Always Mine, Forever Yours

Ally...

I stretch my hand across my belly and look around the low-lit room. The music is loud, people are relaxing, trying to relieve the stress of their week, and I’m sitting here completely on edge. I shouldn’t be here, but as I look over at Natalie, I do feel better that I’m not the only one here in this condition.

She leans over to yell into my ear. “We have babies… in a bar.”

She pulls back, laughing and rubbing her expansive belly. I know we’re both thinking of that popular movie from years ago where the woman was holding her baby in a bar. However, neither Natalie nor I have had our babies yet. Nope, I still have three months to go, and Natalie has four months before her baby is due.

I grab on to her wrist and shift on the bar stool. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this. I shouldn’t be here. I should be at home with my swollen feet propped up and trying to rest. Isn’t that what people say? Sleep before the baby comes.”

She shrugs her shoulders and scrunches her nose up. “No, I think the saying is to sleep when the baby is sleeping. And I talked you into this because you can’t keep hiding out. No one cares about your circumstances. At least not like you think.”

And at that moment, my body physically jerks from the kick of the baby. Wow, that was a good one. I run my hand over my belly soothingly. “I haven’t been hiding out.”

But as soon as the words are out, I know I’m lying. “Fine, you wanted me out, I’m out. But I didn’t think we’d be meeting at my ol’ hangout.”

The Whiskey Whistler is a popular hangout, and I’ve been coming here since the day I turned twenty-one. Basically everyone comes here that wants to unwind in Whiskey Run.

Natalie reaches for me and wraps her hand around mine. Her touch calms me, and I’m sure it’s because we’re going through the same thing. Well, sort of. We’re both pregnant, but where she’s married and secure in her relationship, I’m single and have no one. Well, I have Austin. He’s my best friend who would literally do anything for me, but it’s not quite the same. Natalie’s husband Beau is one of Austin’s older brothers, and I’m pretty sure that Austin convinced Natalie to drag me out tonight. I hold back a sigh, not giving in to the pity party I want to have right now. “Okay, so how does this work?”

Olivia, Chloe, Abby, and Natalie all look at me. Olivia is smiling ear to ear as she pulls the book from her bag and holds it up with a big grin on her face. “Did you read it?”

I’m about to answer her when Abby gasps, grabbing the book out of her hands and then slamming it face down on the table between us. She’s looking around the bar to see if anyone saw it before glaring at Olivia. “Why do you do that? Why? I swear, I think you do it just so you can embarrass me.” She waves her hand toward the rest of us. “Yes, we all read it. We don’t have to get the book out to talk about it. We don’t need the whole town to know what we read.”

I lean in and try to hear over the bar sounds. At least it’s not a night where they have live music. This place would be packed, and we wouldn’t be able to hear anything. But even for six o’clock in the evening, it’s louder than normal.

Olivia rolls her eyes and pries the book out of Abby’s hands. “You are such a prude. This one was good. I was impressed.”

Abby shakes her head. “There was way too much sex and not enough plot.”

Natalie turns to me. “What did you think, Ally? Did you like it?”

My face heats but not for the reason that Abby’s did. No, I thought the book was good, and yes, there was a lot of sex, but I thought it added to the story. Nope, the reason I’m embarrassed to talk about it is because I couldn’t help but read the story and think about my own best friend. “It was good. I love the friends to lovers trope, though. It’s one of my favorites.”

Chloe chimes in for the first time. “Duh! We all could have guessed that.”

I shift on the seat again. I swear my ass has doubled in size because this seat feels way smaller than normal. I take the lemon off my glass and squeeze it into my water. I’m trying to think of a retort, but all I can do is stick my tongue out at her.

All my friends laugh, and thankfully, Olivia starts talking about the book, leaving me off the hook. I only joined the book club a few weeks ago, but I am already loving it. The past few months I’ve spent way too much of my time at my house on the couch. It’s only after months of doing the same thing night after night, having both Natalie and Austin nag me, that I decided I needed to get my shit together.

I was hiding out. I live in a small town, I’m pregnant, and I’m not married. I’ve waited for the people in town to talk about me. I’ve waited for the stares or the righteous people to tell me everything I’m doing wrong, but it hasn’t happened yet. If anything, everyone in town has been really supportive. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that my best friend is Austin Blaze. No one is going to go against a Blaze. At least no one around here.

The server comes and starts setting out appetizers. Every empty spot on the table is soon filled with french fries, mozzarella sticks, chicken wings, and potato skins. She takes the last item off the tray and sets it in front of me. “And last but not least, a grilled chicken salad with ranch on the side.”

Natalie groans and points her fork at my food. “Good for you, but I’m going to enjoy all this fried, cheesy goodness.”

I look at the little plate she’s filling from the appetizers and I’m instantly jealous. I would love to eat that, but I’ve already been warned by my doctor that I needed to rein it in because my blood pressure is high. My last visit, I had a ten-minute talk on the importance of nutrition, so to avoid bed rest and other ailments, I’m doing my best to eat what he recommended. Especially since I have a follow-up appointment tomorrow.

“Congratulations, by the way.”

My fork is midair, and I try not to tense at the server's words. I look at her name tag and read the name there. I see her in here all the time. Heck, I’m pretty sure she’s helped me out a time or two, even holding my hair the night I turned twenty-one all those years ago. She’s smiling at me, and it looks sincere. I run my hand along my belly. “Thank you, Megan.”

Her forehead creases. “Oh, I mean congratulations on the baby too, but I meant on your engagement. I hear you’re marrying Austin.”

I sit up a little taller. I can feel everyone at the table staring at me, waiting for my response. I never talk about my relationship with Austin, but obviously it’s been on everyone’s minds. “Oh, uh, thank you, but—”

Natalie leans into me, resting her head on my shoulder. “We’re going to be sisters, and our kids are going to be cousins. I mean, how cool is that?”

I force a laugh even though what I really want to do is roll my eyes. Natalie knows that Austin and I are not getting married. She is married to Austin’s older brother, and she knows that Austin and I are just friends. Well, I shouldn’t say just friends. Truth is, we’ve been best friends since we were in middle school so yeah, over half our lives. I thank the server again, and when she walks away and is out of hearing range, I turn to Natalie. All eyes are on me still, but I address my friend. “You know that Austin and I are not getting married.” I cup my hand across my belly. “Just like you know that this baby is not Austin’s.”

She gasps as if I’ve said something awful when I’m only speaking the truth. “Ally, don’t say that.”

I lean toward her. “Why? It’s true. I’m not marrying Austin, and this baby is not his. I don’t know why he insists—”

I cut myself off because I don’t even know what to think anymore. I got pregnant, and the dad wants nothing to do with me or the baby. I waited to tell Austin, because I know how he is. Any time I ever have a problem, he fixes it. In my mind, this wasn’t something he could fix. Or so I thought, anyway. It was barely out of my mouth before he told me, “You and I are getting married.” And then he pointed at my then flat belly and said, “And that baby is ours now.”

I argued with him, and quite honestly, I’ve always gotten my way with Austin. It’s a common joke around his family that if any of them want something from him, they go through me to get it. But this was not something I could talk him out of. From the day I told him, he has said we are getting married and having a baby.

It’s only when I shake my head from being lost in thought that I realize all my friends are looking at me. Olivia is the first one to speak. “Okay, so you’re telling me that the baby’s father wants nothing to do with you or the baby?”

Natalie swats her friend on the arm and admonishes her. “Olivia!”

I drop my fork on the napkin beside my salad. I know she doesn’t mean anything by it. I’ve been around Olivia enough to know that she just says it like it is. We work in the same salon, and even though we’ve never really hung out together outside of work until recently, I do know how she is. “No, it’s okay. Yes, Olivia, that’s right. Gregory, the biological father, doesn't want me or the baby.”

She nods and leans forward. “So your best friend, who I mean, let’s forget the fact that he is a Blaze and one of the richest men in the state for right now, but your best friend wants to marry you and wants to claim your child as his own. Is that right? Are the rumors true?”

I gulp, staring at Olivia wide-eyed while jutting my chin at her. “Yes, that’s true.”

She creases her forehead, staring at me. The place may be full of people, but right now, I’m only focused on the women at my table, staring at me as if I’ve lost my mind. I know they think I’m crazy. I’m sure they all know that I don’t have any family to depend on and I live on the other side of town in a trailer park. I’m sure they know that I don’t fit in with Natalie or any of the rest of the Blaze family. Under the intense scrutiny, all I can do is ramble. “Look, yeah, of course he offered to help me. That’s what Austin does. He’s a helper. Since the day we met in middle school, he’s been there for me, so of course he thinks he has to be the one to fix this. But I’m not going to punish him for the rest of our lives by forcing him to be with me. He doesn’t want to be married to me…. He definitely doesn’t want to be the father to some other man’s child. No, I’m not doing it. I won’t.”

By the time my rant is over, I’m wiping at the tear on my cheek, half disgusted with myself. I’m stronger than this. I don’t cry, but these stupid pregnancy hormones have me doing all kinds of crazy things.

Nat wraps her hand around mine, offering me comfort, and Olivia raises her hand, palm out to me. “I’m sorry, Ally. I know this is none of my business, and I should stay out of it. But can I ask you one thing?”

I shrug my shoulders, still on the defensive. It’s not like whatever she’s about to ask me is going to make me feel any worse.

She takes a deep breath. “This is all I’m going to say and then I’ll stay out of it. First of all, we’re all on your side. I know you’re new to the group, but you’re one of us, and unfortunately that means you’re going to get my opinion even when it’s not what you want to hear.”

I nod as my heart picks up a little. I know I’m not really one of them, but it’s nice to hear nonetheless.

“The other thing is, I’ve seen you two together at the shop and here. We’ve seen you with Austin… and we’ve seen the way he looks at you. You may think he’s doing this because of his need to look out for you, but there’s more to it than that.” She leans forward. “All I’m saying is to listen to him. See what he has to say. You owe yourself that.”

I sniff and nod my head, not believing any of it. There’s no doubt that Austin and I have a good friendship. The best. But there’s nothing more to it. No matter how much I wish there was.