“Oh my gosh, look at you,” she bubbled, coming to a stop in front of me and placing her hand on my belly. I didn’t mind. I loved her enthusiasm.
“It’s getting more and more difficult to find anything comfortable to wear,” I revealed. “And sleeping isn’t the best right now.”
She shot me a sympathetic look. “Well, I think you look adorable. And once this baby is here, I’m sure the discomfort will be a distant memory.”
I didn’t think she was wrong, so I agreed, “Yeah. I think I’m getting closer and closer to that point where I feel ready to trade sleepless nights because I’m uncomfortable for sleepless nights because my baby needs to eat.”
Susie linked her arm through mine, jerked her head toward the restaurant, and urged, “Let’s go inside and grab a table before it gets too busy here.”
Coming out to eat right after work had been a wise decision, because Susie and I were quickly seated at a table. We perused our menus for a few minutes, and the next thing I knew, we’d placed our orders and were staring at one another.
There was hesitation to speak on both sides, which had the potential to make it awkward, but I think it helped me. I was relieved to know we were taking time to consider how to approach this, because it had the probability to be a very upsetting situation.
Finally, Susie declared, “So, my biggest worry in this situation became reality.”
I inhaled deeply, sighing as I released my breath. “I’m sorry, Susie. I never set out to have any of this happen the way it did. But I can’t change the way I feel.”
She shook her head. “I don’t expect you to. With the exception of Todd, who’s a bit of a loose cannon right now, nobody in the family blames you for where things are.”
I wasn’t quite sure what she meant when she said Todd was a loose cannon, and I couldn’t bring myself to ask her to elaborate just yet. Instead, I focused on the one good thing she had said. “I’m relieved to know that the rest of the family feels that way.”
Susie shrugged. “How could we feel any differently? We tried. We all tried back in the beginning to get him to see just how big of a mistake he was making, and he refused to listen to us. We warned him he’d come to regret his decision. And sadly, we were right. Aside from the situation with the pregnancy, he lost a great woman.”
“You’re going to make me cry, Susie,” I warned her.
She reached her hand across the table and covered mine with it, giving me a squeeze. “This isn’t supposed to upset you. I just think you need to know where the rest of us stand. We don’t blame you. By the time Todd got his head out of his ass, it was too late. And we all suspected that would happen.”
I lifted my napkin to dab at the corners of my eyes. “Thank you for being so supportive of me, especially after the most recent events. I think it would be easy for you to feel upset with me for not giving Todd another chance.”
“I won’t lie and say I don’t wish you and Todd got back together,” Susie informed me. “There’s nothing I’d love more than for you to be my sister-in-law. But I understand that Todd screwed up. He gave you the opportunity to realize you deserve better, and now he has to live with that decision.”
I chewed on the corner of my lip. I didn’t want to hide the existence of Brock from her, but I didn’t want to throw him in her face, either. “You mentioned that Todd is a loose cannon right now. What does that mean?”
It was Susie’s turn to sigh. However, before she could respond, our waitress returned with our drinks and dinner salads. Once she walked off, Susie and I returned our attention to one another. That’s when she shared, “He’s angry. And I think in this situation, it’s understandable he’d be angry. The problem is that it’s not the right kind of anger.”
She picked up her fork and speared her salad with it as I asked, “The right kind of anger?”
Susie chewed, nodding her head, and I took my first bite of my salad as I waited for her to clarify what she meant.
“His anger is based solely on the bitterness he feels that you didn’t wait around for him to come to his senses,” she explained. “I think he has a right to be mad, but he should be mad at himself. He’s not. He can’t seem to grasp that he’s the one responsible for being in the situation he’s in, and instead, he’d rather blame you and your neighbor.”
So, Todd did tell his family about Brock. “I wondered if he would mention that to you.”
“He did.”
The silence stretched between us for quite some time. I struggled with how to explain everything to her. Finally, I revealed, “I wasn’t looking, Susie. I was focusing on doing what I needed to do to prepare for becoming a single mom. In the midst of that, Brock was there. And I’m being completely honest when I say that there was nothing happening between us for months. He simply helped me out when I needed something done around the house, or we’d just go for walks together in the neighborhood. We were just friends. But it changed for me along the way, and things have only been official between us for just over a week now.”
Susie nodded her understanding. “I’m not surprised.”
“What?”
“You’re gorgeous, Mia,” she said. “And I’m not just talking about the way you look. You’re beautiful, yes. But you’re fun, laidback, happy, sweet, smart, and compassionate. I’m not surprised that someone else saw that, treated you right, and made you see that you deserved better than how my brother had treated you. Like I said, I’m sad that you won’t be marrying into our family, but I’m genuinely happy for you.”
Tears filled my eyes again. “Thank you, Susie.”
She waved her hand in the air as though I was speaking nonsense. Clearly, Susie was struggling to contain her emotions as well. “Ah, there’s no need to thank me. I’m simply grateful you still want to remain connected to the family despite where things are between you and Todd.”
I reached for Susie’s free hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m not going anywhere.”