Page 30 of A Little Thankful

“Are you saying…?”

“I am. Nothing wrong with it. Might be hot.”

More silence while we sat with the possibility.

Forrest stood, and held out his fist. “Who’s with me on this?”

Mace stood up, walked up to Forrest, grabbed his face with both hands and laid one on him. “There,” he said. “Let’s get that first one out of the way.”

Forrest wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand. “Fuck, that’s sick.”

I stood up and did the same thing to Forrest, even giving him a little tongue.

“Holy shit!” he said when I pulled away, rubbing his mouth. “Did you have to do that?”

“It’s gotta look authentic if she’s going to believe it,” I told him, thinking I didn’t hate it. Not my thing, but it didn’t disgust me like I thought it would.

He gazed down at the floor, then held out his fist again. “Fuck… let’s do this.”

And we all bumped fists like we did when we were kids playing sports, only this time our sport was sex.

Boom… here we go!

Sage 9

My mom conveniently took my dad out on a fifteen-mile hike along the river so I could be alone with Autumn’s potential daddies. My aunt Sylvia and Sami actually drove home for the next couple of days. Sami was desperate for her friends. At fifteen, friends were everything, especially when there were a couple parties to attend.

My grandfather had a hot poker game that required his presence, and my grandmother agreed to stay right here with me to help care for Autumn, who was down for her nap. I found myself leaning more and more on her for help and advice. Leaving her would be difficult, not to mention Mace, Hunter and Forrest, who, according to Gram, Autumn seemed to love more than almost anyone else.

“You should’ve seen the two of them last night,” she said, as we both sat at the kitchen table, drinking tea and munching on homemade oatmeal pumpkin raisin cookies, warm from the oven. I loved to bake with my gram. She was always so much fun.

“Oh yeah?” I asked, wanting to hear more.

“He had her belly laughing as he took her around the hall to see all the entertainment, and to meet some of the other kids. If that man isn’t the bio baby daddy, he sure should be. He’s taken to her like wings on an angel. It’s beautiful to see. Who knew a stuffy accountant could turn to mush with a baby in his arms.”

“I think I always knew that about him, knew there was a secret part of him that he didn’t like to show. Sometimes, it takes the love of a sweet little girl to bring it out,” I told her.

“Well, if he’s her daddy, she’s one lucky girl.”

“I think she’ll be lucky to have any of them as her daddy. Mace is sweet with her as well. And so is Hunter, although, I don’t think he’s had enough time with her.”

“Which means you’ll just have to stay longer to give him that time, especially if he’s her daddy.”

“Gram, you know my life is in San Francisco.”

She smirked, and tilted her head, a tell that meant she was about to give me some backhanded advice, whether I asked for it or not. “And just what kind of life is that? Do you have any friends? Any family there? And what about all your girlfriends here in Cricket? Have you seen any of them since you’ve been back? Do they even know about Autumn?”

Gram had a way of getting to the heart of things.

“No. They don’t know. I haven’t seen any of them since I’ve been back.”

“Well, I’m sure they’ve heard about her, and I bet they’re wondering what’s going on. Shouldn’t you tell them?”

I didn’t want to tell her that I’d ghosted most of them during the past eighteen months. Again, I didn’t want to be influenced. Besides, most of them had moved to other states, and weren’t even living here anymore.

“I will, just not today. Let’s do one thing at a time. Right now, we should be thinking about the results of the paternity test.”

The doorbell rang and a million butterflies took off inside my stomach. I knew I was nervous, but I now felt sick.

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