Lucas

Despite her little jabs here and there at my expense, Allie is fun to be around. From the little interaction in that director's office and the way she carefully scrutinized every square inch of that facility, I could see it.

Careful does not even begin to describe the bag of tricks that is this mother of my child.

And the second I questioned her back there, she was as diplomatic as she could be which was not at all. It took everything in me not to smile watching her nearly tear my dick off and roast it in front of the world. And the way her eye twitches when she has to hold back.

Honestly, whatever helps her feel better. The hate she pretends to hold for me will disappear eventually and we'll get better.

But damn if I'm not gonna try to piss her off every once in a while just to see that nose wrinkle and the line form between her brows. Then those eyes, I swear, turn into a darker shade of green. It's probably one of her best qualities. The angry mom look.

I mean, apart from other things but a man in a semi-serious relationship shouldn't think about that.

But hell if she doesn't make me forget when her face softens or the way her tongue pokes out just a little when she's concentrating.

"Can I get your number?"

She freezes at that. "Why?"

She just pulled into the parking lot back at work, and we're the only ones out here. "So we can communicate?"

She holds a hand out to me and I give her my phone. Her thumbs beat against the screen with just a touch of annoyance but I know she's just trying to retain whatever anger she has. It's a wall I'm going to break down because deep down, I actually like Allie. We're two of the same kind of people and she'll come to realize that.

"If you dare call or text me when you are drunk or something, I'm changing my number and never giving you the new one. You'll have to send me letters in the mail if you need to tell me something."

"Or I'll just get it from your dad."

Eyes narrowed to paper-thin slits, she pierces through the veil of tension she created around us. "My father would never just give my phone number out."

"I beg to differ. But even then, I would just show up at the house."

She points a finger at me. "Listen, I don't mind you coming over, but some notice would be preferred. If you just show up whenever you feel like it, then that sets precedence. Then I'll just show up at your place and then we have a habit of coming to one another's... abodes... at will."

"Abodes?"

"Yes." She removes her sunglasses and places them into the center console and reaches for the handle of the door.

"Did you want my number?"

"You'll message me, I'm sure when you feel like it." She gets out and grabs Jadon from his seat. I made a note to pick up the same model she has for him after work today while Allie asked Daisy about their food option.

Another thing I'll have to figure out. I know what vegans don't eat, obviously, but what the hell do they eat?

She doesn't quite trust me enough to take Jadon back to the field on my own, so she holds his hand while we walk through the empty school.

He seems relatively okay with my presence, but he and I have a little ways to go before he's using the 'd' word. And that's if he ever gets to that point.

"I'll come to get you in a bit, okay? Make sure grampa uses the sunscreen."

He sprints across the field toward Tom who is currently yelling at some kids. Rather, shouting loudly while barking orders to stop screwing around.

With a quiet goodbye and a thank you that I'm sure tasted bitter on her tongue for the whole payment thing, she heads off toward the office.

I scroll through my contacts until I find what I know is hers before sending off a message. Just so she has my number.

Lucas: Cute contact name. I'm surprised you didn't put a middle finger as the contact image.

TheBabyMamaYouBetterNotCall: Sorry, who is this?

It almost makes me wonder what things would have been like if I went to this school instead of mine. Would she have always pretended to hate me? I probably would have sat next to her in classes just to get a reaction.

Lucas: You know who it is, Allie.

While I wait, I'm fixing her name.

Allie: Right, well, as I said, don't lose the rights to my number.

Tom calls me in the distance before I can respond, so I pocket my phone.

"What's with the goofy grin on your face?" he asks. "You look like an idiot."

"Nothing," I try to school my features, but can't help it. His daughter is funny as hell. "Sorry. I'm here."

***

I still haven't told Katrina about Jadon, and I'm waiting for the right time. Now, is definitely not the right time. She got into another fight with her parents for wrecking another one of her cars.

In the year that we have officially been together, she has been in three car accidents. Two, in which, she has totaled them.

Yesterday her father told her he wouldn't be buying her another car if she wrecks this one and he will be cutting her off if she doesn't either get a job or finish school.

I had to go pick her up from her parents' house and break up the argument. When I got there, I looked out at the dock on the lake behind their house, and then to the spot in the driveway I was parked that night. Funny how things turn out.

After I got Kat out of the argument with her father, she stormed upstairs to go pack some clothes to bring to my place. She technically still lives with her parents even though she spends most nights at my house. It's mainly because she can drink any time of the day and knows I won't say anything about it.

Her father apologized and shook his head for her behavior then wished me luck with the newest tantrum she was about to throw. When we got back to my house, I unloaded her stuff into the bedroom while she fixed herself a drink.

"Hey," I said slowly walking up to her. "Wanna wait a little bit before we start drinking? I want to talk to you abo—"

"Ugh, what Lucas?" She says it like I was the one who cut her off from her family's fortune.

"You know what, never mind."

"Good," she stirs her glass with a finger. "I've had such a rough two days. I can't help it if people want to drive like turtles, and daddy just suddenly wants to make my life miserable with all of these rules he's just now coming up with."

She takes a drink.

She starts in with her usual tangent about how life has been unfair to her. I already know her dad already ordered her a new car that would be delivered in the morning, but she either doesn't know or doesn't care about that part.

It's always the same lines with her, so I have learned to tune it out. I can't imagine what it must have been like for Allie to be some pregnant kid trying to be responsible, driving to a doctor's appointment, then suddenly get hit and have to be rushed to the hospital. Not knowing if her child was going to survive. She had to be scared. Seeing how much she cares about Jadon, she had to be terrified.

On top of it all, she's kind of a control freak, so I'm sure that was driving her insane as well.

I can't help but wonder about the driver. What kind of person hits a pregnant teenager and then drives off? That's just horrible. I mean, I may have done some horrible things in my life, especially the night I got Allie pregnant, but I would never hit someone and then drive off. I would need to know that person was okay.

Also, the whole responsibility of hitting another car and all. I mean, would it even matter with street cameras and such anymore? I'd be caught no matter what.

I made a mental note to ask Tom about the accident and the location when he was less spiteful toward me. The past couple of days he wasn't as warm toward me at work, but he wasn't hateful at all. If Allie told him I'm paying for the daycare, I wouldn't just think that changes anything, but hope that it's the start. I don't plan to pay for only that.

I know there's more to it than just daycare. So, I'll start looking for ways to help Allie out since she won't just give up any information willingly.

When she explained all her reasons for picking that school for Jadon, I realized she definitely has her shit together. Sure, plenty of girls have babies young, but Allie is a pro. She knows how to talk to Jadon so he understands her. She knows how to let him actually be a kid. I was really impressed.

I laughed to myself thinking about the argument we got into today when I asked if I could drive them to the daycare in my car and she freaked out telling me the specifics about the safety of my car and that her Civic was more up to par. If she wasn't the mother of my child, I'd call her out for being a nerd.

A cute ne—

"Are you even listening to me?" Kat shrieks while making herself the third drink in the past forty minutes.

"Of course I am. You're right, your dad is being unfair to you for establishing rules this late in life."

"Lucas!" she scoffs. Great, what now. "Are you serious right now?! You've been sitting there with this stupid grin on your face while I'm dealing with actual problems and you're not even listening to me!"

I rub my eyes trying to not groan externally so as to keep this argument as short as possible. "Kat," I say going up to her, "I'm listening to you."

There is a process to calming her down, but it has to be done right.

"It's tough out there, but you gotta start thinking about what you want to do with your life. You have to start thinking about if you want to go back to school and try again or if you want to just go get a job."

I kiss her shoulders while rubbing my hands down her arms, slowly taking the drink from her hand. Turning her around and leaning her into the counter of the bar and interlocking my fingers around her back usually stops her.

"If you want to go to school and study whatever interests you, do it. If you want to just go out and work to show your dad you can be a responsible adult, do it. Don't just stand here and be mad about it because then who wins? Who is the one sitting around angry rather than just living their life?"

She sighs and rests her forehead on my shoulder. "Me."

"That's right. You just need to spend some time figuring out what you want and then go for it. Okay?" She nods. "Whatever it is, I'll support you all the way. Whether you need moral support or someone to drive you to work or whatever, I'd be more than happy to do so."

I kiss her on the lips and hold her for a few minutes until she regulates her breathing. That seems to do the trick. My phone pings with a text, but since Katrina hates me being on my phone around her, I'm just going to ignore it for the time being.

"You want to watch one of your shows in bed?" Yep, that did it for now. Distracted. "Okay, you go get ready, and I'll get us some water and some snacks."

She heads off to the bedroom while I grab a couple of her rice cakes for her and get myself a granola bar to take to the room. I'm just glad this didn't become one of her three-hour rants.

My phone pings again, and it's my dad asking if I'll give him a call. "Hey Kat, my dad is trying to call me. I'll be right there, I'm just gonna see what he wants." She doesn't respond, so I'm guessing she's fine with it.

I quickly dial him and he answers immediately.

"Hey, Lucas, we're coming home for a few weeks and wanted to see that you were good with us staying at the house?"

"That's awesome! When will you be here?"

"Tomorrow."

"Wow, okay. That's sudden."

"We just decided it today, so that's why I'm calling you now."

"Alright, well I'll be here after six. I have some news for you too, but I'll wait until you're here."

"Okay, sounds good. Oh, how's the job? Greenfield treating you right?"

Well, not entirely, but he's warming back up to me. "Yeah, he's great. He's a really good guy and is crazy about his family."

"Oh yeah, how's that daughter of his?"

"You mean Allie?" How does he know her?

"Yeah! I helped her pick out her car a few years back. She had an accident while pregnant, and needed someone to help her pick out a car. Anyways, I'm sure she's fine these days."

"Yeah, actually, she works at the school and Tom brings her kid to work all the time." And she has your grandchild.

"Oh, that's nice. Well, anyway, I'll give you a call when we are close."

"Sounds good. Thanks, Dad."

"Night, son."

"Night."

Katrina is already settled in the bed with one of her modeling shows on. Sometimes I wish we could just put on a movie or a normal show that is actually interesting to me. I don't think I've seen a real show since we've been together. But who has the time, really?

"Here you go," I hand her the plain rice cakes and water. I tried them once, they're disgusting. I don't know how she basically lives off of those and water. Oh, and vodka.

"Thanks!" She takes them and leans over for me to kiss her cheek.

As she watched girls being judged on how well they waltzed down a runway and the drama between each of the contestants, I stared at the wall behind the television. She often tries to explain the drama to me, but really I just don't care. So long as she's not acting like the world is out to get her, I'm fine.

I thought more about Jadon and tried to think of ways to bond with him. He likes coloring and being outdoors, so that's easy enough.

I also tried to think of ways to both get under Allie's skin and also make up for time lost. I can see she's someone who doesn't need a man to take care of her, especially since she has one, but I wonder how things would have turned out had she told me she was pregnant.

She would probably have trusted me more by now and Jadon would know who his father was. Like I told her, family is important to me, so every appointment? Fuck yeah. Let her cuss me out in the hospital and all that? She missed her opportunity to call me every name in the book with that one.

I wouldn't have missed the late-night feedings or diaper changes. I probably could have been there for his first steps, or first words.

Wow, I'm such a dick. That's one thing I'll make sure Jadon knows: never treat a girl the way I treated his mother. That's for sure. Not unless he wants to miss out on the stuff I did.

If I stayed, would Allie and I have ended up together?

Nah, she hates me too much. Besides, she's way out of my league.

I literally crushed her dreams in one night so I could get laid. What a dick move. Literally. No, we wouldn't have ended up in some happy relationship. I crushed her dreams because I was too determined to get inside of her. She wanted to be an actual doctor and help people.

Yeah, I've got a lifetime of making it up to her ahead of me.

I can't believe I was the kind of guy to not even ask her name. I remember thinking about her after I met her and wondering if she was ever going to show up to another party.

"Oh babe, watch, this is my favorite part," Kat pulls me from my thoughts to see some girl cussing out another girl. Wow. This deserves an award alright.

"Yeah, that's great."

I look through my phone at the messages from Allie. I can't help but laugh at the tenacity of the girl. Her last message to me was another threat telling me not to get Jadon any toys that make noise or else she'll send a ridiculous pizza order to my house.

Yeah, well, I like pizza, so joke's on her.