"Hey, it's better than Georgiana Antoinette," she informed him.
"Infinitely better," he agreed. "I actually like Alyssa Jane."
"Me too," she said with a smile. "See, this is why we should go on road trips more often. We listen to Frank Sinatra and make important decisions like baby names."
"Alyssa Jane Turner," he repeated, nodding. "That works, but I don't know about Frankie Dean. I think you might want to keep looking."
Julie was sure that she meant to respond, but hearing him tack "Turner" onto the end of her unborn poppy seed's name momentarily stole her ability to speak. Actually, it made her feel a little nauseated.
"Alyssa Jane Kingsley," she corrected mildly.
That time he looked surprised, and it took him a minute to come up with, "Oh. I just assumed… I mean, that's how it normally works."
"When the father is present, maybe, but haven't we already established that I screwed my kid out of a father-figure?"
Frowning, Aaron said, "Not that I enjoy talking about this, but have you… spoken to him about this? I mean, I know Matt, and he may be a shitty brother, a shitty husband, and a shitty… boyfriend," he said, for lack of better word, "but he loves his kid. I think he would want you to give the baby his name."
"And I don't think that donating sperm qualifies him to decide that," she stated without looking at him, picking at the shell of her taco. "I'm the one that has to take care of this baby, I'm going to be the one to have to fill out all of his or her paperwork in school, and sign it up for soccer. I don't want my baby to have some last name that I know I'll never possess. Then for the rest of my life, my kid has a different last name. That's not fair."
"It's just a name," he said, shrugging. "You're still the one taking care of the baby."
"Which is why I deserve to share its last name, and since I'm sure as hell never going to marry Matt, why should I hand his name down to my baby?" Shrugging, she said, “Plus… I mean, then my baby and Anna are going to have the same last name, and I just feel like it will add to the stigma if I stick around here. Suppose they end up going to the same school—they're going to know, and so is everyone else. Anna's older than Alyssa or Frankie, and Matt and Emma are still married. Why is my kid fatherless? And then it all makes sense, and everyone knows, and then my kid gets a stigma and everyone knows Anna's father isn't the faithful doting husband that he seems like at the Christmas performances."
"All of that because of a last name?" Aaron asked, eyebrows raised.
"All of that because my child is fatherless and has a married man's last name," she verified.
"Well, it's also my last name, and I doubt I'll be married, so maybe people will assume it's mine, that Anna and Alyssa or Frankie are cousins. Plus, I don't know if you're aware of this, but Turner is not the most unique last name in the world—it could be anyone completely unrelated to my family."
She had barely made it past the beginning, and her eyes were wide, "Okay, so rather than everyone know about your brother's exploits you would have people assume you have a child just around the corner that you have nothing to do with?"
Frowning, he said, "Well, it doesn't have to be like that. And I'm sure you're thinking about this way too much; I don't think anyone is going to write a research paper about why Anna and another kid a little younger both have the same last name. Maybe if it was a different last name, but Turner is too common for anyone to think anything of it."
Pursing her lips, she finally said, "I'll think about it. I've still got time."
"I'll say," he agreed. "It's just a blueberry right now."
Her stomach turned again, and as the aroma of the taco hit her nostrils, she realized it wasn't the idea if tacking Turner onto her poppy seed's name that bothered her.
"Oh no," she said, shoving her taco at Aaron and jumping out of the car.
"What's wrong?" he asked, a note of alarm in his voice as he threw open the car door.
"Poppy Seed doesn't like Taco Bell!" she called over her shoulder as she ran inside the restaurant.
---
As with most good things, the road trip had to come to an
end when they inevitably reached their destination. Julie was glad to be going with Aaron, even a little proud that she was showing her support, but once they got checked into their room and unloaded their luggage, there was no more stalling to be done.
"The good news is we didn't have to go to the actual rehearsal," Aaron said as he parked his car and got out.
But to Julie and her suddenly food-unfriendly poppy seed, the post-rehearsal dinner didn't sound much better.
"Of course, I haven't talked to anyone yet, so… Matt and Emma could be at dinner."
Forcing a bright smile, Julie said, "Oh well. Poppy Seed doesn't let me have much of an appetite at this point anyway. Maybe I'll throw up on one of them," she added hopefully.