Page 56 of Babydaddy To Go

Grams won’t take no for an answer, so I grab her gathering basket and head for the coop. We don’t keep many animals on the ranch, but the chickens have been a constant since I was a kid. I used to come out here and play. When I was really little, I named every single one of our twenty-chicken flock. I couldn’t keep track of them unless they had unique markings, like Hank with the black spot on his cheek or Frodo with brown feathers shaped like a star on his wing, but it was fun giving them names and stories.

It did make it a bit harder when Gramps would serve one of my feathered friends for dinner, though.

I take my time marching across the expansive property. Growing up, it was nice to have so much room to run around and play, but it got lonely, too. There were many days when I wished I had siblings to play with. The chickens were my playmates most of the time, and they hated playing house. The hens never wanted to do the dishes.

“Hello, girls,” I say to the hens in the egg coop. These are the chickens that aren’t being bred. We use them just for eggs. That also means they’re in no danger of seeing the dining room table.

The chickens cluck in response.

“I’ve missed you, too,” I laugh. Most of the hens move off their nests so I can gather up the eggs. Some of them require a push, and my arm gets pretty scratched up from the encounters.

I’m on the last nest when a noise outside catches my attention. The sound of crunching gravel overpowers the clucking hens. Who could that be? No one comes to visit this early. Grams would kill them for interrupting breakfast.

I poke my head out the coop door just in time to see a sports car with tinted windows making its way up the drive.

No way. It can’t be.

I pull my phone from my back pocket. Soon after I left New York on Monday, my phone was bombarded with texts from Nate. I didn’t read any of them and blocked his number so he couldn’t contact me anymore. A part of me was curious as to what he wanted after three days of radio silence, but I stayed strong. It’s for the best.

Or so I thought.

The shiny black car comes to a rough stop on the gravel driveway. I can’t peel my eyes away when the door opens and out steps a handsome, tall man that I know by heart.

Nate looks at our modest ranch. What is going through his mind? He’s probably thinking about the fact that my home could fit into his living room and there would still be space for the couch.

One of the hens, quiet until now, squawks so loudly that I jump. The commotion catches Nate’s attention. His head turns towards the chicken coop and his eyes land on mine.

I want to retreat into the coop and hide with the chickens until he’s gone, but I can’t move my feet. Nate is having the opposite problem. He crosses my grandparents’ large backyard in a record number of strides.

Within seconds, he’s standing in front of me the way he was just a week ago. His eyes are full of sorrow and lust.

Without a word, he cups my cheeks in his and pulls our lips together in a passionate kiss.

As far as hellos go, it doesn’t get better than this.

19

Nathaniel

Friday

Pulling away from the kiss with Alyssa is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I would happily keep our lips attached for the rest of time, but we need to talk, too. Alyssa deserves an explanation and an apology.

I stare deeply into Alyssa’s eyes as we slowly tilt our heads away from each other. If I wasn’t sure before, I’m absolutely positive now.

This is the woman that I love.

“I love you,” I say out loud for the first time. The words taste almost as delicious as Alyssa’s lips. Even the smell of chicken excrement can’t ruin the beauty of loving this woman. I say it again for good measure. “I love you.”

Alyssa looks stunned at first as she struggles to process my words, but a slight smile plays at her lips. She takes hold of my shirt and pulls me against her.

“Why did you believe that I’d cheat on you?” she mumbles into my chest.

I wrap my arms around her and hold tight. If I have it my way, I’m never letting go again. This past week without her has been the worst week of my life. When I found out about Samantha’s ploy on Monday, I wanted to force my driver to take me all the way to Maine immediately. I couldn’t just leave the school hanging, though. Plus, I couldn’t show up at Alyssa’s house without some semblance of a plan. So I told the school to get a substitute instructor for today’s class so I could come up and win Alyssa back. I couldn’t have waited until the weekend – I need her now.

“I’m so sorry, Lissie,” I begin. “I never should have jumped to that conclusion. It’s just, I’ve been used before. When you have money, you’re constantly worried about why people are with you. Seeing those texts, I thought the worst. I assumed you were just like the women who only want me for the number of zeroes in my bank account. I hate feeling like a dollar sign rather than a human being.”

“Oh, Nate, I would never be like that! I love you, not your money.” She plants sweet kisses on my neck to drive her point home.