Page 315 of Nobody's Girl

“I really wish you’d quit calling her that,” I say. “Your daughter is treating me like a punching bag. I think she’s going to be a kickboxer.”

I laugh. “Well, thanks for walking over here to go to lunch with me. Are you going back to work now?”

“Where else would I be going, Kyle? Pregnant or not, we have bills to pay and baby things to buy,” she says with a tired voice.

“I know, Ally,” I say. “It’s almost summer break. I can work full-time hours at the bowling alley once school lets out. I might have a gig this weekend and that’ll bring in some extra money.”

She smiles. “We’ll make it, Kyle. I’m not worried. I won’t be off until midnight tonight. When will you be home?”

“Since you have to work, I’ll probably go hang out with the neighbor until you get home. I only have to work until ten tonight. I’ll bring pizza home for you,” I say.

“No! Not pizza, Kyle. It gives me indigestion. I’ll eat at the restaurant when I get a break. If I get a break.”

I stop and give her a stern look. “You better eat, Mrs. Stevens. Promise me.”

A frown covers her face. “I promise, Mr. Stevens. And stop calling me that. I call your mother that. It’s weird.”

I put my arm around her shoulders and say, “You could call her mom if you wanted to. It might soften her up some, to have you act more like a daughter.”

“I don’t think she wants me to act like that at all after her freak-out when you told her we went to Vegas and got married. I have the feeling she thinks you’ve made a bad mistake with me. Then we got pregnant right away and fueled her fire even more.”

“Once she sees that little baby, she’ll come around. We’ll have to get up there more often, once the baby comes,” I say.

“I don’t see how we can afford it any better than we can now. We haven’t been home since we left,” she reminds me.

I give her shoulder a nudge with mine. “You’re grouchy, Ally. You need to sleep more.”

“I wish I could, Kyle. I wish I could. Here we are. I turn right here and you turn left,” she says.

I let her go. “I love you, Ally. See you around midnight,” I say, then kiss the top of her head.

“Bye, Kyle, I love you too,” she says as I walk away.

I turn to look back at her, feeling like she’s sad about something. I see her accidentally bump into someone with her stomach. Then hear her say, “Sorry, I don’t always realize how big I am.”

“No need to apologize. It’s my fault. Have a nice day,” a guy with wavy brown hair on top and short sides says as he almost bows.

I turn and watch him walk down the sidewalk past me. He shoots me a smile and I look back to see my wife checking him out.

* * *

“I can’t believe these people,” I hear Eden say as he stands just outside the bedroom door. His voice woke me up and it becomes apparent I’m dreaming about Ally. That’s not good.

I rub my eyes and blink.  My dreams come flooding back to me. I close my eyes as I see Laura has spotted me awake.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” she says with a smile.

“Good morning, babe.”

Eden’s voice comes from the hall again. “Get dressed, Alyssa,” he tells her, then shuts their door.

He sounds mad.

What is going on in my head? Why am I dreaming that Ally and I are married and having a baby?

A baby girl. We would’ve had a baby girl if she was never chosen to be a bird.

I wonder if she saw my dream somehow and Eden saw it through her. That would probably make him pretty mad.