Lover Boy: All American Boy

Staring at the pregnancy test, Nikki’s fears had bubbled to the top of her heart and immediately overwhelmed her. She loved Austin, but she knew he didn’t feel the same – no one did. Her mother had left their family in disarray when she ran off with the boss of Nikki’s father – thus having her father fired and blacklisted in the financial world, all at the same time. Her mother didn’t care that she upended Nikki’s world, or that her father would never recover and lose himself to the bottle. Her father’s love for her slipped through the amber liquid, along with his health and his will to live. The only love Nikki felt was that from her aunt Andrea, Melanie’s mother. She had taken her in as Nikki’s guardian and given her shelter from the cruel world.

Once again, Melanie and Andrea had been her rock as she fled from Carson and needed a place to think. They were with her the time she was rushed to the hospital when she started bleeding while working at a local restaurant, and they held her hand as she heard the baby’s heartbeat echoing in the small room. It was at their insistence that she found herself back in Carson. They urged her to tell Austin about the baby, Melanie gently assuring her that everything would work out for the best. And if it didn’t, she had added kindly, she could always move back to Georgia with them.

Nikki didn’t know yet if she had made a mistake by coming back to Carson, but after her hormonal outburst at the Connelly Christmas gathering last night, she felt she had made the worst out of an already turbulent situation.

Peeking out from the guest room, Nikki glances into the hall before grabbing a pair of leggings and a sweater from her suitcase, attempting to quietly make her way to the bathroom. She only makes it two steps before the hardwood floor squeaks and Logan’s deep voice booms from the kitchen.

“Nikki, is that you?”

Taking a deep breath, she nervously shuffles toward the kitchen, taking great care to make sure that the pile of clothing in her hands forms a protective barrier in front of her body.

“Hey,” she responds softly.

“Morning, Nik. Can I make you something to eat?” he asks, flashing a genuine smile in her direction. That same smile in the past would have been something she would have taken as a flirtatious invitation, but now she sees that it is the smile Logan gives to his friends.

She bites the edge of her bottom lip and shakes her head no, saying that she didn’t want to be a bother: she would grab something while she went out looking for a job.

“Nonsense. Avery’s been craving pancakes, so if you’re okay with that, I’ll make you a batch as well.”

Nikki laughs lightly at his commanding tone, knowing that she will have no choice but to eat those delicious-smelling pancakes, or Logan would tie her to the chair and let Avery force-feed her.

“Hey, I was wondering if you were awake,” Avery whispers from behind Nikki, startling her.

“Oh my gosh, please don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“Not my fault you were in your own little world. Ooooo, Logan are you making pancakes? God, I love you.”

“I am, sweetness. I was just telling Nikki that I’ll make her a batch, too.”

“Good, and make that two for her please,” she says, turning to face Nikki once again. “You’re far too skinny to be almost five months pregnant.”

“I was really sick, Avery. The only nourishment I had was through an IV. I’m just now able to eat real food again, so please keep your comments to yourself,” Nikki snaps. A growl reverberates from the kitchen before Nikki notices the wetness swimming in Avery’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Avery whispers, “you’re right. It’s none of my business.” She moves quickly to join her fiancé in the kitchen, swiping at her face to remove the unwanted tears.

“God, Avery. I don’t mean to be a bitch. It’s these hormones I swear. I just…” Nikki murmurs, shuffling her feet from side to side. “I just was really, really sick. So sick that the IV is the only thing that kept me alive. I couldn’t even keep down water. But now I’m fine and the baby is healthy, so I’m trying to forget my time in the hospital. I didn’t mean to get angry at you.”

“I wish I had known you weren’t well. Every time I spoke with you, you told me that you were working and getting yourself together. I had no idea the personal holiday you took was because you were pregnant. You never even hinted at it.”

“I didn’t know you were pregnant either, but you look beautiful. I’ve never seen a more radiant mother-to-be.”

And truly, she was stunning. Avery and Nikki had formed a close bond when Melanie brought her to Carson. Her backstory was a tragic one. A family hell-bent on making her invisible and a fate that so unjustly took her sister and two fiancés. She had also had a hard life, and the two connected immediately. At first, it had hurt when she noticed Logan had taken an immediate liking to her, but it was hard not to like Avery. She was an empty soul with a dire need for love, and once she accepted her place with Logan, everything else fell in line. Which was why Nikki wasn’t surprised to find out that Avery was only a month behind her in pregnancy, a large rock balanced perfectly on her delicate ring finger. Logan looked at her as if she was all he could see, and Avery mirrored that look. There was no denying the connection that they had together; a connection that made it all the more evident that Nikki and Austin weren’t ever going to find a happy ever after. A lusty haze is all they saw each other through - a lusty haze that had taken over every aspect of their lives when they were together.

And now after Nikki rushed through breakfast and a shower, and riding with the nosy townspeople on their small bus system, she hoped against all hope that she had made the right choice in coming back to Carson. She didn’t want to be a burden to anyone, especially her friend Avery, but it seemed that since no one was hiring and all the cheap apartments in the next town were full, Nikki was going to have to rely on others. She hated that more than anything.

Relaxing against the headboard in the guest bedroom, Nikki types furiously away on the keyboard of her laptop until her phone startles her from her trance. She sighs heavily, hating to stop her work when she got to such a good part, but after seeing the name that flashed across the screen, she knew she needed to take the call.

Taking only enough time to save the secret project she was working on - a story that had been agonizing her mind for years – she answers the phone.

“Hello?”

“Meet me in twenty minutes at Angie’s,” he commands.

“Huh?”

“Twenty minutes, Nikki.”

Click.