Chapter 11

"Hi, Mom," Simone said into the phone. "Yea ... no, I'm O.K. Greg and I had, well ... we had some issues. Mm-hm ... No, you know what, Mom? I'd like to talk about it with you and Dad tomorrow, O.K.? I'm kind of worn out. Right ... You know what would really help so much, Mom? Could you run the baby over here? Yeah... ? Did everything go all right? Yeah, I'm sure she's getting hungry again ... That would be wonderful, Mom. And, could you see if Kevin can come too? I need his help with something ... Thanks ... I love you too."

Thirty minutes later Simone's doorbell rang. As expected, it was her mother with the baby, and Kevin. Her mom brought the baby in and helped her to get settled. Kevin took his usual seat in the living room and sat quietly. Simone's mother inquired about Greg, and Simone asked again if they could please discuss everything the next day. Her mother understood and agreed. She said goodbye to the baby, Kevin and Simone, then she left to return home.

Simone brought the baby into the living room and sat down with her across from Kevin, who remained silent.

"I'll bet this is one little baby that's ready to eat," Simone said. Kevin shrugged but said nothing. "I don't think I'll have any trouble getting her latched on today."

Kevin tried to look disinterested as Simone unbuttoned her blouse and took one breast out of her nursing bra. But even though he tried to look away entirely, Simone saw him trying to catch a glimpse of her boob out of the corner of his eye.

"You know, I thought we were way past the 'embarrassed to see my tits' stage." Still no reply from Kevin. Simone put the baby to her breast and as she predicted, the baby latched on with no trouble at all. "There we go. I figured she's been so hungry that she wouldn't need any coaxing at all." Simone looked at Kevin, who looked back at her. "We need to talk, Kiddo."

"About what?" Kevin replied. "What did you need help with, anyway? You told Mom you needed my help."

"Look, Kev," Simone said, ignorning his question, "I know what I said to you this morning was really hard to hear. I know it hurt you. And I'm so, so sorry."

"I know, all right?" Kevin replied anxiously. "Why do we have to talk about this again?"

"Because I'm hoping upon hope that I can make things better with you again."

"Just forget it, Simone. I understand you have to do what's right for your family. You explained it and I totally get it." That comment prompted Kevin to glance around the house. "So where's Greg?"

"He's gone," Simone replied matter-of-factly.

"Gone where?" Kevin asked.

"Just, gone."

"Well, when's he coming back?"

"He's not."

Kevin stared at Simone, thinking he must have heard wrong.

"What?"

"He's not coming back."

"What do you mean, he's not coming back. Why not?"

"Well, here's the deal, Kev. I found out a few things this morning. First, I found out that Greg has another woman in his life."

"He does? Seriously?"

"I'm afraid so. He's been seeing her since early in my pregnancy."

"You're kidding! That's terrible! What a jerk!"

"My sentiments, and then some, Little Brother. The next thing I found out ... well, I found this out at the same time as the first thing ... he's taking the other woman to Jamaica. In fact, they're probably boarding the plane right about now."

"I can't believe this. How can he do that?"

"Who knows, Kev. I can't imagine it. Of course, I have come to realize in the last couple of weeks that sometimes things can happen even when we least expect. And we may have never dreamed we would be doing them. And then we find ourselves in the middle of a situation we never planned to be in."

She looked him in the eyes and gave him a gentle smile.

"Um ... yea, I get your point, I guess, Simone. But still ... well, was there something else you found out?"

"Oh, yes there was. I found out that Greg was not only planning to take his girlfriend to Jamaica, but he was planning to leave us altogether."

"No way!"

"Yes, way."

"You AND the baby? Well ... but ... is he..."

"He went. He wanted to go and I sure didn't want him to stay if he didn't want to be with us."