by Magan Vernon
Johnny’s face softened as he smiled. “I’m trying my best to learn right along with you how all of this works. I don’t remember my last real relationship that wasn’t with the pool, and I guess sometimes I forget that it might actually bother my current girlfriend if she hears about other girls de-pantsing me.”
I leaned in and pressed my forehead to his. “You’re a really great guy, you know that?”
He kissed me gently. “And you’re really great, too.”
***
Johnny rented us a car for the long weekend, and I was afraid we would die on the crazy Arizona freeway.
I wanted to get out and kiss the ground when he exited the freeway. Taking a couple of turns, he finally pulled into a neighborhood that looked larger than the entire town of Friendship.
Rows and rows of white or beige stucco houses went up and down the hilly street. I couldn’t see a single blade of grass, only cactuses and rock amongst the concrete jungle. Not exactly the prettiest place in the world, but the mountain backdrop and cloudless sky made up for that.
Johnny pulled into a short driveway with a small red car parked on one side.
“Well, it’s good Mom’s home because I don’t have a key, so we’d be here for a while waiting and then you might have to let me take you in the back of this rental car,” Johnny joked.
“Do you think this is really the time to joke about humping in your mom’s driveway?” I asked.
Johnny smiled. “Are you nervous?”
“Of course, I’m nervous! This is the first time I’m meeting your mom, and last time we tried to talk to her, it didn’t go so hot.”
Johnny put his hand on my cheek, rubbing his thumb along my jawline. “That’s because she was just in shock. Now, she’ll get to know you this weekend, and I’m sure she’s going to love you.”
I sighed. “Let’s hope she at least kinda, sorta likes me.”
“She will, babe. She will,” he said and then smiled. I thought he might say something else, but instead, he leaned in and lightly kissed my cheek before getting out of the car and coming around to open my door.
I sucked in a deep breath as Johnny helped me out of the rental car. He grabbed our bags out of the backseat, slinging them both over his shoulder before he took my hand in his free one.
I watched my feet as we walked up the stone path toward the front door.
The curtains on the front picture window were drawn, and I wondered if his mom was at the other end, peeking through the beige curtains to check out her son’s pregnant girlfriend.
Even though we had an early plane ride and I felt bloated as hell, I tried to make myself look presentable in jean capris, wedge heels, and a yellow tunic. But now I was starting to rethink the outfit. Maybe I should have covered from neck to toe, even though I was sure it was at least eighty degrees in April, and I would sweat to death just from standing outside for a few minutes.
Johnny rang the doorbell, and I held my breath, waiting for what seemed like forever for her to get to the door. It was actually probably only a minute, but when not breathing, it felt like longer.
Johnny’s mom answered the door with a tight-lipped smile. Her hair was neatly spiked at the back of her head, and she was wearing a pale blue tunic and khakis. The woman was polished and way more put together than I ever could be.
“Johnny!” she yelled, standing on her tippy-toes to give him a big hug.
Then when she let go of him, she turned toward me, her green eyes immediately going to my stomach. “And you must be Sofie,” she said, trailing out the ‘E’ way too long.
“Yes. I’m glad to meet you in person, Mrs. Laughlin,” I said, wondering if I was supposed to hug her or just shake her hand or stand there and maybe wag my butt like a dog.
“Please, call me Michelle,” Johnny’s mom replied, taking both of my hands and squeezing them.
“Oh, okay,” I said, nodding way too hard and fast like a crazy bobble head. My head started to hurt, so I finally stopped and just forced a smile.
“Well. Come in, you two. Let’s get you guys settled,” Michelle said, letting go of my hands and opening the door the rest of the way.
I followed Johnny through the door to a very white living room with bright white tiles and walls. A small beige sectional faced a flat-screen TV hanging above a white gas fireplace. Everything was clean and organized. There wasn’t clutter in the little living room or attached white kitchen.
Michelle led the way up the stairs, which weren’t covered in spare items of clothing like mine would be if we had stairs in the townhouse. I’d never lived in a house with stairs unless my long weekends at Lia’s counted, and her brother’s clothes always covered those stairs.
“Now, normally I would make one of you stay in the guest room and the other in Johnny’s old room, but you know, since you can’t get pregnant when you’re already there, I figured it would be okay for you both to stay in Johnny’s room,” Michelle said, opening a door to the left at the top of the stairs.
“Holy hell, this is like walking down memory lane,” Johnny said, his eyes searching the room before he walked in and set our bags down on the full-size bed. A light blue comforter almost the same color as the walls covered it and was the only bit of color I’d seen so far in the entire house.
A giant Stanford flag hung on the wall behind the bed, and the light from the two small windows reflected the shelves of medals and trophies on the other walls.
“Well, I did think about making this room into a meat locker or even a dance studio, but I figured you would come to visit, so I couldn’t change it just yet,” Michelle said, her eyes getting a far-off look to them.
Johnny put his arm around his mom’s shoulders. “Or you can put the house up for sale and move to the booming housing market in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Then you can be closer to the grandbaby.”
I swore I saw Michelle wince before she patted Johnny’s chest. “So you think you’re going to stay with that coach in Dallas?”
“Actually, he’s in Fort Worth, but I like him. Coach Wood is older than the last coach was, but he swam backstroke for years for NCAA at UT Austin, and I think he’ll take me to the next level. Maybe I can even break my own world record in the next Olympics.”
“Well, good, I’m glad you’re happy. I do miss you only being five hours away in Los Angeles, but that’s in the past. It’s time to move forward, yes? Speaking of forward, I’ll let you two get everything settled, so I can start lunch. You guys must be starving,” Michelle said, not looking at either one of us as she left the room. The pitter-patter of her feet faded down the stairs.
“That wasn’t awkward at all,” I muttered.
Johnny took a few steps to cross the room to me and then put his arm around my waist before kissing my forehead. “It’ll get easier. I promise.”
I looked up, meeting his eyes. “I don’t know if that’s something you can promise.”
Chapter 18
Lunch wasn’t any less awkward with a few words of small talk between chewing the salty chicken and noodles Michelle made.
“So have you two registered anywhere?” Michelle asked as Johnny loaded the dishwasher.
“Not yet. We just found out we were having a boy, so I guess we’ll be doing that when we get back,” I said, taking a tiny sip of water, so I’d have something to do with my mouth and hands.
“Hey, why don’t we do it now while we’re here with my mom? She’s experienced with this stuff,” Johnny suggested.
“No, I couldn’t. That’s a special thing for you and Sofie,” Michelle said, giving a little “oh, pshaw” hand wave, but she wore a secret smile underneath her closed mouth. Or that might have been a scowl. I could never tell since the woman had resting bitch face around me.
Johnny grinned, pouring the dish powder in the dishwasher then shutting and starting it. He stood up and put his arm around his mom. “Oh, come on. We’d love to have you help. Wouldn’t we, Sofie?”
Johnny looked at me, hi
s smile still wide and his eyebrows raised like he was forcing my answer to pop out of those very nice eyebrows.
I forced a smile, even though shopping with his mother sounded like pure torture. “Absolutely.”
***
I didn’t know they had entire stores dedicated to baby items. I guess that should have been a given since entire stores were dedicated to adults, or kids, or even pets.
Even though the nice lady in the black polo gave us a list and set us up with a little registry gun to walk the aisles, I still felt like I couldn’t breathe. I had absolutely no idea what in the hell I was doing.
How in the hell could I be a mom when I didn’t know that baby stores existed or what cloth diapers were?
“So do we just go down each aisle?” Johnny asked, looking at the long list.
Michelle snatched the piece of paper, putting her glasses low on her nose. “We didn’t have half of this stuff when you were a baby, and you turned out to be an Olympian. This is nuts!”
“Well, Mom, it’s been twenty-three years, and a lot of studies have been done. New improvements are always found, kind of like with swimming. Tiny little swimsuits used to be the thing everyone wore then they figured out it was actually better to cover more of the body, like a seal. In college, they even tried out having the guys wear wetsuits, but those ended up getting banned from competitions.”
“Well, I guess it’s better your new trunks are a little bigger than those Speedos you wore at Stanford,” Michelle grumbled.
Johnny smiled, putting his arm around her shoulders. “They’re not Speedos, Ma. That’s just a brand name. I’m not sponsored by them, so I wear briefs.”
Michelle rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay. Let’s move on from swimming and check out this baby stuff.”
We headed down the first aisle full of different baby feeding items. I grabbed the list from Johnny and peered over the “baby feeding” items.
“What the hell is a nipple shield?” I muttered, looking from the list to the shelf of bottle accessories until I found it next to many other little things in yellow boxes.
“Oh...” I stared at the package that looked like a bottle nipple but then read the actual product description—for latch-on difficulties to help continue breastfeeding.
“So what is that thing? Does it go with this?” Johnny asked, holding up what looked like an airbrush gun with a bottle at the end.
“Johnny put that down!” Michelle gasped.
“What?” he asked, looking at the spray gun with a bottle.
“That’s a breast bump,” Michelle whispered.
“A what?” he asked, sticking the foghorn-type thing on his face.
She grabbed it from his big hands and set it back down. “A woman puts those on her breast to express milk in a bottle for the baby.”
“Oh. Weird,” Johnny muttered.
“Will you be breastfeeding or formula feeding, Sofie?” Michelle asked, staring at me with her glasses perched on her nose like a judgey schoolteacher.
“Uh, I’m not sure. My mom breastfed me like forever, but I also had really messed up teeth. I read somewhere that could be a correlation, but I read somewhere else that it was just an old wives’ tale.”
Michelle blinked slowly then pursed her lips together. “You know, I formula fed Johnny and he turned out just fine. Stanford graduate and Olympic records and medals. You don’t have to breastfeed just because it’s the hip new thing.”
“Uh, well, I heard it’s really good for the baby, so you know...we’ll probably try it,” I stammered not sure what else I was supposed to say.
Michelle opened her mouth then closed it, forcing a tight-lipped smile. “Okay.”
“But you know I’m open to both. I’m open to all things. This is all new and crazy and...”
I stopped blabbering when Michelle put her hand on my shoulder. “I know, Sofie. I know.”
She squeezed my shoulder then turned to Johnny. “Come on. Let’s check out what else is on this list of yours.”
Johnny went to follow Michelle as she headed down the feeding aisle and turned to the next one, but I stopped him at the endcap display of formula.
“What? Are you okay?” he asked, staring at me wide-eyed.
“Your mom hates me, and she hates our parenting choices,” I hiss-whispered.
“She does not. She just doesn’t understand them. But she will.”
“How are you so positive all the time about everything?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
He leaned in, kissing my forehead. “Because there’s no reason to be negative. Positive thoughts equal positive responses.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Did you read that on a poster in the gym or something?”
He laughed. “No. A greeting card at the airport while you were waiting in line for the three-dollar Twizzlers.”
“Hey, you ate half that bag! Don’t judge!” I said, gently shoving his shoulder, which did nothing to move him because the guy was a beast.
He sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have suggested she go with us if it makes you uncomfortable. We don’t have to do this today if you don’t want to.”
I chewed on my bottom lip, thinking about what he said. On the one hand, I could fake I was tired, and we could go home. But this woman would be in my life forever as the grandmother of my child. If I pissed her off this early in the game, there was no telling what kind of hell I’d have to live with for the next eighteen years.
“No. It’s fine. Let’s get this over with,” I said, nodding and looping my arm through Johnny’s before we walked around the corner.
Michelle held up a blue blanket with little dark blue whales printed all over it. “Look, this would be a cute theme for a baby room. You could even get this embroidered. Did you have any names picked out?”
“Fernando. Definitely Fernando. Oh or Diablo!” Johnny said way too excitedly, which got an eye roll from his mom.
“Nothing yet,” I muttered, waiting for her judgey eyes.
Michelle smiled a real smile for the first time ever. “Well, you two will get there. You know, when I found out I was pregnant with Johnny, his dad wasn’t around to do these things with me. Not just registering, but doctor’s appointments, picking out names.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, not sure how else I should answer.
“No need to apologize, Sofie. It isn’t your fault. It’s not anyone’s fault but my ex’s. He didn’t want to be in our lives, and I guess he kicked himself when he saw Johnny in the Olympics. Or he didn’t. No offense, Johnny, but even though you have your dad’s genes, he kind of was an asshole.”
“Luckily, Johnny didn’t get those asshole genes. He’s a great guy, and he’s going to be a great dad,” I said, trying to butter up the woman by talking about how awesome her son was, which was true. He might be goofy and not understand a lot of things, but he was probably the best boyfriend and baby daddy a girl could ask for. Aside from, you know, the old hookups.
Johnny put his arm around his mom. “Yeah. You say that now. Just wait until it’s the middle of the night and I make you use that booger sucker.”
***
After hours of shopping, I was starving, so we stopped at a deli near the rec center Johnny used to train at when he was younger.
“A nice view of a brick building out this window,” I said, taking a bite of my grilled turkey on wheat with extra, extra bacon.
“You’re talking to a guy who spends most of his time staring at the ceiling while he does the backstroke,” Johnny said.
“Well, if it wasn’t for the Ellis Aquatic Center, you and Johnny may have never met,” Michelle quipped. And she was back to her old bitchy self. I thought we had a moment there, but it was fleeting. I wanted to tell the woman I wasn’t there to take her baby boy away, but I guess carrying his child and only knowing him a few months sort of said otherwise.
Johnny laughed. “Yeah, I guess that’s true, Mom. If you didn’t make me take those classes to get me out of
the house, I would’ve never started swimming then wouldn’t have met Coach or Jay and gone to Texas.”
Johnny nudged my shoulder. “Hey, maybe we should name the baby Ellis. Ellis Laughlin has a nice ring to it.”
I thought about that. At first, the name sounded stupid, and the idea of naming our child after a swim center wasn’t appealing. Then the more I thought about it, the more I actually liked the idea of a meaningful name.
“It really does, doesn’t it?” I asked with a smile.
Michelle raised an eyebrow. “Are you really going to name him Ellis?”
“I don’t know. Are we, Sofie?” Johnny asked, looking down at me.
“We could always name him Gale instead.”
“Like the guy who got turned down by Katniss in The Hunger Games?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. I mean yes, same name, but my mom’s name was Gail,” I whispered the last part.
We all stayed silent for what seemed like forever before Michelle put her hand on mine and here came the softness again that I saw earlier.
“I think it’s a lovely name and a lovely way to honor your mother,” she said with a soft smile.
“Ellis Gale Laughlin would be a nice name,” I said softly.
Johnny squeezed my shoulder. “I think it would be too.”
Chapter 19
We sat at the small breakfast table that Saturday morning. Michelle wasn’t the best cook in the world, but at least she had bacon and good coffee.
“So, Mom, I know it’s Easter tomorrow, but it’s also Sofie’s birthday, so I thought you could maybe make a famous Laughlin cake?” Johnny asked, taking his fifth pancake from a microwave pack.
Michelle raised an eyebrow, holding her coffee cup mere centimeters from her lips. “You mean when I used to make Rice Krispies treats and cover them in chocolate frosting and call it cake?”
Johnny grinned before stuffing an entire pancake into his mouth. “That’s the one.”
