All Of Me

48

Brooke's POV

It had been three days since my scary trip to the hospital, and I felt like I was walking on eggshells. Scared that the next thing I did would push me over the edge again and I would lose Luke. That was enough to stress a person out right there. However, in those three days I had managed to get my car fixed.

I planned to go shopping with Paige or something, but she was nowhere to be found, so I decided to spend my off-day doing something I thought would relax me... I went to work.

I don't think I could ever stop being appreciative of all the clothes from Tripp. Every time I walked to my closet, I had something cute to wear, and when you feel like a beached whale, feeling cute was hard to come by.

Today, I picked a pair of light-wash jeans, a white t-shirt, and my Toms. Of course it was getting colder by the minute outside so I grabbed a jacket, but still, I looked cute. I braided my hair to one side, and headed out the door.

Luke was moving a lot and I sighed almost every time I felt his foot against my ribs. It was uncomfortable, but it let me know he was alive, and that's more than I deserved. I felt unworthy really, to even be called his mother. I hadn't even met him but I knew already he would be the most amazing, beautiful little boy. And I would do everything in my power to protect him.

As I laid in that hospital bed Wednesday, waiting to hear if my baby was alive, I understood my mother less and less, and to be honest, I didn't care to anymore.

At some point, I was that baby inside her, moving around, coming to life, and so was Paige, and I couldn't fathom how she could choose a man over both of us. I shook my head as if to clear it of the thoughts, and finally pulled up outside of Gracetown Café.

I noted that it was a fairly busy morning as I said hello to a customer leaving and made my way through the door and out of the cold morning air.

Carol narrowed her eyes at me when she saw me walk through the door. I smiled brightly, ignoring her frustration, and walked over, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. "I love you, Carol." I giggled.

"What are you doing here? Go home and rest! You're off 'til Monday." She gave a customer their change and bid them goodbye before turning to me and I shrugged, "The doctor told me to do things that relax me, so I am. Being here relaxes me." I poked my lip out. She shook her head at me and laughed a little. "I wish I knew why." Yay! I could stay. I kissed her cheek, "You know you love me." And I was off to make coffee beside one of the day-shift guys. Carly moved to New Mexico with her boyfriend, Riley, two weeks ago, and I had too much going on to even miss her. I felt bad. It was just Carol and I on the night-shift now, and I hadn't gotten to meet the day time guys yet. There were two of them, but only one was there on this day.

"Hi, I'm Brooke." I said from behind him as he was bent getting a pastry from the counter window. He was about my height, but young, I could tell. He had a boyish face, freckles, sloppy brown hair. He smiled a crooked smile and handed a customer their coffee and donut. "I'm Chandler." He stuck a hand out to me and I shook it. "You're Carol's daughter, right?" He asked. I laughed a little and tucked some hair behind my ear that missed the braid, "Not technically. She does have a pregnant daughter though." We both laughed. I liked Chandler.

The rest of the shift went well. I felt relaxed and seeing regular customers I missed getting to see while on the night shift helped me to feel more at ease. They commented on how I was getting 'bigger', and asked how it was going. I told each of them it was going great, for sake of detail and they were satisfied. The Café had become like a little family, and while most people hated their jobs, mine gave me a sense of belonging that I hadn't had since Texas.

Texas.

I missed Texas.

"The baby shower is Monday. Are you up for it?" Carol brought me back to the here and now and I nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I'm excited." And she smiled. "Brittany is excited to meet you. I'm sure y'all will really hit it off. Just meet me here at 2, and you can follow me over to my house." I smiled and nodded in agreement and we finished the rest of the shift.

Chandler was funny and kept us laughing, and I felt very much as ease by the time the shift ended and Luke was doing backflips. I said my goodbyes at 5:30, and headed home before it could get dark. When I arrived home, Paige was home.

Finally. Where has she been?

I walked in the door of the house and sat down my bags, noting that I needed to clean up like immediately. It was a mess. "Paige?" I questioned, walking around to each room before I heard her call from the bathroom, "I'm in here." I rolled my eyes. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in like five days." I spoke loudly through the door. "I was staying with a friend." Her vagueness was often frustrating, but I ignored it. I had too good of a day to start thinking about my little sister and her trouble making.

I popped a microwave lasagna into the microwave oven and then basically skipped into Luke's nursery. It was painted, and I had gotten a few little stuffed animals and sat them around. I needed a crib, and other things. I needed to buckle down and get it ready. "Just about two and a half months to go little guy." I poked my belly and he kicked in response. I laughed.

A knock on the door brought me out of my thoughts and I ran to answer it. Paige was setting up a homestead in the bathroom apparently.

I opened the door and saw Tripp, with a leash in his hand that was attached to the neck of a tiny furball. A wet nose, stubby butt absent of a tale, and so much fluffy.

"Surprise." Tripp smiled. "What is that?" I laughed a little and knelt down. The puppy tilted his head to one side, and his tongue flopped out of his mouth before he trotted over and jumped up, both paws on my knee and I patted his head. "It's for Luke." Tripp chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. Nervous habit. "Tripp." I admonished. "Are you going to tell our son he can't have a puppy?" Tripp poked his lip out and I stood, both hands on my hips with a smile. "I might."

Tripp snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me in for a kiss. I was being more used to how natural it felt to do that. I heard the bathroom door open and close, and tried to pull away but he kissed me more fervently even as I started to laugh. Finally he began laughing too and released me. Paige pretended to gag and we laughed. "There's a lasagna in the microwave." I told her, noticing how sick she looked. Something was definitely going on with her, I just wasn't sure what yet.

"Come on." I gave in and called the puppy in a baby voice over to follow me as Tripp unhooked the leash from his neck and closed the door. He clumsily flopped over to me and fell into the floor. He couldn't weigh more than 5 pounds or so. He was just so fluffy. He had brown fur, and white fur around his feet to make it look like he wore socks. The white spot on his stubby nose made me giggle. He looked up at me with innocent brown eyes and I called him, "Socks." And his floppy ears perked up. "Come on, Socks." And he galloped behind me into the kitchen area.

"I brought food and toys and a bed. It's all out in the truck." Tripp announced with a big smile. "He was the first mutt I saw when I walked in the pound. Thought you could use a friend to help you stress less. Not sure how big he'll get." He shrugged and I laughed. Oh boy.