Chapter 12
By the time I left my house, it had been forty-five minutes. I laughed when I saw Ben pacing in the diner's parking lot. He scrambled to my car, opening the door for me. "What the fuck, Bella?"
"I'm sorry. Were you under the impression that you're important to me these days? I was asleep when you decided to disregard what I said to you about contacting me."
"I tried to contact you, numerous times." He waved his arms.
"Numerous times? All of them were this morning, and then you demanded to see me for breakfast. You have two minutes to calm down and tell me what is so fucking important that you had to see me. And it had better not be about money." I went inside to get us a table.
I had my menu open and a coffee in hand by the time he joined me. We ordered our food and Ben sat there staring at me. "You're different." he noted.
"I'm happy," I replied. "So, why are we here?" I dug into my pancakes, licking the syrup off my lips.
"Angela's pregnant," he whispered, causing me to choke on my next bite of food.
"Are you serious?" I demanded. He nodded and pushed his food around on his plate.
"What are you going to do?"
"Well, she's four months along, so I guess I'm going to be a daddy."
"Shit, Ben. Congratulations, I guess. How's she feeling?"
"Tired, achy, sick. It's all normal," he explained. "Can you do me a favor?"
"It would depend on what you're asking of me, Ben." I finished my food and moved my plate to the edge of the table.
"Can you go through the boxes of stuff you have in storage? And can I have anything related to babies? I'm pretty sure Mom kept a lot of our stuff."
"Sure. Did you want to do this with me?" I was extending an olive branch.
"It'd be easier for me not to. Just let me know if there is anything and when I can get it, okay."
"I'll see if Alice wants to help. I have the next three days off so I'll have time. What are you going to do about money?"
"I called Sam. He's going to let me work there for now. Rebecca said she can always use help in the office."
"Glad to hear it." I grabbed his hands in mine. "I'm proud of you for doing that, Ben. I know we've had our issues, but I've always been on your side."
"Thanks, Bella," he whispered, reaching to grab his wallet. "It's on me."He tossed some money on the table, and we left.
"Do you know the sex?"
"We're not going to find out until later. Thanks, Bella." He got in his car and left me flabbergasted in the parking lot. I immediately texted Alice
If you're not busy, could use your help today-
She called instead of texting back. "What's up chick? I do have laundry to do, but it's not like I can't put that off until later."
"Ben knocked up Angela."
"He did what?!" she screeched.
"He got Angela pregnant. Four months ago, it seems. Anyway, he asked me to go through the boxes of stuff in the garage for any of our baby stuff for him."
"I'll be there soon." We disconnected, and I headed for gas before going home. Alice was already in my driveway, which was a surprise. I ran up to the house to disable the alarm, before hitting the button for the garage door to open.
Alice went inside to grab us drinks, as I walked through the boxes looking for one marked for baby stuff. "It's been awhile since you've gone through these, huh?" she asked, walking back into the garage.
"Yeah, since right after they died," I sighed, and opened a box, pulling out some sweaters the size of my palm. "This box is all of Ben's stuff."
"Do they know what they're having?" she asked, softly.
"They want to be surprised, so I guess we only pull out gender non-specific?"
"We'll just avoid any of the dresses that I'm sure are in your box."
"I'll get a basket so we can sort it all." I grabbed the two baskets I had on the washer and dryer and we sorted all the clothes into piles of yes and no. "I'll have to get some fragrance free detergent. Want to go to Target?"
"Would I ever turn down a trip to Target?" she countered. "Let me give Jazz a quick call, and I'll be ready. My car or yours?"
"Yours this time. It's bigger," I said eying her SUV.
"What on earth are you planning on buying?"
"Everything, dear Ali, everything." She laughed as I reset the alarm and made sure everything was locked up tight again. "So, I've been thinking...," I started.
"That's always a bad sign," Alice interrupted.
I ignored her and continued my train of thought. "With Ben gone, I want to replace the tables in the living room. He pretty much ruined everything out there. Couch too, so maybe Ikea?"
"Ikea first, then in case we run out of space." She did an illegal U-turn and headed to Ikea.
"I love when you get all bad-ass and do illegal things," I commented, blaring the radio so we could have a sing along.
We strolled through IKEA, looking at their coffee tables, but nothing screamed at me. "I guess we could have skipped here after all."
"It's not like I was doing anything, anyway. To Target we go." We took the back way to avoid the Main street traffic.
I did find end tables and a coffee table at Target that I picked up. I would need a couch and love seat or chair at some point, but I wasn't in a rush. Plus the back to college dorm room sales wouldn't happen for another month. I'd watch the flyers.
Alice and I put my tables together while washing baby clothes until it was time for her to go home. "Can I just cook everything at your house tomorrow?" I asked. "It'll be easiest."
"Sure, come over whenever you want." She kissed my cheek and left me folding baby clothes. It was hard to believe any of us were ever this small. I finished up, made myself dinner and decided to read instead if watch TV.
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