It's Never too Late

“I was going to take the bus out,” Ella said. “It’d be fun, like a road trip. But I’ll need you to drive me around when I get there. Lord knows Nonnie and I can’t be spending all day together in that duplex you texted about.”

Ella had lost her license to a drunk-driving charge before she and Mark had started dating. She had to make it through another year of sobriety before she could get it back.

Biting back a retort, Mark stared out of the windshield into the darkness, as though the desert he couldn’t see would have answers he couldn’t find.

“You have that much time off work?”

“I can take that family medical leave thing, can’t I?” Things just kept getting worse and worse. “It’s not like I’ll be able to stand up all day as I get bigger, or even be able to reach the rods.”

Ella worked at a machine that required adjusting rods in quick succession. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t learn something new.

Not that he wanted the mother of his child doing manual labor while she was carrying his baby. But they weren’t financially p

repared. They had to have money coming in.

And it might not be his baby.

His baby.

Not too long ago he’d thought that was all he wanted out of life. His Ella. Them to get married someday. To grow old in Bierly.

And, eventually, in the distant future, for her to have his baby.

How could all of that have changed in such a short time?

“I don’t like the idea of you traveling out here on a bus all alone.”

“Mom said she’d come with me. If she don’t like it there, she can fly back.”

“What about her job?” He could give up his bedroom to Ella and Dot. Move out to the couch. They could stretch the food budget.

He just didn’t want to.

“She can take a leave. She’d have to, anyway, once the baby comes, to help out for a bit. But with hairdressing it’s not that big a deal. She can always do her regulars from home. Or go in after hours. It’s not like Gilda would care. We could get assistance if we needed to. Food stamps and all.”

Ella’s mom had had the same chair at Gilda’s Hair Salon since he and Ella had been kids.

“And if we stay in Arizona, she can get a job out there. Everyone needs haircuts. That way Mom can drive and we can drop you at work or school.”

He couldn’t picture Dot at the Valley Salon and Spa a couple doors down from Harmon Hardware and Electronics. He’d never been in there, but even from the outside, with its pretty curtains and fancy gold lettering, he could tell it was nothing like Gilda’s.

But there was always Phoenix.

“When were you thinking about coming?”

“I’m not sure. I have another doctor’s appointment in a few weeks. They’re going to do an ultrasound.”

A test to look at the baby. His baby? It was someone’s son or daughter. He should identify with it. Care.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, more because he thought he should than because he wanted to know. He wished the child Ella carried good health. He just didn’t feel any ownership of it.

“Yeah. It’s standard now to do the tests.”

Standard tests. They were covered by insurance. Mark sat up straighter, drawing a long breath of air into his lungs. “Your insurance will cover the pregnancy.”

She had to stay in Bierly at least until the baby was born. Had to stay employed at the plant. What a relief.

“I know.”