight, ok?” Mom called as I checked my reflection one last time.
“I will,” I called back.
“And if Brooklyn gets to be too much, you make sure you bring him home,” her voice filtered through the air.
“Yes, Mom,” I sighed.
“I’m just trying to help,” her head popped around the corner of my door. Brooklyn was happily playing on the floor with a toy car, oblivious to the battle of wills he was witnessing.
“I know, and I appreciate it, but I know how to take care of my son,” I smiled as I swiped my lip gloss one last time, and tucked it into my purse. I knew Mom was just trying to help, but I needed her to back off. We’d been arguing more lately, but today seemed to be a good day.
“I just know how he gets when he’s tired,” she muttered as she turned and walked away. I rolled my eyes when her back was facing me. I understood what she was doing, but he was my son. My parents have been a great help since he came into my life, but now that I finally felt like I was getting a hold of this mother thing, I wanted them to back off.
Aaron
When I left Emma’s dorm to go pick up Mel, I never felt so unsure of myself. What was I getting into here? Was I ready to be a dad? If things progressed the way I’d been hoping they would, I’d get a kid as part of the package. I never really thought about what my own father did for me until the last few hours. He gave up his partying days for me. He didn’t really date, and I don’t really remember anyone coming around when I was younger except for Avery. I needed to call him more and come around when he needed me.
The drive back to Mel’s was a short one. I caught all the green lights, and when I parked in front of her house, I was in the driveway this time. I took several deep breaths before opening the door and making the walk to the front door. I hadn’t picked up a date at her parents’ house in years. Most of the girls I met lived on campus, or in an apartment near me. Mel had the typical American household.
I knocked on the door, and waited. I could hear muffled voices from behind the door before it slowly opened. Mr. Brooks was standing there with a stern look on his face. “I only have one rule,” he stared me down as I rocked back on my heels. “Treat her right,” he glanced at Mel before holding his hand out for me to shake.
“I will, Sir,” I nodded as I gripped his hand in a firm handshake. “You ready?” I peeked at her over his shoulder.
She smiled as she reached out to her mother a few steps back. Mrs. Brooks handed over the little boy I’d seen this morning, and Mel thanked her. She stepped around her father before swinging a diaper bag onto her shoulder. “All set. We can get the car seat out of my mom’s car. I didn’t think you would have thought of that.”
“Shit! No,” I cringed as I realized that I’d cursed in front of this little person who would probably repeat what I said.
“Dat naughty,” he scowled as he wagged his chubby finger in my face.
“Sorry,” I pressed my lips together.
“Relax,” Mel soothed as she led the way out the door. Once we got outside she turned toward me. “I don’t expect you to be perfect with him. I know this,” she waved between us, “is a big deal.”
“Un huh,” I breathed out. “The youngest kid in our family is eleven now. I don’t remember what it was like being around a baby,” I followed her over to her mom’s car and lifted the car seat out.
“I not a baby,” Brooklyn scowled.
Geez, I was oh for two with this kid. “I’m sorry little man,” I ruffled his hair as I began buckling the car seat in place. “You’re going to have to teach me.” He burrowed into Mel’s neck and wrapped his arms tighter around her.
“Mama,” he mumbled as he refused to release his iron grip.
“I’ll let you put him in,” I motioned to the seat before opening her door and stepping back to wait. Mel snapped a bunch of buckles together before kissing his forehead and standing back. She smiled as she climbed in the front, and I closed her door.
Once I rounded the front to climb in, I drove us carefully to the steakhouse Emma had told me about.
“You know,” Mel giggled as we were walking in, “you can drive the speed limit. He’ll be fine.”
“Sorry,” I sighed. “I don’t want to do anything that might hurt him.”
“You won’t,” she grinned up at me as I wrapped my arm around her.
When we stepped through the door, the hostess greeted us. “Good evening. Table for three?”
“Yes, thank you,” I placed my hand on Mel’s lower back as I followed the hostess to our table. “Here you go,” she grinned at Brooklyn before turning back to me. “You have a beautiful family.”
“Thanks,” I smiled back. It didn’t scare me like I thought it would when she said it. Two days ago, if you asked me if I would want a kid right now I would have laughed in your face. I’ve been extremely careful over the years to not become a dad. Now, as I watch Mel place Brooklyn in a highchair at the end of the table, it almost feels natural.
I placed the diaper bag on the chair beside Mel, before helping her sit, and then take my own seat.
Dinner was uneventful and filled with normal conversation until right before we were ready to leave. Brooklyn had been great until Mel told him no. He’d wanted cake when he saw a table near us celebrating a birthday. Mel said he didn’t need sugar so close to his bedtime, and he didn’t take it well. He started throwing a fit as well as anything he could reach on the table.
“You wanna get out of here?” I flagged down our server. “We could go for a walk or something.”
“He really needs to go to bed. It’s late for him,” she grimaced.
“Crap!” I slapped my hand over my mouth as Brooklyn’s eyes swung to me and he scowled. “Sorry, I didn’t realize it was so late.”
“It’s ok. I’ve kept him up late before, but he usually gets cranky once it gets past his bedtime.”
“No nap!” Brooklyn slapped his palms on the table, causing it to shake. When the water in my glass sloshed out, he giggled and slapped the table again.
“Ok, that’s enough,” Mel warned him as I signed the credit card slip to pay the tab. We gathered his things, and made our way back out to the Jeep.
“Will he sleep if I drive around a little?” I wasn’t really ready to take her home yet, but I needed to head back home. I had classes tomorrow, but leaving was the last thing on my mind.
“He might,” she shrugged. “I don’t really take him on dates with me.”
“What did he do the last time?” I was probing, but I didn’t care. I wanted to know how many men knew about him, and how many she’d let get this close.
“I’ve never let anybody meet him,” she whispered. “You’re the first.”
I swallowed before reaching across the console and wrapping her hand in mine. “Thank you.”
“Don’t make me regret it,” she squeezed my hand in return before settling back into her seat. We drove around a little, but I didn’t know the area well, so I stuck to the main roads. When Brooklyn finally fell asleep, Mel seemed to relax. “There’s a turn off up here. Take that road,” she pointed to a small sign that was almost hidden by brush.
“Ok,” I turned down the road. It was a small and unmarked, and the Jeep bounced as we made our way between heavily grown trees. After a while we came to a small clearing. There was a pond surrounded by tall grass. The moon was shining off the water, and it was so calm it looked like glass. Fireflies were twinkling all around. The scene brought me back to my childhood. “Did you bring me here to make out?” I teased.
It was dark, but I could still see her blush. “No,” she quickly shook her head. “I just thought we could sit a while, and it’s quiet, and we’d have privacy, and…” she trailed off. She was rambling, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“It’s ok to be nervous,” I smiled and placed my hand on her thigh. She jumped slightly as if I’d burned her so I moved it.
“I’m not,” she stammered. “This is just new to me, and I just…” she growled in frustration at herself.
“Mel,” I gripped her chin and coaxed her to look at me “it’s ok. I get it. It’s new. It’s new for me too. I don’t want to do something to mess him up,” I tipped my head toward the backseat.
“You won’t,” she murmured as her eyes darted all over my face, finally coming to rest on my mouth.
I leaned in so close our lips were almost touching. “You did bring me here to make out, you just don’t know it yet,” I brushed my lips over hers. She sighed as her lips parted and I slowly slipped my tongue in. It was a slow sweet seduction as the fire between us warmed. She leaned closer as one hand landed on my shoulder and the other cupped my cheek. I slanted my head and took the kiss deep as she leaned in even more, almost climbing onto my lap. I had no doubt this would have gone somewhere if we didn’t have the munchkin in the backseat.
“You’re really good at this,” she whispered as she pulled back.
“At what?” I smirked. Mel was always shy around me when it came to telling me what she wanted. I knew exactly what she was getting at, but I wanted her to tell me.
“Kissing,” she giggled.
“I try,” I shrugged as I pecked her lips.
“But your ego needs a little work,” she smacked my chest.
“Wha?” I leaned back in my seat.
“I might not be able to breathe with all the space your head is taking up,” she laughed but slammed her hand over her mouth and glanced back at Brooklyn. “I almost forgot he was there. I suck at being a mom at times,” she berated herself.
“You’re a great mom,” I reassured.
“How do you know?” she sighed.
“I’ve seen how you look at him. You love him. If you weren’t a great mom, you wouldn’t have worked so hard to protect him from me,” I shrugged. “My dad did the same thing. I turned out ok,” I chuckled.
“I don’t know if I’d call it ok,” she teased.
“Really?” I shifted to face her.
“I’d say he did pretty good. I mean, you’re still here. Most guys would have run,” she flipped her hand in the air as she nibbled her lip.
“I’m not most guys,” I stared at her as we sat there. It was odd, really. I mean, why wasn’t I running? If she would have told me last summer when we met that she had a son, I would have bolted so fast and never looked back. She was different though, and maybe it was because I saw a little of me in Brooklyn. She wasn’t what my mom was. She was trying. She was going to school. She wanted to do well for him, and she was sacrificing her happiness to do so. She was lucky her parents helped as much as they did. I’m sure if it was me, my dad would do the same but he’d always told me he wanted more for me. “How do your parents feel about this?” I waved my finger between us.
“They worry. They want me to be happy, but they worry that I won’t make the right decision. I’ve made a lot of bad ones over the years,” she looked away as if she were thinking about something. “Brook’s dad wasn’t a very good guy,” she muttered. “Sorry, I know you don’t want to know about this.”
“No,” I touched her arm. “I actually do.” Thinking about her being with another guy, one that fathered her child, was the last thing that I wanted, but I did want to know the story there.
She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath as if she were talking herself into the conversation. “Ok, but I warned you,” she laughed with little humor. “His name was Jason. We met in tenth grade. He was the guy that all the girls wanted to date. He was popular, and good looking. We were paired up in English class for a group project. I was the girl everybody wanted in their group. I was smart,” she smiled and shook her head. “I got good grades, and I know Jason figured he could sit back and let me do all the work. At first I think I might have been a challenge for him, but he didn’t know that I’d crushed on him for years. We became friends after that, and I started hanging out with his friends. My best friend dated one of his friends, so when we all hung out together we just seemed to pair up naturally. We started dating at the beginning of our senior year. My parents could tell from the day they met Jason that he was bad news. They warned me, but I didn’t listen.”
“First I started defying them, then when they forbid me to see him, I went behind their backs. We snuck around for months. It became a game. Jason and I would meet after school, I’d sneak out and go over to his house. His parents were never home,” she rolled her eyes. “He began pressuring me to have sex with him after we’d been together for about half the year. I’d already had sex, so it wasn’t that I was a virgin, it was that Jason seemed to want to corrupt me almost. The one and only time we did it, Jason didn’t use protection. I was drunk, and not really thinking about it either. A month later, I started throwing up. After taking a home test, I found out Brooklyn was coming,” she glanced back at her son before sighing. “I told Jason right away. At first he acted like he was happy, and we were going to be a family. That lasted about three months, then Ashlyn, a girl he dated before me, broke up with her boyfriend. Jason asked her out, and acted like we never existed.”
“I’ve been raising Brooklyn on my own with my parents’ help ever since. I love him, but he looks just like his father. I just can’t understand why Jason wouldn’t want to be a part of his life,” she shook her head before leaning back against the seat and closing her eyes.
“He’s an idiot.” I knew I sounded cavalier, but I couldn’t help it. Anybody could see that Mel was doing a great job. Her son was loved, and happy. Just seeing her with him tonight showed me how much she cared.
“Yeah, well,” she shrugged before gritting out, “the idiot doesn’t pay child support either. I’ve been to court. I’ve seen how much of a loser Jason really is. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to dump all of this on you. I just want you to see what you’re getting into,” she murmured as she stared out at the pond.
“I’ve said this over and over again. You’re worth it, Mel. I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to tell you, but I’ll keep telling you until you believe me. You. Are. Worth. It,” I leaned closer before continuing, “and if I ever have the misfortune to run into this Jason guy, I’m going to need bail money because I’m going to beat his loser ass.”
“Who are you, and why didn’t I meet this guy last summer?” she turned and I noticed tears pooling in her eyes.
“This is me. You met the guy everyone else knows last summer. This is me, the me I don’t let many people see. Let’s just say that the little guy,” I pointed my thumb back at where Brooklyn was sleeping, “reminds me of where I came from.”
She pressed her lips together as she tried to keep from crying. “Aaron,” her lip trembled and she bit her cheek as her eyes darted around my face. “I love you too,” she leaned forward, meeting me halfway as I crashed my mouth into hers. This kiss wasn’t soft, it was hungry, and hopeful. It was hopeful that this was finally something real. We were finally there, and now we could build something solid. The walls to this house of cards wouldn’t topple.