Ripe: A Stepbrother Pregnancy Romance (11 page)

Deanna was surprised. Elise was usually what one would call an over planner. She didn’t know her to ever leave anything up to chance.

“Well is there anything you need me to buy? I know Isaiah wants a Superman cake. He’s only told me about a dozen times. Do you want me to get it?”

“No,” Elise said, speaking more firmly. “As a matter of fact, we don’t have to have the party here at all if you think it would be too much work. I’m fine with having it at my apartment.”

“What?” Deanna was at a loss for words. “Elise, what’s the matter? Your apartment? Are you kidding? It’s the size of a shoebox. Of course we can have it here.”

Elise sighed. Maybe she was just a little emotionally raw, but she was getting pretty sick of Deanna acting like she was Isaiah’s mother, and she didn’t have the energy to keep maintaining the charade that she was fine. “You know, I thought I could trust you,” she snapped. “I thought you cared about me. About Isaiah.” 

“Elise, seriously, what are you talking about?” Deanna questioned, taking a step towards her and reaching for her arm. “Of course I care about you guys. How could you even insinuate that?”

“I’m not
insinuating
anything,” Elise countered, pulling away from her. “See, because from where I’m standing, it’s starting to seem like you care a whole lot more about Jesse and his interests than you do mine. I told you to keep him away from my son, and you promised that you would, didn’t you? I’m his mother, Deanna,
not you
. You don’t get to decide what’s best for him just because I leave you in your charge of him for a few hours a day. You don’t have any right to disregard what I want. That’s not what I pay you for.”

Deanna looked hurt beyond all belief. “Elise, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I deserve this. I haven’t done anything you wouldn’t want me to since the last time we talked. I don’t understand this. I really thought that we resolved the Jesse thing.”

“Oh, we did. That is…until some of the moms at the beach filled me in on just how often you’re meeting him. Last I checked, you definitely didn’t tell me about
that
. Look, if it’s really so hard for you to keep Isaiah away from Jesse, then just let me know and I’ll find someone else to watch him from now on.”

Deanna felt on the verge of tears. She had dealt with enough of this Jesse business for a lifetime. Maybe he was as bad as Elise claimed, because up until he came back into the picture, their relationship had always been great. Now it seemed like they were constantly having some kind of disagreement that threatened to alienate them for good. Deanna could agree that maybe she hadn’t made the best decisions in regards to Jesse, but Elise had so much blind resentment towards him that it was preventing her from seeing things more clearly.

Deanna made her way over to her kitchen table and pulled out a chair, motioning for Elise to have a seat.

“No,” Elise said. “I really need to get going. It’s getting late, and Isaiah’s hyper again. I’m already going to have a hard enough time getting him to sleep because of all the sugar you stuff him with. What’s with that, anyway? I thought vegans were supposed to be healthy?

“Elise, sit!” Deanna yelled, pounding on the chair. “I’m not asking!”

Elise looked shocked and a little unnerved, but she reluctantly obeyed.

Deanna slid down across from her. She crossed her arms and looked out the window for a while before turning her focus back to her friend.

“I’m sorry, Elise, but I’m tired,” Deanna stated. “I can’t stand this petty game of tug of war you and Jesse are playing. I don’t want to be involved any longer. It’s too stressful, and it’s starting to get in the middle of our friendship. Look, I can’t keep him from coming to the beach. I’ve tried to tell him to stop, and he doesn’t listen. He’s probably the only person I’ve ever met who’s more stubborn than you are.”

“How long has it been happening?”

“About a month, and before you ask, he doesn’t do anything but watch Isaiah while he plays in the water, and he never stays for very long. What did you expect me to do? Keep Isaiah away from all his friends? Tell him no when he asks to go?”

“God, why is this so hard for you to understand?” Elise shook her head. “Jesse threatened me, Deanna. He made it crystal clear that he wants to take Isaiah away from me. I don’t need him thinking I’m some deadbeat who’s letting her best friend raise her child.”

“Oh come on!” Deanna said. “Elise, he doesn’t think that at all, and for the
millionth
time, he’s not trying to take Isaiah away from you…”

“You can’t know that for sure.”

“Well that’s where you’re wrong.” Deanna sighed and shook her head. “I do know. Jesse himself
told me that he has no intention on taking Isaiah away from you. If you’d just stop letting your hatred for him rule supreme, you’d see that too.”

“You don’t get it,” Elise said. “I’m just trying to follow my instincts as a mother. You don’t have kids, so of course you wouldn’t understand.”

Deanna looked exasperated. It was a low blow and Elise knew it. “You’re right. I don’t know what it’s like to have motherly instincts, and while I agree that you should follow yours, I think we both know that isn’t what you’re doing here.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense, and deep down, I think you know it. You’re too smart not to. Just listen to yourself, Elise. You say that you’re afraid Jesse is going to take Isaiah away from you even though the only thing that he’s ever told you he wants to do is have a relationship with him. He wants to spend time with him, not rip him away from his mother. I think that if you were truly
afraid of him getting custody, you’d already be busy trying to lure him into your bed. Yet here you are doing the exact opposite of that. This is personal and you know it. You’re provoking him because you want to hurt him the way he hurt you. It’s like you’re enticing
him to battle you in court.”

“He’d lose without question,” Elise said. The vindictiveness in her tone was all too apparent.

“Yeah, you’re probably right about that,” Deanna agreed. “But he’s not the only person who would lose, you do realize that, don’t you?”

“Like I’ve told you a million times,” Elise said. “Isaiah doesn’t need Jesse. He has me. I’ve been taking care of him just fine, haven’t I? That isn’t just going to stop just because Jesse’s suddenly back in the picture.”

“That’s what I don’t understand. Why does it have to be a matter of you versus Jesse? Why can’t Isaiah experience two people who love him? Come on, Elise. You can’t deny the fact that the boy would benefit from having a father in his life.”

“Jesse isn’t a father!” Elise yelled, shooting up from her chair. “He’s just the guy who got me pregnant! He’s not capable of ‘loving’ anyone other than himself.”

“Elise…”

“No, don’t, Deanna. Just don’t. I think you’ve said enough, don’t you? The bottom line here is that
I’m
Isaiah’s mother, not you, and what I say goes. What I’m saying is that I don’t want Jesse anywhere near my son. If you have a problem with that, then tell me right now and I’ll start looking for someone else to watch him. Someone who won’t find my rules so unreasonable.”

The two women stared each other down for what felt like an eternity

With an elongated sigh and a shake of her head, Deanna finally backed down, throwing her hands up in the air in defeat. She stood up and started to walk away, but something stopped her in her tracks. “Elise, I know you don’t see it right now, but I love you, and I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk without this vendetta you have getting in the way.”

“Vendetta? You really don’t get it, do you? I’m a mother protecting my son. That’s all this is.”

Elise stormed into the backyard, grabbing Isaiah’s things up along the way and putting him in the car.

Deanna watched the scene unfold through her kitchen window and shook her head in pity. She couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take before Elise admitted that the fire Jesse invoked in her wasn’t as much hatred as it was love.

Chapter Nineteen

“It’s my birthday, it’s my birthday!” Isaiah announced as he bounced around the kitchen table, staring down at his presents with wide eyes. “I’m seven!”

Elise was running around trying to get all of the party preparations together to take over to Deanna’s, and she was more than a little frazzled.

“Isaiah honey why don’t go you play with the toys you already have until Mommy says it’s time to go?” Elsie suggested, glancing back at her son.

“Hurry!” Isaiah whined.

Elise sighed in exasperation, reaching up to massage her temples. Isaiah’s sporadic tantrums had slowed her down by at least an hour already. She didn’t have time for another one.

“I will, I will,” Elise reassured him. He was lucky it was his birthday. If it weren’t, he would have gotten a timeout by now. “Here buddy,” she said, stepped around the island counter in her kitchen and handing Isaiah a package of birthday hats. “Can you put these in that big box on the couch?”

Isaiah nodded, happily doing as he was told.

A half-hour later, they were off to Deanna’s. When they arrived, Elise almost had an anxiety attack when she realized what time it was. In just an hour, a slew of little kids would be running around screaming their heads off in Deanna’s backyard.

“Elise, it’ll be fine,” Deanna said as she watched Elise race around the house, double-checking the same items on never-ending intervals. Deanna knew what the source of her anxiety really was. Elise had let it slip that Jesse might be coming to the party, but she kept trying to convince herself that he probably wouldn’t.

“I’m sure he was just saying that to make Isaiah happy,” Elise said with a nonchalant shrug, but Deanna knew as well as she did that he would
most definitely
be in attendance. Of course, that didn’t mean she was about to say it after their altercation a few days prior.

Deanna did her best to keep an eye on Isaiah as Elise continued rushing around the house. “So, what’d you get him?” she questioned, keeping her voice low as she stole a chip from a bowl in the center of her patio table.

“A scooter,” Elise whispered. “You know, the kind every single kid his age has these days? I found one on sale at Target. I won’t be able to serve my magazine addiction for the next few months, but it was totally worth it. I can’t wait to see his face when I wheel it out.”

“You’re good,” Deanna said. “He’s going to flip when he sees it.”

“I know. I just hope he doesn’t get tired of it in like a week the way he does with everything else.”

“It’s weird. It seems like just yesterday you were bringing him home from the hospital. Now he’s a full blown kid. Where does the time go?”

Elise nodded, stopping what she was doing to temporarily reflect on the last few years of her life. Most of the time, the days seemed to go by at a snails pace, and yet here she was getting ready to celebrate her son’s seventh year of being alive. She could hardly even believe it herself.

“Anyway, where should I put the presents?” Deanna spoke up. “I’m assuming you want me to keep the scooter hidden, right?”

“Oh, no, I didn’t bring it,” Elise explained. “
That
I’m going to give to him tonight. I want it to be a special moment between the two of us.”

Deanna nodded, smiling at her friend before heading back inside to check on the food.

About a half-hour before the guests were to arrive, Elise’s nervousness kicked into overdrive when Jesse showed up. Isaiah was overjoyed to see him, though it was unclear if it was really Jesse he adored, or the fact that he was the first attendee at his party.

Deanna found it almost comical the way Elise bustled around the house. “Relax,” she said under her breath, attempting to talk her down. “Look, why don’t you go sit down for a minute? I’ll start putting the candles on the cake.”