Lakeside Love

It's All For You

The car ride up to Allistar Lake was quiet. I knew my mom didn't like being here. I'm sure it filled her with a lot of memories, from when we were little and things were stressful.

"Mum, what are you going to do all day?" I asked her.

"I'll keep myself busy with work, like I do every other day. Just don't have too much fun with your dad," she said.

When we arrived at our dad's house, we got dropped off in the street. Mom couldn't pull into the driveway, because then she'd be on my dad's property. We waved goodbye and then headed inside. My dad's car already had the trunk open for us to load all of my stuff in.

"Hey, there's my three musketeers! You ready?" my dad asked when we walked in.

"Yup. I guess we have to be," I said.

We went into my bedroom, which was still full of all my things. Just being there made me think of all the summer nights I'd spent, reminiscing on the fun memories of the day with my friends, or the late night talks on my phone with Brayden.

"I don't know when you'll be back, but you can leave as many things behind as you want," my dad said.

"I mean, most of it is summer maternity clothes, and it's still pretty warm out, so I'll probably take those with me," I said, suddenly looking around the room. "Wait. Where are my axolotls?"

"I moved them," my dad said.

"What? To where?" I asked.

"I'll show you in a bit."

I shook my head, putting a folded shirt in my suitcase. I knew something was up when we were getting a larger than usual amount of boxes delivered to our house. He took the day yesterday and turned his office into the nursery. I just knew it.

After my stuff was packed up from my room, we went out to the rest of the house. I had a lot of toiletries in the bathroom to pack, along with my favorite snacks in the kitchen cabinets. Korra made sure to disconnect her Switch from the TV and get that packed up. When she had all of it together, she hugged the console to her chest.

"My sweet baby, how I've missed you and all your addictive qualities!" she said.

"Well, that's everything," Karly said, coming back inside. "I'm ready for lunch."

"Hang on, I want to show you the nursery! I mean...what I did to the office," my dad said.

"You're the worst secret-keeper I've ever seen. Let's see it," I said, walking down the hall.

We followed my dad down the hall to his office, and he stopped us with his hand on the door handle.

"I know it's not much, but this is what I got started with," he said.

When he opened the door, I was amazed. This nursery didn't look like it was "just started." It looked like it was almost done! The little office was transformed into a totally cute nautical-themed nursery, with a gray, white, and pale blue color scheme.

Two white cribs were side by side on the wall, and the window had white curtains with gray anchors on them. On one wall, there were the paddles from the rowboat we used to have. On the opposite wall, there were starfish and seashell decals. All it was missing was a dresser, rocker, and changing table.

"Dad! This looks great!" I said.

"And no pink!" he said.

"Thanks. That means a lot," I said.

"What are you gonna do if one of their favorite colors is pink?" Karly asked.

"Or both?" Korra said.

"I think I'll just die then," I said. "You really did this all in one day, Dad?"

"I had a team. Brayden and Rock helped. Your boyfriend can put a crib together like nobody's business!" he said, walking over to the cribs. "I don't know how long you'll be gone, but just in case it's a while, these are convertible cribs. They turn into toddler beds."

"It'll be okay, Dad. I'm sure it won't be for too long," I said, giving him a hug.

"Well, I think we're all set. How about we go get some lunch and get your girls home, huh?" my dad asked.

"Let's do it!" Karly said, acting a little too enthusiastic about our simple lunch at Finnigan's with my friends.

"I'll be right there. I just need a second," I said.

I just wanted to do one final walk around the house. I've made so many new memories here. I stepped out onto the back patio and looked out at the firepit, which was surrounded by our mismatched lawn chairs. The amount of crazy conversations around that firepit were endless.

If I somehow made it back by the fall, I walked with Brayden and DJ about hanging out back there with blankets and cocoa. Brayden said that the colder weather was "the perfect fire pit weather," even better than in the summertime. I guess it made sense. The air was cold, the fire was warm, and there were no mosquitoes eating you alive.

"We don't want to be late, Kimi!" I heard Karly call from inside the house.

I rolled my eyes. Why is she rushing me? I sighed and went back inside. What good would festering in my happy memories do me anyway? I just had to get through this last lunch with my friends, then go home and hate my life, even if I did have a cool new bedroom and an awesome pregnancy pillow.

We got into my dad's car and drove down the hill, then to the end of Main Street, where we parallel-parked. When we stepped out of the car, it felt like the temperature went up a lot. It was ninety degrees out today. Thank goodness for the air conditioning inside the pub.

When we got closer to the entrance, something seemed off. Finnigan's was packed.

"Wow. What's with all these people at one o'clock on a Sunday?" I asked, following my family inside of the pub. But when I saw all those faces, it completely made sense.

"Surprise!"