The One (The Halo Series Book 2)

by Kimberly Knight

  “What are we going to do if she has cancer?” Easton asked. Brooke had been in surgery for only a half hour.

  My eyes darted to his. “Stop freaking out. If you freak out, then I’m going to freak out and then I won’t be able to sit down and it will be your fault as I pace for hours,” I said, rambling without catching my breath. I was freaking out.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to lose her.”

  “We won’t, man. Let’s go get some coffee or something,” Avery said and stood up.

  The boys each got a cup of coffee, me, a water. My mouth was watering as I smelled the vanilla goodness coming out of Avery’s cup and I wanted to just have one sip. One. Little. Sip.

  “I think we should tell him,” Avery said. I looked up from staring at the caramel colored heaven, my eyes widening because I knew what he wanted to tell Easton.

  “Tell me what?” Easton asked.

  “It’s too soon,” I whispered.

  “He’s my best friend,” Avery replied.

  “Um…I’m sitting right here,” Easton said, from across the booth style table.

  “Fine, go ahead,” I said, motioning with my hand like we were going to present some award.

  “Nicole’s pregnant.”

  “Oh, shit!” Easton gasped.

  That was pretty much my reaction when I found out.

  “Yeah, but it’s too soon. There’s still the chance I could miscarry,” I said.

  “Oh shit,” Easton said again.

  Avery was smiling at me. I could tell that he wanted to tell the world that he was going to be a father. From the moment I saw him with Cheyenne and the way he talked about her, I knew he would be a good dad. I wanted to tell the world, but I’d heard that the rule of thumb is not to tell people until you’re thirteen weeks. We knew I wasn’t that far along.

  “How far along? Can’t be too far, right?” Easton asked.

  “I’m not sure. I missed my period and took a home test on Monday.” I didn’t think Easton needed to know that I was worried about his girlfriend so much that I didn’t realize that I had, in fact, missed my period.

  “Does Brooke know?” Easton asked.

  “No, we—well, I haven’t told anyone. I didn’t want to tell her because of her surgery. I wanted to wait until after and when I knew for sure.”

  “Dude, you’re going to finally be a dad,” Easton said, leaning over the table and punching Avery’s arm. This made me smile.

  “Hope so.” Avery kissed the side of my head and had the biggest smile plastered across his face.

  “Anyway, let’s wait and tell Brooke after she gets out of the hospital, okay?” I asked, looking between Avery and Easton.

  “Yeah, of course,” Easton agreed.

  We were sitting in the booth, not really eating, when my phone buzzed in my hand. I looked down and saw that I had a text from Bailee. I texted her where we were.

  “Aw shit, we’re in trouble,” I said.

  “What do you mean ‘we’re in trouble’? What’s wrong?” Easton asked.

  “You’ll see in—”

  “How could none of you tell me that my sister has a fucking tumor?” Bailee asked, storming into the cafeteria.

  “Bai, calm down. You’re lucky I told you at all. Your sister didn’t want to worry you,” I said, standing.

  “I don’t give a shit what she wanted. That’s my sister, and none of you decided to tell me that she had a tumor and we don’t know if it’s cancer?”

  “It wasn’t our call. We were just doing what your sister said, and I only called you because I knew you would want to be here. So please, just calm down and let’s wait until she gets out of surgery. Okay?” I said, placing my hands on both of Bailee’s shoulders.

  “All right, well how much longer?”

  “At least another hour. We should go to the waiting room again,” Easton said.

  “Easton, it’s good to see you again,” Bailee said. “My sister told me you two were together now. Good riddance to that fucker Jared.”

  We all laughed.

  “Yeah, good riddance is right.” Easton smiled.

  We went back to the waiting room and did just that. We waited. I hated waiting. Everyone was getting updates on their loved ones, but we were left waiting. I couldn’t take it anymore. I walked up to the nurse’s station, ready to walk back into the operating room myself.

  “I’m sorry, I still don’t know anything. Once we hear something about Ms. Bradley, we’ll notify you,” the nurse said.

  I didn’t reply. Instead, I turned around and walked back to where we were sitting. I wanted to go to the operating room, but thought better of it. No sense in me getting kicked out of the hospital.

  “She still knows nothing,” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest and sat back down next to Avery.

  “I’m getting tired of this,” Bailee said and walked over to the nurse’s station.

  I watched her as she talked with her hands, catching a few words here in there. “I don’t care…yes, I’m next of kin…we’ve been here for hours…I flew in from California…yes, why don’t you?… I’ll be right there where I have been for the last few hours,” she said, pointing to our group.

  “What did you say?” I asked when Bailee came back a minute later.

  “I told them that I flew in from California and they need to go find something out instead of just looking at their fucking computer.”

  A few moments later, the nurse returned and called Bailee over.

  “They said she is out of surgery, sleeping and in recovery. Only one of us can go back for a few minutes,” Bailee said, looking at Easton.

  “Go ahead, you came from California and haven’t seen her,” he said, giving Bailee a tight smile.

  “Thank you,” she said and leaned down to hug him.

  “How long is she here for?” Easton asked when Bailee was out of earshot.

  “She leaves Sunday early afternoon… I think the flight I booked is leaving at one in the afternoon.”

  “No wonder you knew she was coming. You know Brooke is going to kick your ass, right?” Avery asked.

  “I don’t care. I thought Bailee should know in case something happened.”

  “I’ll protect you, Nic. I think you did the right thing,” Easton said, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Thank you,” I replied, sticking my tongue out at Avery. He leaned over and kissed me.

  Bailee returned a few minutes later and we all stared at her, waiting for her to speak. “She’s sleeping, but the attending nurse said that everything went as planned.”

  “Why didn’t they tell us she was out?” Easton asked.

  “I don’t know. Apparently, she’s been out an hour or so. They said they’re waiting to move her to a room.”

  “An hour? And no one told us?” I stood up. This was bullshit!

  “Baby, sit down,” Avery said. “Nothing we can do about it. Let’s think of the positive. Brooke made it out of surgery and everything went fine.”

  I stared at him for a few beats and then sat back down. “You’re right. It just pisses me off that we’ve been waiting here.”

  “Me too. Did they say how long until she gets into a room?” Easton asked.

  “No, but they said they would come and tell us,” Bailee replied.

  “Yeah right,” I huffed and crossed my arms. “I’ll be checking in every thirty minutes. This is bullshit.”

  We waited another hour for the nurse to finally say that we could see Brooke. We all got to go because she was finally in a room. When we walked in, she was sleeping and all I wanted to do was hug her. She had IVs running on both hands, machines watching her heart rate, and a drainage tube coming from her side where her tumor was.

  We weren’t able to stay long as visiting hours were over and the room that Brooke was in wasn’t her permanent room, so none of us were allowed to stay with her. Easton stayed at my place and Bailee stayed at Brooke’s.

  “When are you coming back?�
� I asked Bailee.

  “Maybe after finals. I haven’t decided if I’m staying after graduation.”

  “I have a feeling you’ll need to move to New York.”

  “Why?” Bailee asked.

  “Well, I’m moving to New York and things are really serious between your sister and Easton now.”

  “Well, that gives me something to think about. I’ve always wanted to live in the city.”

  After we dropped Bailee off at the airport, Avery went back to New York. Monday, I made an appointment with a doctor to make sure everything was okay with our baby and to see how far along I was. They wanted me to wait a few more weeks, but since I was friends with one of the nurses, she made an appointment for me to ease my worries. It seemed that it took a long time for everything to happen, but now everything was going too fast.

  “Nicole’s going to the doctor today,” I said as I stepped onto the treadmill at the gym for my morning workout with Easton.

  “Do you want her to be pregnant?” he asked.

  “Well, I didn’t plan it to be this way, but I love her and I do want to have kids.”

  “So are you going to propose?”

  “I don’t want to propose just because she’s pregnant… I mean, I do want to marry her, but I don’t want her thinking that is the reason.”

  “Understandable.”

  “How’s Brooke doing?” I asked, matching my speed with his.

  “Better. They’ve been taking X-rays daily and everything seems to be healing. She’s doing well on the breathing treatments, so she shouldn’t get pneumonia or anything like she was worried about.”

  “That’s good. Doc think she can still go home on Wednesday?”

  “Yeah, he didn’t say otherwise.”

  “Let me know if you need anything. I could fill in at practice if you need me to.”

  “If she doesn’t get out on Wednesday, I might take you up on that.”

  Easton’s phone dinged and he got off the treadmill. I stayed on mine, running and thinking. Nicole was going to call me and tell me if my life was really going to change. Home tests could be wrong, but I really did want her to have my baby. I didn’t care that we’d been together for less than two months. I just knew. I knew she was the one. I could feel it in every fiber of my being and it was like a sign sent from God.

  I was lost in thought when my phone started ringing. It was my girl. This was it. I’d wanted to be there for her when she went to the doctor, but Easton and I both needed to be back in New York for work and Cheyenne. I couldn’t ask him to cover my shift and Nicole understood.

  “Nicole’s calling me,” I whispered to Easton, motioning to my phone. “I’ll be back.”

  I walked towards the locker room for some privacy. “Well?” I asked, smiling and not even bothering to say hello.

  “Yep.”

  “You’re really pregnant?” I asked, still smiling.

  “Yep.”

  “Can we tell people now?”

  “No.” She laughed. “Doctor said I’m five weeks. We shouldn’t tell people until I’m at least thirteen weeks.”

  “Five weeks?” I did a mental calculation. “So you did get pregnant our first night?”

  “Pretty much.” I heard her laugh on the other end of the phone.

  “Damn, my little guys were just waiting to break through that condom,” I teased.

  “You’re such a man.” She laughed.

  “Well, I’d hope so.” I laughed back.

  “Anyway, she’ll be here sometime in January.”

  “She’ll?”

  “Well, we can’t tell if it’s a girl yet, but it sounds better than it.”

  “He, she, it. I don’t care as long as it’s healthy.”

  “Good response.” She laughed again.

  I was going to be a father. Shit just got real, but I wanted this. I couldn’t wait.

  Nicole had to go back to work and I had to finish working out, so we said our goodbyes. When I stepped out of the locker room, I saw Easton on the leg press.

  “Well?” he asked.

  “I really am going to be a father,” I said with a shit-eating grin on my face.

  “Shit, dude. Congrats!” Easton stood, walking over to give me a quick “bro hug” and then we both sat back down and started lifting weights. “Don’t tell Brooke, yet. Nicole is going to tell her next week.”

  “Yeah, no problem.”

  Since Brooke was doing well in the hospital, Nicole and I planned to tell her this weekend that we’re pregnant. Nicole hated keeping the secret from her and maybe telling Brooke our good news would be just that; good news.

  We only had to wait three days. I only had to wait three days to see my girls.

  I’d worked the day shift and all I wanted to do was go home, Facetime with my girl and count down the hours until I could hold her. But instead, I got a text from Easton.

  Easton: Hey, They had a rough time at practice tonight and doesn’t want to go to our folk’s. Can you come over and watch her while I go to work? Maybe talk to her?

  I texted back without hesitation.

  Avery: Yeah, I’m on my way.

  I arrived before Easton and Cheyenne, but before I could get out of the car, I saw them pull up. I got out and Cheyenne stormed past me, not saying hello.

  “What’s wrong with her?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. Some girls were giving her a hard time at practice and I think she’s pissed off.”

  “Why?”

  “I have no idea. Just make her laugh and try to stay off the phone with Nicole until Cheyenne is asleep.”

  “All right. Have fun working,” I said with a smirk.

  “Fuck you. You work tomorrow night, fucker.”

  “Oh…yeah. I can’t wait until this doesn’t happen anymore.”

  “Me too. We should hire two more managers. A day one and a floater.”

  “Yeah, we should.”

  “Let’s talk about it later. I need to call Ma still and get there to relieve Bethy.”

  Easton left and I went into the house. This was going to be good practice for when I had my daughter.

  “C.C.!” I shouted, closing the door behind me.

  She didn’t answer.

  I walked towards her bedroom. The door was closed, so I knocked. “C.C., talk to me. What’s up, buttercup?”

  “Just leave me alone!” she shouted behind her closed door.

  “That’s no way to talk to your favorite uncle.”

  “You’re my only uncle.”

  “And that’s why you should come out here and keep me company. I’m lonely.”

  “Go call your girlfriend.”

  “I don’t wanna. I wanna hang with my favorite softball player.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

  “All right. If you want to talk about it, I’ll be in the living room bowling on the Wii.”

  “Courtney’s coming over, okay?” she said as I started to walk away.

  “All right.” Whatever would work to get her out of her mood.

  I left and walked to the living room. It was only a matter of time before she came out of her room. She’d be hungry and I knew she couldn’t pass up a chance to beat me at her favorite game, especially with her friend watching.

  While the game loaded, I texted Nicole.

  Me: At East’s taking care of CC. I’ll call you when she goes to bed. If you’re asleep, call me on your lunch tomorrow. I love and miss you more than you know!

  I picked my Mii on the game and my phone buzzed.

  Nicole: Practicing your parental duties?

  I smiled.

  Me: Something like that.

  Just as I was about to bowl my first frame, Cheyenne came out of her room and walked over to the front door, letting Courtney in.

  “Girls.” I nodded and picked up the Wii controller.

  “How can you start without me?” Cheyenne asked, crossing her arms and shooting daggers with her eyes.

>   “You think I’d start without you?” I laughed. “You’re next.” I pointed to the screen. I’d already added her to the game. I knew she couldn’t pass up playing.

  Cheyenne cracked a smile and then replaced it with a frown. Something was really eating at her.

  “Want to play too?” I asked Courtney.

  “No, I’ll just watch.”

  We bowled a few frames before I set in to find out what was wrong. “So…how was practice?” I asked.

  “Daddy told you?” Cheyenne asked, obviously annoyed.

  “Told me what?” I asked, pretending I didn’t know anything.

  “That I was mad after practice.”

  “No,” I shook my head, lying. “I could tell by the greeting you gave me when you got here.”

  She stared at me for a beat. “I don’t want to talk about it.” She turned and bowled half of her frame. I looked at Courtney and she shrugged, giving a tight smile.

  “Come on, C.C. You know I can help you with some moves if you want.”

  “That’s not it.” She turned and bowled her other half of her frame.

  “Then what is it? You can tell me.”

  “Just…two girls on the team are really mean to me.”

  “What’d they do?” I asked, then took my turn, bowling a strike. Usually I rubbed it in Cheyenne’s face, but this wasn’t the time.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Okay. Want to get them back?”

  Her eyes widened. “How?”

  “Do you have their numbers?”

  Damn kids these days. All of them had cell phones.

  “Yeah?”

  “Ever watch The Simpsons?” I asked, looking between Cheyenne and Courtney.

  “No?” they said in unison.

  “I have the perfect plan.” I smiled, tapping my fingers together like it was a master plan. It totally was.

  We stopped our game. I was winning, but I didn’t want to point that out either. Cheyenne got lucky this time. Next time, I was going to rub it in her face like we always did. It was our little banter we always had with each other; it was our thing.

  “Who’s up first?” I asked, sitting at the dining room table with both girls across from me.

  “Lisa,” Cheyenne said, handing me her phone.

  Lisa’s contact info was on the screen. I blocked my number on my phone and dialed Lisa’s number. Cheyenne finally smiled as I put my phone up to my ear.