And in Time...
Page 40
Alexis called Sam next and got the same thing. Riki and Emily were playing on the tire swings and Sam held Kinley on the porch swing.
“It’s a little chilly out. I don’t know if she should be outside.”
“Alexis, stop it. This isn’t my first baby. She has her sweater on, her blanket is around her legs, and she has a hat. The fresh air is good for her. Go to work and leave us alone.”
First days back to work after a baby should be banned. Alexis had a hell of a time getting back in the swing of things. She texted Sam every chance she had only to ask the same question over and over. How is she? And of course, the answer was always the same. She’s fine.
Bernie popped her head in Alexis’s office after the last shoot before lunch. “Hey, you want to go April’s?”
“Hmm, yeah, let’s do that. Maybe it’ll take my mind off what a horrible mom I am.”
“You’re not a horrible mom. You’re just having separation anxiety.”
“Yeah, and so are my boobs. I gotta pump first.”
“That’s so weird to me. Hurry up.”
Pumping wasn’t a hurry up job. It took twenty minutes, but luckily the next appointment wasn’t scheduled for another hour and a half. They had plenty of time. Alexis and Bernie walked down the sidewalk, Alexis beaming with pride as she showed off photos of Kinley and Riki with her new phone.
“Oops, not that one,” she laughed.
“Whoa, let me see that again.”
“No, I wouldn’t want to see Travis in his underwear,” Alexis protested.
“That’s because he’s like your brother. I’m okay with drooling after your man. Let me see.” Alexis swiped backward to Cory. He had been lying on the bed after a shower in bright white boxer briefs and tiny Kinley on his chest. Sexy as sexy could get. “Holy hotness!”
“I know, right? I love him.”
Bernie bumped her shoulder and smiled. Although she didn’t think she would ever see the day, she was extremely happy for her. “It’s kind of obvious.”
Lenny, the town mechanic, held the door to the diner and tipped his greasy hat. “Ladies.”
“Hey, Lenny.”
“Hi, Lenny.”
Bernie and Alexis both nodded and kept going. Lenny was the type of guy you didn’t say any more than hi to. Simply asking how he was could end in a twenty-minute conversation, usually having nothing to do with him at all. His life was engines and oil.
“Look who’s here, Lex. Let’s go say hi.”
Alexis responded by walking to the table of an old friend. “Tina! How are you?”
“Hi! I was going to come and see you guys while I was here. Sit down.”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes, I’m just here for a couple days. My mom had surgery Friday. Heading out in the morning.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes, she’s fine. Gallbladder. Your good-looking man diagnosed her. Damn, Alexis, stepping up in the world.”
Alexis smiled with immense pride. “He’s not bad.”
“What can I get you ladies?”
“I want the usual,” Alexis said while declining the ice water with a lifted hand. Cory said she was crazy, but she swore water made her milk instantly come in. Besides, she’d just pumped. She wanted caffeine. “Cherry Coke.”
“I’ll just have the soup and salad.”
Alexis and Bernie set at the booth and caught up with their old friend. Tina was the midwife who knew before Alexis did that her baby didn’t have a heartbeat. She was doing well, working with another female doctor in Bradford. Alexis showed her photos of Riki and Kinley, and Bernie showed her the sexy one of Cory. Alexis didn’t even care. He was sexy and he was hers. Tina showed them photos of her doctor friend, the female one. Bernie kicked Alexis below the table. She was more than a friend.
“Did you guys hear about Mitch and Tonya?”
“No, do tell.” Bernie was the gossip queen. Of course, she wanted to hear.
“They’re getting a divorce.”
“I bet he cheated on her,” Alexis offered. Why wouldn’t he? He did it to her.
“I don’t know all the details. Nancy Lewis told Jamie Carter, and Jamie told me.”
“I wouldn’t believe a word out of Jamie Carter’s mouth,” Bernie reported while Carol delivered their food.
“Look at his Facebook. It says single. Last month it said, ‘it’s complicated,’ now it says single.”
Alexis had already lost interest. She didn’t care about Mitchell Pierce anymore. She cared more about texting Sam to check on Kinley again. Sam sent her a photo of her sleeping with her hands above her head, the same way Riki and Cory slept. It was the cutest thing ever. The three high school friends talked over lunch and then promised the lie to keep in touch. They never did, not because they didn’t like Tina, they did. Life seemed to always get in the way and they rarely spoke.
Bernie talked about Mitch and Tonya again on the way back to the studio. Alexis halfway listened, but not really. Her mind was somewhere else. Her mind was on getting out of town and back to her baby.
“Are you even listening to me?” Bernie questioned when Alexis stepped off the curb and waved to the mailman.
“Yes, you said—hmm. Okay, I wasn’t listening. I was thinking about leaving early.”
“I already knew you would.”
“I can’t help it. This is the first day I’ve been away from her this long.”
“Yeah, that’s why Paige is coming in at two. We knew this was going to happen. Anyway, do you think Mitch will move back home?”
“Why would he? He has his coaching job in Philadelphia, and his son his there. I doubt it.”
Alexis took care of the next couple shoots, one a four-year-old who caused her to miss Riki, and then a two-month-old who caused her to miss Kinley. Maybe she could be a stay at home mom. Maybe she could work part time. Ugh. Maybe she should grow up and deal with reality the way every other mom with kids did.
It was just after two when the fullness in her breasts reminded her of Kinley again. That’s when she called Sam.
“Oh my God. Will you stop calling me? She’s fine.”
“I know she is, but I’m leaving work now. When did she eat last?”
“I was just getting ready to get a bag from the freezer. She’s hungry now.”
“Hold her off. I want to do it.”
Alexis and Sam sat on the front porch and talked about Mitch while she fed her baby. Sam knew about his divorce, too.
“I would have told you, but I didn’t want to start anything.”
“Start anything like what? I don’t care what Mitch does. I haven’t even talked to him in years.”
“You talked to him last year at his dad’s funeral.”
“That was two years ago, and I meant like talked, talked. I’ve talked to him like that a few times, when Janice Black got married, when Samuel Strong passed away, when Louise and James McMillian celebrated their fiftieth, and once he wanted me to take photos of Cowen.”
“His name’s not Cowen, Lex.”
“I know, I meant Nathen.” Alexis avoided the pity glare she received from her older sister. Kinley let out a burp as soon as Alexis brought her to her shoulder. She couldn’t help but think about Cowen when she saw Nathen. They were both boys, both had the same dad, and both would have been the same age.
“We didn’t feed the goats yet,” Riki complained.
“Can you give us ten minutes?” Sam asked in a deep sigh. She’d already promised the girls they could feed the new baby goats.
“Yeah, go ahead.”
The thoughts Alexis tried hard to forget wanted to embed themselves in the front of her mind, memories she had put in the past since Cory and Riki had come into her life. “Hi, pretty girl. I missed you,” she cooed as her finger touched Kinley’s bottom lip and transformed it into a smile.
Cory coming home was the only time Riki seemed to be jealous. He had to make sure to pay attention to her before Kinley. As so
on as she told him about her day, the goats, the movie she watched, and Lexis calling Aunt Sam all day, she was fine and Cory was free to talk to Kinley.
“I’m always last,” Alexis lightheartedly complained when her lips were the last ones he greeted.
“I will make it up to you later, doll face.”
“Hmm, I like the sound of that. Maybe you can call me that while you’re—”
Her words were cut off by a kiss. “Shhh, Kinley will hear you,” Cory said with his lips hushing hers.
The kitchen was Alexis’s favorite hangout. It seemed to be the only place they talked as a family, really talked without all the distractions. The evening was like any other evening, except for the new recipe that turned out delicious. Even picky, Riki ate the chicken recipe and she hated chicken, this week anyway. Next week it could be hamburger. You never knew with her.
Alexis once thought she had everything she needed, her business, her house, her family, but now she knew it was a façade. A front to keep from going through what she’d endured at an early, vulnerable age. Life couldn’t get any better and although it took a while, her dad was right, and in time…this too shall pass. The love she felt for Cory was unconditional and Alexis couldn’t picture her life without him, not for one day. She couldn’t differentiate the love she felt for her own child with the love she felt for Cory’s. Just like Cory, Alexis couldn’t see herself without Riki. She was as much hers as Kinley was.
Sometimes, life does get better with chance, and sometimes, it gets better because of change. Maybe, sometimes it’s a mixture of both. Alexis realized for the first time in her life that all the past rejections were there for a reason, and even if she could, she wouldn’t change one thing, not one. Every rejection from her past pointed her in the direction of her future. And every loss from the past made her who she was today. Happy in life, Alexis McKinley.
This is the end of.
And in time…
And in time was meant to be a love story without the angst. If you’re happy with where this family is and you want them to have their happily ever after, stop here.
Life has many ways of testing one's will.
If you want to read on and find out just how much one can take and learn if time really does heal all wounds, read on.
This too shall Pass will start almost one year later.
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