Can This Be Happening? Ch. 06

Megan sat on her couch and flipped through the channel's rapidly. One program blurred into the next.

"It's been almost two years Meg." Ashley said as she sat down next to her on the couch.

"I know." Megan smiled but her eyes were blank.

"Don't you think you should call him?"

"He made his choice when he walked out the door." She stood and walked into her room. "It isn't like he's been beating down the door, Ash."

"He might if he knew."

"He knows." Megan walked back into the living room and picked up the toy truck from the floor. "I called him when I found out. I told him that I was pregnant and he said that it couldn't be his because we used a condom. He made it sound like I was the one who made the condom break." She rolled her eyes as a single tear rolled down her cheek. "He's the only one I've been with for five years." She wiped the tear from her cheek. "There isn't anymore that I can do."

"How come you never told me all of this?" Ashley wrapped her arms around Megan and pulled her into a hug.

"I didn't want you to hate him." Megan let out a short laugh when Ashley's face hardened. "I don't mean to laugh but I knew that's how you would feel. I thought it was just better if you didn't know." Megan stood and put the truck into the toy box. "Nobody knows. Just you and me."

"And Kevin."

"He made his choice. I can't hold that against him." Megan smiled genuinely. "I was mad for a long time, but he gave me Parker and I will always love him for that."

"He is a doll, isn't he?" Ashley looked at the photo's of the blond haired, blue eyed boy.

"He's my everything." Megan smiled into the picture.

*******

Kevin sat in the booth at the back of the Italian restaurant. His blue eyes scanning every person that walked into the seating area. He saw a tall blond walk in and started looking her up and down. Lean, long legs. Nice ass, trim waist. He was nodding to himself when she turned around.

"Ash?" He stood and walked to the entrance of the seating area. He held his arms out. "How are you? It's been at least a year since I've seen you."

"Kevin." Ashley put a small smile on her face.

"Are you here alone?" Kevin noticed she was looking around. "Maybe meeting someone?"

"I'm looking for..." Her eyes lit as she knelt to the ground. Kevin saw a small boy just over a year old come walking towards her. "Hey buddy!" She said as she wrapped her arms around him. She stood and positioned him on her hip. Ashley blew a kiss on his cherub cheek and laughed when he giggled at her. "Kevin, this is Parker."

"He's cute." Kevin smiled at the boy.

"Can you say Hi?" Parker waved his chubby fist at him and smiled. "Hi" he said. "Mum mum." Were the next words out of his mouth. Ashley set him down and watched as he wobbled back to where he came from. Through the crowd, Kevin watched a petite woman bend down and pick him up. His breath caught in his throat. No sooner did he get his breath back, Ashley was walking past him and hugging Megan. Her face lit as she hugged Ashley back. She was nodding at something Ashley was saying and switching the kid from one hip to the other. He noticed that Megan had kept on some of the weight she had gained during her pregnancy.

She looks good, he thought. She always looked better with a little more weight on her. Kevin walked through the crowd. He stood just behind Ashley and waited until Megan looked at him. Slowly her eyes looked past Ashley and locked on his. A smile automatically came to her face. It was a genuine smile.

"Kevin. How are you?" Megan asked. Kevin stood, slack-jawed looking at her. "Are you alright?"

"Uh, yeah." He smiled, laughing just a little. "I'm great. You look good."

"Thanks. Motherhood agrees with me." Megan looked at the boy trying to get out of her arms and down to the floor. "This is..."

"Parker. Ashley introduced us." Kevin interjected. He stood there and stared at the boy.

"I hate to do this Ash but I have to go."

"But why?" Ashley asked, a little whiny. "I don't get to spend that much time with him anymore."

"I know and I'm sorry but it's getting late. He needs a bath and he has to get to bed."

"Alright. I'm claiming Saturday afternoon, though. Parker and I have a date with Chuck-E-Cheese." She smiled as she spoke the last to Parker. Ashley took him from Megan and planted a kiss on his cheek and hugged him. "Love you buddy." She said. "Call me if you get an afternoon free. We could get some lunch or something."

Megan laughed at that. "What's a free afternoon again?" She pulled her purse on her shoulder along with a diaper bag. Taking Parker in her arms, she gave a quick hug to Ashley and walked out of the restaurant. Kevin still stood there, staring at her retreating back.

"I didn't believe her." He said, almost to himself.

"Huh?" Ashley asked.

"When she told me, I didn't believe her. I thought she was just saying it to make me come back to her."

"She would never do that." Ashley's face looked angry.

"I wasn't exactly thinking the most rationally at the time." Kevin was starting to get mad, so he decided to direct it at Ashley. She was standing there and he didn't want to put the blame on himself, where it belonged. "I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I thought we were good. Then she walked away from me to go to you that night. I didn't want to be second. That's how I always saw it. You would always come first and I couldn't compete."

"Well, that's just stupid." Ashley put her hand on his shoulder. "Maybe it's time you did something about it." She smiled softly at him. "He's a great kid, Kev. Every once in a while, when he's just about to get into something he knows he shouldn't, he gets this smile on his face. It's the same smile you get when you're about to do something you know you shouldn't." Ashley sighed.

"I don't know how to get back to where we were."

"You can't. Megan is a different person than she was two years ago. She's stronger. She has to be." Ashley stepped out of the way of a man that was trying to get by her. "Look, I was planning on having dinner with Meg but that didn't work. Could I buy you a drink? Or are you meeting someone?"

"I was supposed to meet someone but I don't feel up to it now. A drink would be good." Kevin and Ashley sat down into the booth that he was at when she walked in. They sat and talked for over and hour. Ashley gave Kevin a quick once over on Megan and Parker. Ashley also found out what Kevin had been up to.

At close to eleven that night, Kevin found himself on Megan's doorstep. He knocked softly. He turned and looked out at the neighborhood. It was a good area. He heard the lock turn and Megan opened the door. She was standing there in her pajama's. She looked like she just rolled out of bed. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, well, I uh, I wanted to say I was sorry." Kevin looked down at his feet. He kicked the toe of his boot on the boards of her porch.

"Couldn't you have said that, say maybe when the sun was out?" Megan crossed her arms on her chest. "Do you know what time it is?"

"I know it's late, I'm sorry." He looked into her eyes and saw a flicker of hurt before she blinked it away. "I just spent the last hour talking to Ashley. I've been an ass and I don't know how to say I'm sorry for that."

"Well, come on in." Megan opened the screen door. "If we're going to talk about this I at least want a cup of cocoa." Kevin walked in behind her. He closed both the doors quietly. "Would you like something? I have water, juice, milk and cocoa."

"No Diet Pepsi? That was always what you drank." He smiled as she turned back to look at him.

"I stopped drinking caffeine when I got pregnant. I never took it back up. I don't drink coffee anymore either." Megan smiled and filled the tea kettle up with water. She set it on the burner. When she turned, Kevin was standing very close behind her. She side-stepped him. "I don't drink any kind of alcohol either. It's been good for me." Megan pulled the cocoa from the cupboard. She felt his body behind her. She set the canister on the counter and let out a long sigh.

"We've been in this position before." He ran his hands up her arms. He ran his palms across her shoulders and massaged the knotted muscles there. She let out a soft moan, his fingers working magic on her tensed muscles. He stilled his hands and tested his chin on the top of her head. "There never was anyone else, was there?"

Megan shook her head. She felt the tears in her eyes and pushed them away. "I don't have time to play games Kevin. I have someone else I'm responsible for now. He's my world."

"I want to be a part of that world. I want you. I want him, I want it all." Kevin wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. "I will take it anyway you want to give it. But I'm not walking away from you again. I love you, I always have but I didn't want to share you." He felt her tense and made a 'shhh' noise. "Listen. That was two years ago. I've learned a bit since then. I know that no matter what, Parker will be the most important person to you. I'm okay with that because he'll be the most important person to me too." He turned her so that she was facing him and put his fingers under her chin to make her look into his eyes. "It isn't going to be an over night mission. It will take a while and I'm ready to do that. I'm ready to spend the rest of my life letting you know that I will always be there for you. For both of you or more kids, if you'd like." Megan smiled slightly with that. Kevin rested his forehead against hers. "What do you say? Are you willing to give it a shot? It's all or nothing Meg."

A single tear rolled down her cheek. "All." She whispered. "I want it all."