Chapter 12: Plans for the Future
He sits there, staring at her, not knowing what to say. "Me?" finally decides on.
"Yes, you."
Carter runs his hand through his hair. "When, how?"
"That night on the beach," Abby tells him
"I think you know how," Susan chimes in.
"Are… are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure," Abby tells him. Carter gives her a look. "You're the only one I slept with!" she says, raising her voice a little.
"Okay, okay," he says calmly. "Let's… think about this, because this is really big. Really, really big." He runs his hand through his think brown hair again.
"John, I already thought about it. I'm staying here, having the baby, and you're gonna go back to Evergrove and finish high school, and then go to the college of your choice."
"No."
"What do you mean no?"
"I'm not gonna leave you here all alone to have a baby and take care of it. How are you gonna do that all by yourself?"
"I don't know. But I'm sure I can manage."
"Abby…"
"John, you can't throw all that time and hard work down the trash just for me. You have to go to college, you have to…"
"It's not just you anymore Abby. It's that little baby growing inside you. The one that I plan to help you with, to support."
"Carter…"
"Abby, please," he begs.
"But… but what about school? What about college?"
"School will still be there. I can still go and finish up and graduate. You know what? I can graduate early… and … college will still be there. Maybe not as soon as I planned, but I can still go."
"Carter, I can't ask you to do that," she says, wiping a stray tear away. She can't help it though, they just keep coming.
"You don't have to. I want to."
And that was it. He won her over. In her thoughts she pictured this moment, exactly like this, but she never thought it would've happened. And yet, here he was. Here was her dream- he was here, and he would stay with her and they would have a family together. Abby walks over and wraps her arms around him. Carter does the same, and they stay like that for a long while. "I love you," he whispers, still holding onto her.
"I love you too."
---
Afterwards, the three of them decide to go to grab something to eat. Abby told them about this great little diner, and they decided to go there. They get there and sit down at a booth in a corner. Susan looks at the menu. "Doc Magoo's? What kind of name is that?"
A little while later their food comes. They eat and talk, still trying to decide what to do. "I don't know if I want to come back to Evergrove," Abby tells Carter.
"Well we can't live here."
"Why not?"
"We don't have a place to live."
"Oh yeah," Abby says, disappointment in her voice. She knew that once she went back to Evergrove, the whole town would know about her being pregnant- one of the downsides about living in a small town. But part of her wanted to back home, she missed it. She missed the beach and the sand between her toes.
---
They were walking back to Aunt Marcie's. Susan and Carter decided to stay a little longer than anticipated to help Abby pack up to move back to Evergrove. That's what they decided, that Abby would come back to Evergrove and possibly stay with the Carter family, once they found out the big news. Susan already told them Maggie was pretty upset, and Abby guessed that if she was off her meds (which she usually was) it wasn't such a good idea to stay there.
When they got back Marcie was there, and Abby went to go tell her the news that she was going back to Evergrove.
"Um, hey Marcie, can I talk with you for a minute?" Abby asks. Marcie invites her into her room, while Susan and Carter wait in the living room.
"Yeah, sure," Marcie tells her, motioning her in. Abby goes and sits on the bed, and Marcie sits down next to her.
"Uh, I think I'm going to go back to Evergrove."
"Okay," Marcie says. "When?"
"Um, as soon as possible I guess. Carter and I want to be together, and he can't stay here, but I can stay there, so that's where we're staying."
"You really love him, don't you?"
Abby takes a moment to think about this. "Yeah, I really do love him."