Chapter 12

Chapter 12

A few months later…

Jody rushed around the kitchen of the house she and Charlie had bought a while back, trying to make dinner. She was almost in tears and Charlie went to comfort her, but she pulled away in a fit.

"Don't touch me Charlie! I don't have time, ok? I still have to make dinner and eat it and clean up and then I have to call Eva, I haven't talked to the poor thing in 2 weeks and I'm just exhausted!" Jody said, still rushing around. She burned herself and screamed out in anger. She slammed her back against the door of the fridge and slid down to the floor in sobs.

Charlie looked around, trying to figure out what to do. "Mmm… well, it certainly smells great, what are you making?"

Jody sniffed and looked up at Charlie. "I was TRYING to make chicken."

"But I can't even really eat chicken." Charlie said without thinking.

Jody closed her eyes and cried harder.

Charlie sighed and sat down next to Jody. He hugged her and kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry. Look, I'll eat the chicken and I'm sure it will be wonderful."

Jody shook her head. "I just REALLY wanted chicken… but I messed up and it's ruined."

"Oh, are you sure?"

Jody nodded and wiped her eyes.

"Well, you want me to go get you some chicken nuggets or something from Burger King??"

Jody smiled and kissed. "What would I ever do without you?"

"Probably go off and marry Cooper." Charlie joked.

"Uh! Never!" Jody rested her head up on the fridge as Charlie got up.

He kissed her one last time and then left. Jody got up stiffly and wandered over to the couch. She picked up the baby name book and flipped through that for about the 100th time that week. As they finished their dinner later that night, Charlie and Jody started throwing names at each other.

"Well, I always liked Stephanie." Jody said.

"Melanie."

"Samantha."

"Britney?" Charlie offered.

"Eh, it's ok. But what if it's a boy?"

"Charlie."

"Cooper."

"Charlie!"

"What about Kyle?"

"Charlie…" Charlie sang under his breath as he took a bite.

Jody giggled. "Charlie Jr.? I don't think so."

"Better than Cooper." Charlie smiled.

"Erik."

"Jim."

"Jonathan."

"Sergei!" Charlie started to laugh.

"Ok, ok, that was stupid. Joey?"

"Todd."

"Sam."

"Jesse."

"Noah."

Charlie looked up at Jody. "Noah Sims… I like it."

"Noah James?"

Charlie nodded and pointed at Jody. "Oh yeah, that's the one!"

Jody smiled and finished off her dinner. "Emily?"

"Jody."

"Jody Jr.? Ew!"

"Yeah… Eva."

"Galina."

"Kathleen."

"Maureen."

"Juliette."

Jody giggled again. "Ok, ok, now seriously… Annette?"

"Humph! Tracy?"

"Meagan."

"Caitlin."

"Mary."

"Tricia."

"Tricia… I love it!" Jody said.

"Tricia… middle name… Sims."

Jody smiled and went to throw away her trash. "Tricia Maureen?"

Charlie looked up. "Tricia Renee."

"That's perfect!" Jody exclaimed and kissed her husband. "I have really got to go call Eva now."

"Ok." Charlie called as Jody walked off to their room.

***

The next day Charlie met up with Erik for lunch.

"So, how's the Mrs.?" Erik joked.

Charlie smiled. "Pretty good. Though, it's like mood swing central since she got pregnant and all."

Erik nodded and rolled his eyes. "Eva too. She's a mess. Last night she spent hours trying to make this HUGE pork thing. Looked pretty gross to me, but she ate like the WHOLE thing!!"

Charlie smiled. "Anyway, how much longer?"

"Only 3 more months… thank God!"

"Really? She can't be that bad!"

Erik shrugged. "Whatever. So, you guys come up with a name or anything yet?"

"I think… Noah James for if it's a boy. And Tricia Renee for if it's a girl."

Erik slapped his hand on the table. "You mean you dunno yet!?"

"Nah… Jody said she wanted to be surprised or something."

"I see… well we have Jamie Taylor. So no one can tell if it's a boy or a girl just by the name."

Charlie laughed. "That should be… interesting."

Just then Cooper walked in and Charlie glared at him.

"What's up with that? I thought you were cool with Cooper."

"Yeah… but I still hate him."

Cooper got his food and set it down on Charlie and Erik's table. He grabbed a chair and sat down with them. "Hey guys, what's up?"