Made To Love You

by Megan Smith

We pull up in front of Elle and Andrew’s house with the driveway full. Everyone is here, including Eli and Fallon. “This should be fun.”

  “Might want to keep the truck running,” I joke.

  “I should. Tell them I’m having truck problems and I can’t turn it off. Maybe then we can only stop in for a few minutes and go back home.”

  I laugh. “Yeah, that’s not going to fly.”

  “Let’s get this over with.”

  When we open the door the house is a complete zoo. Kids laughing, crying, screaming, running around, and crawling. The first person to greet us is Ryder.

  “Uncle Cooper!” he yells and runs directly for Cooper. He bends down just in time as Ryder launches himself right into his arms.

  “What’s up, Chaos?” he ruffles his hair. “You being good for your mom and dad?”

  “Ryder!” MacKenzie yells. “Why can’t you ever stay still for two minutes?” She comes over and holds her hands out for her son. “Nice of you to show up. Late!”

  Cooper throws his arm around her shoulder. “Be glad I showed at all.”

  She shrugs his arm off. “We would have just showed up at your house.”

  “And you would have walked in on a whole lot…” he waggles his eyebrows.

  “That’s Hailey’s job. She’s looking for a new couple to start walking in on since she can’t get into my house anymore without setting the alarm off.”

  We follow MacKenzie down the hall to the kitchen. I’ve stayed behind Cooper so she hasn’t noticed my belly. I pull on Cooper’s hand stopping him before he walks in. “How are we doing this?”

  “Doing what?”

  I look down. “This.”

  He chuckles and puts both hands on my belly. “Let’s see if anyone notices. If not, we’ll tell them before anyone leaves.”

  “Okay.”

  Jackson and Chloe are sitting at the kitchen table glaring at each other. Nothing new there lately. They’re having some trouble in paradise. Hunter is washing Olivia’s face, Mason is sitting on the floor while Caleb and Alexis crawl all over him, and Ryder just ran off towards Alex. Mom, Elle and Andrew are sitting at the kitchen table with Eli and Fallon who’s eating chocolate ice cream.

  “Cooper,” Elle says cheerfully as she comes over and kisses Cooper’s cheek.

  “Hey, Momma.”

  “Jay,” Elle hugs me. “How are you doing?”

  I smile. “Good.”

  Cooper and I take a seat at the table and everyone says there hellos to Cooper and asked how things are going with being bumped up to the new team.

  “Babe, can you grab me a beer?” Cooper asks.

  I nod standing up and turning around. Then it’s like tires trying to find their traction on a rainy day. “Jay!” Hailey screeches. I hadn’t seen her yet because she wasn’t in the kitchen.

  “Hey,” I say keeping my voice nice and even. I’m not sure if she’s just excited to see me and talk about the wedding planning or if she’s noticed our surprise.

  Mason stands and pulls her back against his chest. He leans down and whispers something in her ear. She whispers something back. This is really fucking weird. I step around them and reach into the fridge for a beer. I turn back around heading to the table and their eyes are following my every move.

  Mom gives me a knowing smile. They’ve seen it.

  “Well,” MacKenzie taps her fingers against the counter. There is a chance she saw too from where she was standing. “I guess it’s time for us to start hitting the gym,” she chuckles. Cooper takes the beer from my hand. “You know, to work off the extra weight we’ve all gained over the winter.”

  Cooper throws his head back laughing. “I don’t see a problem with any of you. And even if you all gained some weight who cares anyway.”

  I kick his foot under the table. He’s instigating her.

  “Awe! That was sweet,” Chloe grins at Cooper.

  “Jay,” Hailey calls my name. I turn around in my chair so I can see her. “Come check out this wedding magazine. There’s a pretty dress that I wanted to show you that would look perfect for your shape.”

  Okay, seriously, this shit is getting really weird. I stand up, push my chair in cause I’m sure this is going to take a while. Hailey links her arm through mine and we walk out towards the front room of the Cahill’s.

  I glance down at the step so I don’t trip walking into the room. God, I can’t tell you how many times people have fallen over this little ass lip. Knowing the Cahill’s, they probably have some kind of camera set up to catch every fall so they can laugh at them over and over again.

  When I glance back up I’m completely and utterly floored. Someone places their hands on my hips which I assume is Cooper. My hand comes up to my mouth. How, when, why are all questions running around in my head.

  I look back behind me to see everyone staring at me. “What is all this?”

  “It’s your baby shower, silly,” Hailey says pushing past me.

  “But how?”

  “Well, the planning starts when someone is pregnant,” MacKenzie pats my stomach when she steps past me and into the room.

  “When did you all find out?”

  Mom reaches for my hand and threads her fingers with mine pulling me into the room. She leads me over to the overstuffed chair in the corner. “Well, you see,” Mom kneels down on the floor next to my chair. “You’re not as secretive as you think.” She winks at me. “Turns out that these two over here,” she nods towards MacKenzie and Hailey, “put the puzzle pieces together. A few days ago I stopped over here and heard them talking in the kitchen. I wouldn’t tell them anything, said I had no idea what they were talking about.”

  Eli and Fallon walk in with a huge ass box and set it down next to me. “Fallon insisted on this gift,” Eli explains.

  Chloe walks over with a big yellow bag. “I know you tried hiding your little bump but I noticed.”

  Elle comes over next and places another big box on the other side of my chair. “We know you’ve been dealing with a lot and then Cooper was gone.”

  Hunter, my big brother, a person I look up to the most hands me a little green and yellow bag. “I called mom and then I called Cooper.”

  Mason smirks and hands me a pink package. “And then I called Cooper.”

  Cooper sits on the arm of the chair I’m sitting on. “And I was told they were throwing you a baby shower whether I was going to admit that you were pregnant or not.”

  “So you haven’t told them?”

  Cooper shakes his head. “Nope, but that didn’t change their minds. I think Hailey said something like if she doesn’t need this stuff now she’ll need it sooner or later.”

  She high-fives Cooper. “Exactly what I said.”

  My eyes go from person to person and the tears build. When they land on Cooper’s face, he leans down and kisses me on the forehead. “I love you.”

  The tears spill over. “I love you, too.”

  Mom pulls me into her arms. “Don’t be mad that they figured it out. They’re doing a nice thing.” I squeeze her a little tighter. “I glad I’m around for this baby. I don’t know what the future holds for me and I want to soak up every minute.”

  “Oh, Mom,” I cry. She rocks me back and forth for a few seconds before it turns into one big group hug.

  MacKenzie wipes her eyes. “Okay, no more tears. Open these up.”

  I sit in the Cahill’s house with all my friends and family and I realize what a lucky girl I really am. I couldn’t imagine my life any other way than this right here. I glance to Fallon when I get to her gift and I see so much of Layla in her. I miss my best friend. I wish she was here to experience this with me.

  When Cooper and I finally get all our gifts into the truck he wraps his arms around me. “Guess we were here more than an hour.”

  He nuzzles into my neck. “Are you upset they found out?”

  I shake my head. “No, are you?”

  “No, kind of made things easier on us and we n
eed easy, baby. We’ve been through so much lately and it was a nice reminder that we have the family we do.”

  I nod. “After mom said that she didn’t know what the future held for her I think everything else melted away for me. I know we seem to be living in fast forward but, like you said, I’m holding on for the ride. I want every single moment with my mom that I can get. I want her to be here and experience it with me.” Cooper leads me around to the passenger side of the truck. “I have two wishes that I would do just about anything to make come true.”

  Cooper shuts the door then jogs around and climbs into the driver’s seat. “What’s that?”

  “To have my mom walk me down the aisle at our wedding and for her be here to meet our daughter or son.”

  Cooper brings my hand up to kiss my knuckles. “We could make one of those come true very soon. Hell, even tomorrow.”

  “Elope?”

  “Yup.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “Dead serious.”

  I laugh. “You’re crazy.”

  “Crazy about you.”

  Cooper starts up the truck and we don’t talk the rest of the way. When we pull up I place my hand on his arm. “Let’s move it up to the fall.”

  He pulls me over and kisses me. “Whatever you want.”

  Cooper’s been gone for almost two months. I’ve seen him twice since he’s been gone. He’s missed all my doctor’s appointments too. I know there is nothing he can do about it and I’m not really mad, just a little sad for what he’s missing out on. When I first heard the baby’s heartbeat I cried but my mom recorded the whole thing and sent it to him. He had a game that afternoon and wasn’t able to be on the phone or even FaceTime with me. We agreed that we didn’t want to find out the sex of the baby. Cooper didn’t want to miss finding out the sex of the baby so with a little hope he’ll be home when I deliver in October and we will both find out together.

  That afternoon when I got home there was a package sitting on the step. I brought it in the house and ripped it open. Inside was an Alex and Ani Little Brown Bear bangle bracelet. There was a simple note in the box that said to me from Cooper. He was trying to make up for the loss of not being there to experience that first moment of our unborn child’s life. It doesn’t matter what he sent though, I know how he feels deep down inside.

  My mom, my school work, and helping Eli around Fierce is the only thing keeping me sane lately. I’m not going to lie, I don’t know if I like being pregnant. It’s a bitch to sleep, I can’t have a lot of caffeine, and I’m constantly watching what I eat so that I don’t gain too much weight during the pregnancy. Oh, and to top it off, the baby I think has started kicking or at least moving around. It’s a weird feeling, it’s like butterflies are fluttering around inside you. Most would say it’s beautiful which, okay yeah, it is but it’s still weird. There is a tiny human growing inside me and if you stop long enough to think about just that, it’s freaky as hell.

  “I’m hungry,” I whine to Eli. I’m sitting here in his office helping him with paperwork. He’s refused to hire anyone to replace Layla. I don’t blame him but he needs help.

  “You’re always hungry.”

  I throw my pen at him. “I am not and besides if you haven’t noticed I am eating for two.”

  Eli lifts his head and glances over at me, a knowing smirk that eating for two doesn’t actually mean I need to eat twice the amount of food that I normally do.

  I shrug. He can’t argue with me.

  “I’ve got to finish this up and then we can run out for dinner.”

  I roll my chair over to his desk and grab a file that’s labeled applications. “You need help.”

  “No, I don’t.” He takes the folder and puts it back on his desk. “We’re doing just fine.”

  “Eli,” I whine. “Just admit you need the damn help. You’re so stubborn.”

  “You’re one to talk.

  He sighs and pushes back from his desk. “Jackie’s been taking applications for me. I’ll hire someone soon, okay.”

  I hear someone clear their throat and I glance up. I’m on my feet in the next second. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  Brittany, my half-sister, looks scared shitless. “Um…an interview.” She looks down to a piece of paper in her hand. “I’m supposed to meet with Eli. I was told to head back here.”

  Hands on my hips I swing around to Eli with raised eyebrows. He shuffles papers around on his desk, finding the one he’s looking for he skims over it. “Shit,” he mumbles.

  I snatch the paper from his hand. Jackie set this up. Damn it. “The positions been filled,” I snap and throw the application in the trash can.

  Brittany’s eyebrows bunch in confusion.

  “Jay, we’re desperate,” Eli whispers to me.

  I glare at him. Oh, so now he’s desperate when not five seconds ago he said he was fine.

  “I’m sorry, uh…” Eli grabs the paper out of the trash. “Brittany. Can you give us a minute, please? I’ll come out to get you in a few minutes.”

  “Sure,” Brittany backs out of the office slowly.

  “Eli, I don’t care if she’s the last damn person on this Earth. You. Are. Not. Hiring. Her.”

  “We need the help.”

  “I’ll help.”

  Eli glances down to my stomach reminding me that I have a baby growing inside of me. “You can’t help.”

  “There are a million other girls in this world that we can hire. She’s not going to be it.”

  “Give me one good reason.”

  “I’ll give you three. She’s my half-sister who I fucking hate, she’s slept with Cooper, and she ran MacKenzie, who at the time was pregnant with Ryder, off the road. Are those good enough reasons?”

  “Fuck,” Eli tosses her application back in the trash. “Fine.”

  I grab my purse off the other desk. “I’m going to go eat.”

  He chuckles as I storm out of his office. I swear to God I will murder him with my bare fucking hands if he hires that bitch. When I get to the car I pull my cell phone out and tap a text to Cooper.

  Me 4:08pm: You’ll never guess who stopped in for an interview today.

  I have no idea what Cooper is doing right this second so I toss my phone on the passenger seat. I start up my car, switch the air on cold and point it to my face. I’m so fucking heated my blood pressure is up.

  My phone beeps with an incoming text.

  Cooper 4:13pm: Who???

  Me 4:14pm: Brittany!

  Cooper 4:15pm: Fuck! I’ll take care of it.

  Me 4:16pm: Already did.

  Cooper 4:17pm: Have I told you how fucking sexy you are when you get all worked up.

  Me 4:18pm: Don’t start something you can’t finish.

  Cooper 4:20pm: I’ve never had a problem finishing you off ☺

  I shake my head. Only he can turn this conversation around.

  Me 4:22pm: I miss you

  Cooper 4:23pm: I miss you, too. A few more weeks and I’ll get another little break.

  Those weeks can’t pass fast enough.

  Cooper

  It’s a beautiful sunny day at Coca-Cola Park in the middle of June. After the game today I can spend a little time with Jaylinn before we’re taking off again. Our next stop is Durham, North Carolina, which is a good few hours away so we’ll all get a little shut-eye and leave in the middle of the night. These days on the road are rough and taxing but I love playing in this new league as part of the Iron Pigs.

  We’re finishing a three-game home stand against the Pawtucket Paw Sox. We’re looking to avoid a three-game sweep today with the help from a big league outfielder who was out on a rehab assignment up until yesterday. Jordan Brisk, all six and a half feet and two hundred and twenty pounds of him, will be batting fourth today for us and playing center field. Brisk was cool and took the boys and me to a steak house last night and then we all called it an early night so we’re ready for today’s game.

  The scent of f
resh cut grass fills the air, the field is perfectly groomed and the summer sun begins to peek into the stadium. The team has fielding practice in an hour followed by batting practice at ten-thirty as the game is slated for a one o’clock start. Some of the guys have been huddling around Brisk throughout the morning, some asking for advice on how to make it to the big leagues, others talk about what it’s like to be in some of the best stadiums in the country.

  Brisk takes a breather for a minute and is leaning against the fence right next to me. “How’s the hamstring injury doing?”

  Brisk spits some sunflower seeds out. “It’s ninety percent today.”

  I nod. “How long do you think they’ll keep you here?”

  He shrugs and watches one of the guys catch a fly ball. “Hopefully after the next two AAA rehab games.”

  “Cahill!” Coach yells.

  Brisk laughs as Coach’s face turns purple. I love pushing that man’s buttons. I knew where I needed to be but want to talk to Brisk since it’s not everyday someone like him is around.

  I head to the bull pen to work with some of the pitchers who are slated to pitch today. Brisk is up first to bat and, of course, by that first hit you’d never know he was only feeling ninety percent normal. Brisk hits about six balls for home runs and they were no doubters landing far beyond the home run fence.

  I stand on deck to hit next and I look over to Brisk. “I can’t follow that.”

  Brisk smiles. “Not with that mindset, you can’t. You need to step into the box every time with the mindset that there isn’t a better hitter than me and there isn’t a pitch this guy can throw that I can’t take deep.” He adjusts his hat on his head. “If you go in with that attitude every time eventually you start to believe it and your confidence becomes infectious to your entire team. So step in the box and start with that attitude right now.” He’s a good guy and someone I look up to so when he offers advice I’m listening.

  I dig in and signal that I’m ready. The first pitch I swing and miss.

  Brisk yells over, “Don’t swing out of your shoes kid, swing within yourself and let the pitch supply half the power. You just put a good swing on it and good things happen.”