Love’s Suicide(29)
Author: Jennifer Foor

He smiled and leaned against my window. “Your money’s no good here today, Katy. What are you doin’ out on this nasty day?”

“I’ve got a doctor’s appointment. It’s the big one where I find out what I’m having.”

Bobby looked over at the shop and then back to me. He tapped on the roof of my car. “Hey, pull over a minute and wait for me to come back.”

I did as he told me, especially after he wouldn’t take my money. Surprisingly, he hopped into the passenger seat, minus the coveralls that he’d just been wearing. “What are you doing?”

He smiled and looked over at me. “A pretty woman like you shouldn’t be doin’ this all by herself. I’m goin’ with you.”

“You don’t have to. I’m perfectly capable.”

He put his hands up. “Katy, it’s not a big deal. We’re friends and I’m just tryin’ to be supportive.”

Since I really didn’t want to do it alone, and we really were friends, I accepted his offer. After an hour wait, we were taken to the back. Bobby turned around while I got myself ready for the procedure. Once I was covered up with only my belly exposed, he sat down in the chair beside me.

The technician came in the room and started lubricating the roller. I watched the screen and recognized the head right away. A little heart was beating in the middle of the body.

The tech took a couple measurements and then started looking between the legs. “Do you want to know the sex?”

I was so excited. “Yes. Yes I do.”

She double checked before announcing, “It’s a girl. Congratulations.”

She printed out a picture showing that it was girl and left me to get cleaned up. I was so excited to know I was having a little girl that I started to cry. Bobby reached over and held my hand. “Are you goin’ to be alright? Did you want a boy?”

I laughed through another bout of tears. “No. A girl is perfect. I think it’s just overwhelming. You must think I’m crazy.”

He squeezed my hand and looked down at the picture. “I’ve never seen anything quite like that. It’s pretty amazin’, ain’t it?”

I nodded.

“I hope you’re not mad I tagged along. Sarah called earlier and mentioned she couldn’t go with you. I planned my lunch out so I could fill in for her.”

I sat up and wiped the mess off of my stomach. “You didn’t have to. As you can see, it wasn’t painful.”

He helped me slide off the table and stood there facing me. “I um, this is probably the worst time and place to do this, but I was wonderin’ if you like to have dinner with me sometime, other than on our card night of course.”

I wasn’t ready to date, but Bobby and I were friends. Along with Sarah and Dave, we’d all bonded. He knew my backstory and didn’t judge me for it. With a child on the way and no hope of ever falling back into a life with Brooks, my options were limited. If a nice guy wanted to take me to dinner, I knew I had to take him up on the offer, before I was too fat and pregnant to be able to get into a car and go anywhere. “That would be nice. Thanks for asking.”

He smiled, “Really? I figured you’d say no at least ten times.”

We both laughed. “We’re friends, Bobby. I’d like to go out for a night on the town with you. I trust you.”

He looked embarrassed that I’d complimented him. It was one of the things that I liked about him. Everything about Bobby was innocent. It made me feel safe, like I knew he would never hurt me. “I reckon we best be gettin’ back then.” And there was his sexy southern drawl that added a little masculinity to his voice.

He drove us back to the repair shop, and I hugged him before getting into the driver’s seat to head home. “Thank you, again. It was nice not being there alone.”

He smiled. “I’ll never forget it.”

I looked down at the picture and tore one of them off for him. “Here. I don’t need all of them. You can keep this for when she’s born and compare it.”

He stuck it in his pocket and smiled. I waved goodbye before pulling out.

Sarah was at her door waiting to hear the news. I walked up and handed her one of the sonogram pictures. “Oh my goodness! A girl? That’s wonderful!”

“I know.”

“I heard Bobby went in my place. How did that go?” She asked as we walked inside.

“You’re trying to set me up, aren’t you?” I wasn’t born yesterday and he was clearly being coaxed.

“Maybe. Just go out on one date. It won’t hurt you. We’re all friends, right?”

I played with her placemats. “Yeah, I guess. I just don’t want to hurt his feelings. I mean, I’m not ready to start dating, especially now that I’m pregnant. It wouldn’t be fair to him.”

“Katy, Bobby likes you. He doesn’t care if you’re pregnant. Besides, what do you have to lose? Nobody is going to judge you. At some point you’re going to have to let go, if you ever want to truly move on.”

She was right, but it was still too soon for me to consider. I knew that life was over, but I wasn’t ready to completely move forward, almost as if I needed to punish myself some more before I could be able to do that.

Once we’d celebrated with a big glass of apple juice, I headed to my trailer and hung the picture on my refrigerator. I lay down on my couch and started thinking about names that would be suitable for a beautiful little girl.

I closed my eyes and dreamed of her running in a field of daisies, with her father’s crystal blue eyes looking back at me. Her hair was light brown like his and when she smiled she made the sun get brighter. I grabbed her hands and spun her around, feeling the same love that Brooks had shown me, radiating through her.

I woke up in tears, imagining him never knowing she existed. It broke my heart, but I knew he was in another country, risking his life and wishing he’d never known me. The fact that I’d chose to leave him severed any chance of me getting another chance. The last thing that family wanted was to hear I was carrying a Valentine child. Then I feared that if they did find out, they’d try to take her from me and I couldn’t ever let that happen.

Chapter 16

May 2011

Due to my having to stand so much, I was ordered by my doctor to stop working at the restaurant. I was worried that my boss would flip out. Instead, she looked a bit relieved.

After the first week of being home with nothing to do, I decided to make a phone call, to let an old friend know that I was doing alright. Of course, I had no intention of telling her I was with child.