My Love Note Has Gone Flat

“You will always be my boo.” He whispered in my ear as we swayed a bit to the music.

“You’ll always be my baby.” I whispered back, turning around to face him. He rested his hands on my small stomach and bent down briefly to kiss it.

“Why are you kissing my belly?” I asked him, giggling.

“Because, maybe if I kiss it the baby will be in there.” He explained, pecking my stomach one more time before rising up and planting a soft kiss on my lips.

“Let’s hope…” I mumbled, wrapping my arms around his neck.

“If it doesn’t work this time, I promise, we can adopt.”

I nodded at his suggestion, but didn’t want to think of if the baby not actually being there. It’d happened many times before, but we were sure this time would work. Hopefully, just this time.

Sam and I had been trying to have kids for quite a while. Two years to be exact. We had been married about a year and a half, but we were engaged for over a year. Both of us were ecstatic to have children, but it wasn’t working as well as we had planned. Every time had failed, and we were giving it one more shot before completely giving up.

I really wasn’t ready to give up though. I wanted to keep trying over and over until it finally happened. Granted, that may’ve never happened, but it never hurt anyone to hope.

Right?

*

The rain pattered against the metal roof softly as I flipped through the channels on the television. Sam walked into the living room and sat next to me. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him then kissed my hair.

“Are you okay babe?” He asked, I simply nodded. “Let’s get out and do something.”

“What do you suppose we do? It’s raining.” I answered, sighing some.

“Charlie... This just isn’t healthy. Staying so depressed and keeping yourself cooped up. You need out.” He suggested.

“I don’t want out though. I’m content right here.” My cell phone rang and I picked up without even looking at who it was.

“Hello.”

“Charlie! Oh Charlie, are you home?” My good friend, Linda, asked on the other end.

“Mm, yeah. Why? What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“I just… I’ll show you when I get there. I need your help.” Her voice was frantic.

“Well, okay. I’ll be right here.”

I sat back on the couch with Sam and looked at him funny. He heard the conversation since I’d had my phone on speaker, and all he did was give me a simple shrug. Linda was never really in trouble, so it couldn’t be that. She probably had some juicy secret to share. Nah, that was high school business. Linda and I were already in college. We had matured a lot, but there probably was still things to share around the small community college.

I heard her old clunker pull into the driveway and I opened the dark red door before she even got out of her car. She ran up the steps and threw her arms around me before she made it to the door.

“Charlie, I have something to tell you, something to suggest.” She said, sitting in the chair by the front door. I sat back on the couch with Sam.

“What is it Lin?” I asked.

“I’m pregnant.” She mumbled. Sam and I looked at each other with wide eyes, and then looked at her.

“No way!” I exclaimed, she nodded with tears coming to her eyes. “Linda, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t keep him. Dad won’t let me because I’m still in college, and I’m still living with
them.” Linda explained.

I looked at her disbelievingly. Her dad could be mean sometimes, but that was over the top. What father would make their twenty year old daughter give up her kid just because she still lives with her parents and she’s in college? Then I got to thinking… Whoever the father is, is probably the guy she’s been with for two years, though she wasn’t supposed to be with him. If her father found out him being the father, that could be a good reason to give the baby away. Her parents absolutely hated Linda’s boyfriend. They thought he wasn’t right for her, thought he’d lead her down the wrong road.

Personally, I thought he was pretty rad.

“Is it Derek’s?”I asked, she nodded and wiped a couple tears away.

“Charlie, I want you to have him.”She said, my eyes quadrupled in size.

“Wh-what?”I stuttered, she nodded and stood up, lifting her shirt.

There was a small bump. Not as small as anticipated though. She was farther along than I expected.

“I want you to have Frankie. I can’t keep him, and I’m not giving him to some family I don’t know. I know how much you and Sam have tried to have kids, and I know how great of a mother you will be. I won’t trust anyone else but you. I want you to have my baby.”

The look on Linda’s face was sincere and true. I stood up from my place on the couch, walked over to her and enveloped her in a tight hug. She hugged me back and we both started sobbing together.

“You might as well be my sister, Linda. I’ll take care of that baby like he’s my own.”She rested her hands on her stomach and nodded at me.

“I love you Charlie.”She said

“I love you too, Lin.”