Chapter 11

After my fight with Conner I concentrated fully around Teddy's wedding. Now that Conner knew about David I wanted everyone to know. Then at the same time I didn't want to say anything because it would make the situation more real. I didn't want to hide my son anymore. It seemed wrong for Conner to know about David and not tell Teddy about him. I wanted to tell Teddy what was going on. I also knew it wasn't my place to say anything. I wanted to so bad though… I was so conflicted at the moment that the only thing that really made sense was Teddy's wedding.

After a couple of days had passed I couldn't take it anymore. I was sitting at the kitchen table looking at the guest list and I had this sudden urge to see Teddy and tell her everything. I felt like I was doing the right this up until she opened the door. When I was facing her I found myself at a loss for words. I had come here prepared to do something that I had no business in. Just by looking at Teddy I knew that telling her about David would be the wrong thing to do. Teddy shouldn't hear about Conner's son from me.

Teddy was confused by my visit it. She was looking at me and I could see the questions in her expression. Today we were supposed to be taking a day off. She obviously hadn't planned on company because for the first time I saw her in jeans and a white tank top. I had a feeling that Teddy was the kind of person who was always dressed to the nines around others.

"Liz. Hi. What are you doing here?"

I thought fast, "I was just in the area and I figured that if you wanted to we could do lunch," I lied.

She tilted her head like she really didn't get something and then she broke out in a smile, "Sure."

"Okay," Now that I had gotten this far I didn't know what to do after that.

"Why don't you come in and I can get dressed and then we can go out."

I relaxed a little, because even though I hadn't planned to come over here for lunch this was working out. "Okay."

"I really didn't expect this. Conner told me awhile ago that you guys had dated for awhile. I wasn't totally shocked because you seemed to have a past, but I thought that we being friends would be awkward for you when I found out."

I tried not to act to shocked at the news that Conner had told her that we had dated. I figured that after our argument he had avoided any discussion any discussion about me like the plague. I was also shocked that Teddy seemed to figure out on her own that Conner and I had a past. I knew we had been sort of obvious about it… but I had figured that it would just go over her head. Her name seemed to give me images of a blonde bimbo.

I gave a reluctant grin, "I've gotten over it. I don't see why we can't try and be friends." I said not telling the whole truth, something that I was getting to good at.

She turned and went into the bedroom and changed. Just by her room you could tell she had money. She didn't have a room that had two double beds and a desk with a tiny bathroom. Teddy had a big room that had a main room, a bathroom to die for, and a bedroom with had a king size bed that looked like it was heaven to sleep on. She came out a couple of minutes later and like I predicted she was dressed up. It wasn't anything much, but she was wearing tan pants and a red silk blouse. It made me feel underdressed in my jean shorts and pink tank top.

She grabbed her purse, "I'm really glad we're doing this. I really like you."

"I really like you too. I hate to tell you this, but when I first heard about you… I pictured someone different," I admitted.

"You pictured a big breasted bimbo," she guessed with a sparkling grin as we walked out the door.

"You really don't hold anything back." I laughed "Yeah, I pictured the blonde, big breasted bimbo. I usually don't make judgments, but your name just brings to mind…"

"I know. You don't have to tell me. I still don't know what my parents were thinking when they named me Teddy. I think they had to be smoking something. It's really hard to be taken seriously with a name like mine."

From her hotel to the new restaurant in town we kept thinking of things to talk about. I really found that there wasn't anything I couldn't talk about with her. I found myself forgetting that I should dislike her. I thought it would be hard to get to know her because if everything went right she was going to be around David. I thought I would spend too much time being worried that she would take my place as a mother, but it was hard to hate someone who didn't have a mean bone in her body.

"I really didn't know what to think when I met Conner. I mean he wasn't usually my type. I had seen him hanging around other women who looked like they didn't have anything in there head but air so when he started to flirt with me I was sort of surprised."

I laughed despite myself because even though I hadn't been around Conner in years I was not the least bit surprised to here that, "Yeah that sounds like Conner. He always goes for looks first. In honesty though it's not too hard to imagine why he would go after you."

She snickered, "I knew that he was more interested in my chest size when he asked me out. I was just surprised that he kept going out with me after he found out how committed I liked to be in my relationships."

When we were seated we spent a couple of minutes going over the menu. It gave me time to think about what was happening to my blossoming friendship with Teddy. Our friendship was beginning with lies. It made me feel crappy when I thought about it.

"It's so disappointing how males always go for what's on the outside first. Divorce ratings would go down if men were smarter."

The waiter came and took our order. When he went the other way I really looked at the restaurant for the first time. It had been around for a couple of months, I knew but since I had been here I hadn't had the time to check it out. It was really nice. The floors were a deep red carpet and the walls were a dark wood covered with expensive paintings. It really didn't fit in this small town. I was surprised that everything was priced so low.

"So how did you start dating Conner?" she asked.

I gave her a look that told her I knew what she was thinking. "I know that I don't fit Conner's bill. His girlfriend before me was a model at one time."

She looked worried, "If I sounded surprised it wasn't because I thought you weren't pretty enough but you sort of… I don't know," she seemed at a loss for what she was trying to say.

"I scream commitment I know. I also know that it doesn't matter that I'm not ugly. I Know I wasn't Conner's type. I guess all that really changed when I walked in on him in the shower."

"Oh my God!"

I knew I misled her a bit, by that so I went through the whole story how I ended up living with him and his family for awhile, and how things sort of developed. Even though things didn't turn out with a happy ending I still liked telling the story because no matter how things turned out I still had a fun time while I was living with him, for the most part at least. It was an interesting time in my life.

The waiter brought our food over, and it let me think.

"You love Conner don't you?"

She looked up from her meal and gave me a surprised laugh, "Of course I do."

"No matter what happens, don't allow anything to get in the way of that," I said cryptically.

We ate our meal in silence and when we finished I excused myself and went home to spend time with my son.

It was around two in the afternoon the next day when the doorbell rang. It was silent in the house because everyone had gone out and I was elbow deep in cooking supplies because I was making a cake. It was Jeremy's birthday and I was having pity on the man by making the cake instead of letting my sister take a go at it. I loved her dearly, but if Jess invested in some cooking classes it would probably make for a safer world.

When I went to the door and opened it Conner was on the other side. I was so surprised to see him that it took me a second to realize that he was mad. He was really, really mad.

"What's wrong?" I asked cautiously

"What did you tell Teddy?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Last night she was asking questions about us. She was acting weird the whole night. Somehow she got the idea in my head that I was hiding something and she wanted to know what it was."

"Why would she ever think that you were doing something like that?" I said sarcastically.

He let himself in the house and slammed the door behind him, "You had no right to talk to her!" he shouted.

I stood there shocked, "I didn't tell her anything! I came over to her hotel yesterday and yes I admit I was going to say something! But I didn't."

"I should have been able to tell her about our son in my own time" he accused.

The man had some nerve, "You should have told her right away! You shouldn't have been hiding something so important from her."

"Just because things don't go at your pace doesn't mean that you have to push them until they go your way. I was going to tell her!"

"You did. Get over it."

"We had a fight. She complained that I didn't trust her, and we had it out. I'm in the dog house for the time being."

"She could have dumped you…. No, wait she should have dumped you. You're about to marry the woman. You're supposed to trust her enough to tell her anything."

Conner glared, "Like you trusted me to do the right thing."

The guy had some nerve, "I don't know you anymore Conner," I defended, "I don't know shit about what your morals are like."

I knew that I was more at fault then I was making it sound. I knew that I could have screwed up royally. I still didn't Conner was fair to blame this all on me though.

"There is no question that you should have stayed out of it. I'm still so pissed Liz… She's important to me. I care about her, and you could have made me lose her because you couldn't keep your nose out of my business."

"My son is always my business," I said coldly.

Conner looked ready to pull his hair out, "You have to stop making me always sound like the bad guy. You expected me to know what to do as soon as you told me about David. Things can't always turn out your way Liz."

"You're getting married to a woman who has no idea what she's getting into. I get worried-"

He cut me off, "You should have let me have time. You keep waiting for me to screw up. I'm happy Liz! Stop trying to screw that up!"

The stung, "I'm worried about our son."

He came right in my face, "I love our son. I would never do anything to hurt him. I was not keeping David from Teddy so I could hurt him. I was keeping him from people because I wanted to get a handle on the situation. I needed -"

"You need to start thinking about David! You say you love him and yet you sure don't act like it"

"That was low. Even for you. Things can't always be about you."

He didn't say anything after that. He just left.