Page 23 of Unstoppable

"Like what? I mean, she is having your baby, isn't she? You need to do what's right, and I don't mean forcing her to marry you or anything as ridiculous as that. This isn't the olden days. But you need to make sure if she needs anything you are there. You know that right?"

"Of course I do, but you have no idea how stubborn she can be."

His mom laughed and said, "I like her already. How long have you two been dating?"

"We weren't or aren't. I honestly don't know where we stand, Mom. I met her before my trip at one of those events Jason had me go to for him. Afterwards I couldn't get her out of my head. It's bad, Mom, now I can't imagine what my life would look like without her and we barely know each other."

"Michael, that's how these things go. Love just smacks you upside the head and you are a sucker from that point on. It's a crazy, unstoppable force. Trust me, your Dad wasn't ready either when it happened to him. We were much younger than you two when we started our family. I won't say it will be easy, in fact it will probably be the hardest thing you ever do in your life, but it also the most amazing thing you will ever do in your life."

"I hope so. I just need to convince her to give me a chance."

"She will."

"How do you know that?"

"I saw the way she looked at you yesterday, she is just as smitten as you are."

"Mom, I have no idea what I'm doing here."

"I know. But you will figure it out."

It took Mike about an hour and a half to calm his mother down and get her to see reason. She wanted to run across the street to Andie's apartment and immediately take on the role of Grandma. Mike still needed to get Andie on board with him being Dad, so that wasn't happening. Sitting there across from her apartment, he spent the entire time just staring at her door. Luckily, he hadn't seen her come out of it, but curiously enough he saw a woman about the same height and stature of her leave not to long ago. She looked eerily like Andie, but he knew that wasn't her. He realized after the Andie wannabe left, that it must have been her sister. They just looked too much alike for them not to be related.

After meeting with his mom and catching her up to speed, he grabbed his laptop and called Jason. He was going to request some time off, and given the state of his personal life; he didn't know how long that was going to be. He needed to convince Andie that she needed him. In fact, with what he had learned about her so far, he might need her more than she needed him, and he didn't know how he felt about that just yet. His mother was convinced he was in love, claiming his father acted the same way long ago. He never saw himself as a family guy. Never considered kids, let alone a wife, but now that was all he wanted.

Jason wasn't so keen on him just disappearing from the company too long.

"Where the hell have you been? I swear if we keep recruiting idiots we are going to be out of business soon!" he yelled before he even said hello.

"So I take it things are running smoothly without me today?"

"Wise ass."

"Listen, we need to talk."

"I figured this was coming. Red and I were making bets before you asked off for the honeymoon."

"Bro, I am nowhere near a honeymoon right now. I think she hates me half the time we are together."

"Give her some time, she'll come around."

"How do you know?"

"Well, I figure if I could get Christy to give me a second chance, then anything is possible."

"Andie is beyond stubborn, she won't move in, won't talk about the future, won't let me do anything. It's maddening."

"I'm going to give you a bit of advice. I only learned this from dealing with a pregnant woman for nine months. Don't force her to do anything. It's not worth it. Besides, you two just met. Take her out, spend time with her, enjoy each other. Then try to ask her politely to date you. I mean, did you even ask her to be your girlfriend?"

"Not really."

"Define, not really?"

"No. I didn't ask her to be my girlfriend. That just sounds so ridiculous. We are adults and we are having a kid."

"Trust me, man, she needs you to ask."

"Fine. Listen, I wasn't calling for advice, and no, there isn't a honeymoon around the corner but I need some time off. I need to get my head screwed on straight and be able to spend time with her right now. I can't do that from thousands of miles away."

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