Brat (16 page)

I hugged her back, noticing that she even smelled motherly—like vanilla and spices and something else I couldn’t place. For someone whose mother constantly smelled like vodka, it was a pleasant change.

“Nice to meet you,” I said once we’d parted.

Before she even said another word, I knew. I didn’t have to interview this woman; something inside of me just clicked and I
knew
. Julie Hammond was going to be the mother of my child.

“I just think you’re being a bit hasty, that’s all I’m saying.”

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. Chase’s fingers flexed around the steering wheel as he drove us back to campus. I was on cloud nine after our short interview with the Hammonds, but Chase had to go trying to pull me down.

“They’re the ones, Chase, I can feel it.”

“We barely talked to them for half an hour. This isn’t as simple as whether or not you like some lady’s haircut! You’re talking about giving our kid to them.”

Swiveling toward him in my seat, I glared at the side of his head. “Don’t be a jackass, and don’t insult my intelligence! I know how important this is, but I’m
telling
you, they’re the ones.”

Chase clenched his jaw in agitation, breathing heavily through his nostrils. “Look, I’m glad you got good vibes from them. I did, too. I’m not saying they’re not the ones, I’m just proposing that we take a little more time to get to know them and think about it.”

“Fine, you go ahead and do that. Whatever it takes for you to get on board. I’m already convinced.”

In the back of my mind, I knew he was right and I probably sounded completely crazy. Still, I couldn’t discount my own gut instinct. I didn’t need any more convincing.

“I don’t want to fight about this,” Chase sighed, reaching across the seat to take my hand. “I just want to make the right decision.”

I gave his fingers a squeeze. “I know. Me too. Can we just do another, longer interview with them before we see anyone else? Please.”

Chase sighed again, but nodded. “Okay. I would be fine with that.”

“Great, I’ll call Angela tomorrow and set it up.”

He turned onto campus, navigating toward the Communications building, where all my classes for the evening were located.

“I’ll pick you up after class,” he said as he coasted to a stop.

Leaning toward him, I kissed his cheek. His stubble tickled my lips. “I love you,” I whispered before biting down on his earlobe and giving it a little tug.

Chase sucked in a sharp breath and shuddered. “Hmmm, girl, if you don’t stop that …”

I giggled. “To be continued.”

“Damn right. Get out of my car before I pounce on you. Oh, and I love you, too.”

Taking up my bag, I floated back up onto cloud nine and stayed there through both of my evening classes. Tomorrow was my orientation for my new job, Chase and I had finally found our footing as a couple, and the preliminary interview with the Hammonds had been magical. They were exactly the kind of parents I wanted for Blob. Matthew was a paramedic who also volunteered for The Red Cross when they needed trained professionals to offer first aid during and after disasters like tornadoes or hurricanes. He was smart without being condescending, and charming in a guy-next-door sort of way.

Julie was like one of those mothers you see on T.V. The only woman in real life I know that can compare to her is Jenn’s mom. We’re talking a jam-making, cake-baking, PTA attending, minivan-driving, recital and ball game mom. She was everything I’d always wanted in a mother, and everything I’d never had.

By the end of the night, I’d convinced myself even more that the Hammonds were it. I could barely remember anything from my classes, but I had decided to do whatever it took to convince Chase to choose them.

While waiting for Chase to pick me up, I glanced down into my purse and cringed. I’d found Kinsley’s diet pills and stolen them, hoping to stage a passive-aggressive sort of intervention. I knew something had to be done, but I wasn’t sure what, or how to go about it. I was winging it here. She was going to be pissed at me, but I was determined to help her in any way I could, even if that meant making her mad at me for a while.

Sure enough, when I got up to our room, Kinsley was waiting for me. Pacing like a caged gorilla at the zoo—seriously, the girl was huffing and snorting—she whirled on me when she realized that I’d arrived home.

“Where are they?” she demanded, pausing in her tracks and turning on me with her fists clenched.

Slinging my purse onto the bed, I played it cool. “Where’s what?”

“You know what I’m talking about, Chloe, don’t play stupid. My diet pills, what did you do with them?”

I shrugged and turned to face her, determined to stand my ground. “I’m not sure exactly. You know what they say about pregnancy brain … I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast this morning.”

Kinsley’s jaw clenched tightly. “Look, I know you’re worried, but I have this under control. Just another week, and I’ll hit my weight goal. Then I can stop.”

“If you eat a high protein, low grain diet, you’ll get the same results. The
healthy
way. Besides, you’ve lost more than enough weight, Kins, it’s time to stop.”

“I’ll decide when it’s time to stop!” she snapped. “Give them back.”

I shook my head. “This is dangerous, Kinsley. You’re going to hurt yourself, and I’m not going to let that happen.”

“You know I can just go out and buy more,” she scoffed.

“I know. Guess I’ll just have to misplace those, too.”

Shaking her head, she brushed past me. “Fine. I’m moving out of here and taking Jenn’s old room.”

Panicking, I reached out and grabbed her hand. “You don’t have to do that.”

Snatching away, she glared at me over her shoulder. “Apparently I do, since you can’t respect my property. I’ll be out in the morning.”

Before I could reply, she was gone. My hands were shaking as I slowly lowered myself to the bed, my mind racing as I tried to figure out my next move. Even though the confrontation with Kinsley had shaken me, I was more determined now than before to do something.

“Thank you so much for inviting us to dinner.”

Julie Hammond smiled as she set a tray holding a pitcher of sweet iced tea and four glasses in the center of the table. Chase sat beside me, and Matthew across, on the cozy little patio behind their four bedroom, Ranch-style house. We were filling our plates with pasta—ravioli that Julie has made from
scratch
—and salad, dining outside where the early evening weather was perfect and comfortable.

“Well, when you called and said you wanted to give us a second interview, I was hoping for something a little less formal,” she said as she filled the glasses and passed them out. “Besides, I figured if you were interested enough to see us again, you might as well see our home.”

Accepting my glass, I smiled, taking in the neat lawn, complete with flower bed and dog pen where two cholate labs ran and played. Dog people. The Hammonds were dog people. They just kept on winning and winning.

“It’s a great place,” Chase said between sips of tea. “Reminds me a lot of the house I grew up in.”

“Thank you,” Julie answered with a sweet smile. She settled into her seat next to Matthew. “So, you guys know a lot about us, why don’t you tell us about you?”

We spent the next half hour eating and telling them about our backgrounds, our childhoods, plans for the future, and even the story of how we met. By the end, they were in tears laughing about our hilarious meeting on Dasia Island.

“That sounds a lot like me and Jules,” Matthew said once he’d caught his breath from laughing. “We’re crazy about each other now, but we hated each other at first.”

Shooting him a dirty look, Julie nudged him with her shoulder. “That’s because you were a high-handed jerk.”

I smirked at Chase. “Oh my God, it’s déjà vu.”

“We were both volunteering for Red Cross after Hurricane Ike hit Galveston back in ‘08,” Matthew continued. “This little lady was working with a group of girls who were helping to pass out water and lunch bags to people we were bringing into a relief tent—the ones who weren’t injured, anyway. At least, she was supposed to be in the dang tent. Jules got it in her head to wander off.”

“I heard a little kid crying and screaming,” she insisted. “All the paramedics, nurses, doctors, and National Guard were busy and no one was close enough for me to flag down to ask for help. So, I took matters into my own hands. I found this little boy trapped in a basement. His house had collapsed and he couldn’t find his way out. I spent half an hour digging through what was left of the house before I found a way down in there.”

“That was when the wreckage shifted and collapsed on top of them,” Matthew added, shaking his head. “I was across the street with a couple of other volunteers going through the remains of another house. I just happened to look up in time to see her disappear into the ground and half the house come down on top of her.”

“Wow,” I said, my eyes wide as I stared across the table at Julie. “That must have been scary as hell.”

She nodded emphatically. “Oh, definitely. To make matters worse, a beam fell on my ankle and broke it. So, I was pretty much buried with this poor kid and couldn’t do much to help him out of his situation. Matthew spent half the day working with a team to dig us out. You should have seen his face when he jumped down into the basement and saw me lying there under the beam.”

“I told her she had no business moving debris around like that when she didn’t know what she was doing,” Matthew added, laughing at the memory. “I yelled at her for almost getting herself killed while I pulled the beam off and treated her ankle. Oh, but she didn’t take it lying down. She yelled right back at me and insisted she was just trying to help the little boy. By the time I carried her out of that basement, I was half ready to tear my hair out and half in love with her. After getting her to the tent, I watched her ask for a pair of crutches and go right back to work, insisting that she was fine. I saw how good she was with the little ones, calming them down and helping them cope with what had just happened … by the end of the day, I just knew she was the one.”

Julie smiled and threaded her fingers through his. “After a few months of dating, we got married and we’ve been together ever since.”

“That’s really sweet,” I said, “and terribly romantic.”

“She really is my better half,” Matthew murmured, having eyes only for his wife in that moment. She gave him a dreamy look and grinned. “My life couldn’t be what it is without her. The only thing that could make it better is having a child to raise together.”

“Not that we’re trying to pressure you or anything,” Julie added, giving her husband a loaded look. “Please don’t think we are. I can’t imagine how hard this decision is for you two, and you should be absolutely sure that you’re making the right decision.”

“Do you mind if I ask …” Chase trailed off, seeming to struggle with the wording of his question.

“Why we need to adopt a baby?” Julie finished for him. “It’s a fair question and we don’t mind talking about it.”

“We’ve been trying pretty much ever since we got married,” Matthew said, putting a protective arm around his wife. I knew instantly that their road to adoption had been long and hard, especially for Julie. Her face said it all. “Jules got pregnant for the first time three months after our wedding.”

“We were so excited,” Julie reminisced. “Starting a family right away was what we wanted and we immediately started making plans, picking baby names, the whole nine. I had a miscarriage at fifteen weeks.”

“She was devastated,” Matthew said. “We went to the doctor looking for answers and found out that Julie had fibroid tumors, and that was what had caused the miscarriage. Fibroids are usually easily treated, but Julie’s were located near her fallopian tubes; it was a miracle she even got pregnant the first time.”

“We tried so many treatments,” Julie said with a sniffle. Her eyes were starting to water, though I could tell she was trying to hold her tears back. “The medications didn’t work, so I agreed to surgery. We tried again as soon as we could after the first surgery, and got pregnant again about four months later. This time I carried the baby to twenty-five weeks. I developed more fibroids during the pregnancy, and even though they tried to treat them with drugs again, I lost that one, too.”

“It was a boy,” Matthew croaked, his voice husky with emotion as a lone tear streamed down his cheek. “We named him Tristan.”

“After that, I just didn’t want to do it again,” Julie sobbed, swiping at her eyes. There was no holding back the tears now. Even I was getting emotional, the lump in my throat threatening to throw me into a fit of crying as well. “The doctors told me another pregnancy would be a risk, and that was only if I could even manage to get pregnant again. So I told them to just remove my uterus and fallopian tubes. I didn’t want to have to cremate another baby.”

Julie lowered her head, her shoulders shaking as she tried to compose herself. Matthew held on to her, his presence steady and strong. I loved how this couple were like a perfect team. Julie was hurting, and even though Matthew was too, he was her rock. It just furthered my confidence in them.