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I hear the door open and quickly slam follow by Alex’s, “I’m back!” He waltzes into the kitchen, his hands reaching for Maria the moment he sees her. “Give me the cutie!”
Maria’s lips tremble, her eyes filling with tears before she lets out a loud shriek and squirms away from Alex. Alex looks absolutely broken, but it doesn’t prevent me from handing Maria off to him. If I don’t leave now, I will be late to class. Maria is usually fine with Alex. It was the loud bang of the door slamming that set her off. At least, that’s what I tell myself.
“She hates me,” Alex wails while attempting to cradle Maria close to his chest—and she’s really not having any of it.
I stifle the need to roll my eyes. “She doesn’t hate you.”
Lucas snores in response.
“Hey, honey,” I say gently, nudging Lucas’s shoulder in an attempt to wake him.
He flinches, his eyes snapping open. “Huh?” he asks while looking between me and Alex. “What happened?”
“You fell asleep.” I take his hand and guide him out of the kitchen and toward the staircase. “You should go up and get some rest. Alex is here to take care of Maria.”
Lucas yawns while he nods. “Yeah,” he murmurs. “That’s a good idea.”
“I can sing to you, if you want,” Alex says with a chuckle while following Lucas up the steps.
“Please don’t.”
I wait until both are upstairs and can no longer see me, then head back to the kitchen, fishing Mom’s invitation out of the trashcan. The glitter letters once again stare back at me, taunting me, telling me that if I am a good daughter I will suck it up and go. A part of me wonders if I’m being too harsh. The other part of me wants to say good riddance.
But can I really decline Mom’s wedding invitation? And if I do, will I regret it?
With a long, frustrated sigh, I shove the invitation into my purse and stalk out the house, deciding to worry about it when I get to class. At this rate, I am definitely going to be late.
***
I make it to Photography with five minutes to spare, huffing and puffing my way to my seat in the back, where Lauren and Charlie are waiting for me. I ran the whole way from the bus stop. I haven’t run since I found out I was pregnant, and even then, I was only running every now and then when Seth pressured me into it. There’s no way I am ever doing that again. My lungs feel like they’re going to crawl up my throat and leave me and there’s a stitch in my side that won’t go away.
“Are you all right?” Lauren asks me when I plop my body into the seat in front of her and practically melt into it.
“I will be,” I gasp. “Just give me a minute.”
“What happened?” Charlie asks, looking me up and down as if I have genuinely melted into a puddle on the floor.
“I had to wait for Alex to come back from his run.”
“Oh, that sucks,” Charlie murmurs.
Lauren frowns, looking as if I have deeply wounded her. “Shouldn’t the bros know you have to get to class?”
“Well,” I begin, hating that Lauren actually has a point, “Lucas was supposed to watch Maria, but he was up all night writing.”
Lauren rolls her eyes while Charlie sighs. “He knows you have class,” Lauren says angrily. “Why didn’t he make a note and go to sleep so you could make it to class without killing yourself?”
I shrug. “You’re right. But I don’t want to stand in the way of his dream.”
“So, you’re going to allow him to stand in the way of yours instead?” Charlie asks.
Once again, they have a point, and I hate it. “At this rate, I think I will have to push graduation to the summer session. I don’t think I will be able to get all my credits in time. I kinda failed half my classes last term.”
“You didn’t fail them,” Charlie rushes out, putting a hand over mine as if consoling me. “The professors understood you needed to take time off for maternity leave.”
“Which is great,” I add, “but this new schedule is killing me. I will probably have to drop a few to make time for Maria.”
Lauren nods. “That’s probably the right thing to do. You don’t want to push yourself too hard.”
