“Language!” his mom admonished, then tugged me closer to her so she could whisper, “But he’s right. Although I’m sure you’re beautiful whatever weight you choose to be.”
She let go of my hands with a kind smile.
Whatever weight I choose to be.
That was a concept I hadn’t considered before. It seemed like everyone had an opinion on my figure—including Kevin the other night at dinner. It was just a foregone conclusion that I’d work on losing weight.
I’d never stopped to think about if that’s what I wanted.
After I pondered it for a second, I realized it was.
“I’d like to be able to fit into my old clothes, so I can stop wearing yoga pants and hand-me-down clothes from the ladies at church.”
Alan offered, “You could always buy new clothes.”
“I can’t afford new clothes.”
He paused to eye me up and down before responding. “We’ll talk about that later. And for the record, I like your yoga pants.”
“Oh-kay!” His mom clapped her hands as if to say, “We’re changing the subject!” She reached over to stroke Ruthie’s arm as Alan continued to burp her. “And this must be your daughter.”
I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at my little girl.
“That’s Ruth Margaret Bradbury.”
“Oh, what a beautiful name!”
Alan looked over at me and smiled. “I like Ruth Margaret Callahan better.”
So did I.
****
Alan
After Ruthie fell asleep, I walked into the bakery where Adam sat with Lainey, Conor, and my parents.
I’d barely sat down when my brother leaned his elbows on the table and hissed. “You’re getting married?”
I shot Lainey a dirty look, and she defensively replied, “It’s your own fault. You can’t say ‘I like Ruth MargaretCallahan’ in front of your parents and not expect them to have questions.”
My father was sitting directly across from me with furrowed brows and quietly asked, “What’s going on, Son?”
“I’m going to ask Jess to marry me after I meet with her parents tonight.”
I expected questions from both my parents, but the first one out of my mom’s mouth was, “Do you have a ring?”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jessica
Today had been surreal—to say the least. The only other time I’d felt like I was in a dream was when the pregnancy test I’d taken revealed two pink lines, and Jon acted like he didn’t know who I was after I told him.
But that’d been a nightmare. Kind of like the ride into work had been that morning.
But now it felt like something else.
Hope, maybe?
