Baby Without Benefits

Chapter One

"Hills what are you doing under that piece of junk?" She asks.

I roll out from under what Amelia is referring to as junk and straighten up grabbing a rug to clean my hands.

"Well hello to you too Amy." I answer sarcastically turning to face my heavily pregnant best friend.

"Hi bestie." She smiles hugging me, her bump getting in the way in the most adorable way.

"Hi, what are you doing here? Unannounced at that? And how did you get in? " I inquire.

"In my defense I have been calling you all morning with no answer. You left your door open again!" She replies with a scolding look and that's when I remember that I left my phone in the living room and haven't bothered to check it from all the excitement.

"And now I understand why, so let me ask again, what is this piece of junk doing in your garage?" She asks eyeing it in distaste.

I smile and wrap my arm around her shoulders. "Oh my dear Amelia, what you are calling junk is a 959 Chevy Corvette C1, the perfect barn find." I explain happily.

"Okay sure if you want to call that crap pile a car but what is it doing in your garage?" She repeats.

"I am going to restore it." I declare.

"You are going to restore that?!" Amelia exclaims.

"Don't sound so shocked and yes it's my birthday gift to myself." I affirm.

"You know when most people buy themselves new cars they buy something from this century." She comments.

"You won't feel the same way once I'm done." I grin the future image of the fully restored beauty popping into my mind.

"Why do you need a brand new car anyway when you already have two perfect cars?" She asks referring to my Mercedes AMG GLE 63 and Ford F150 Raptor parked next to each other at the far end of my spacious garage.

"Those are for my day to day, this one is a passion project." I answer.

"I still don't get it." She expresses giving me a frustrated look.

I understand why Amelia is confused by the run down Chevy I just bought. Sure she will need a fresh coat of paint, almost all new parts but when I am done she will be quite the sight. But my purchase is much more than a passion project or the need to acquire a new car because just like Amelia has said I have two perfectly running ones from this century.

"This one is for mom." I tell her.

"Imma need more than that." She prompts.

"You already know this but growing up I spent a lot of time with mom. When we weren't blowing things up we were in the garage restoring cars. I guess this is my way of keeping her memory alive." I explain.

"1959? Her birth year?" She hums when she starts connecting the dots.

I nod. "Yes."

She gets this pouty teary eyed look on her face and hugs me, baby bump and all. "Awe Hills, I get it now and I know this must be hard for you."

"It's my first birthday without her." I mumble sadly.

"I know that's why I'm here and I brought a lot of alcohol." She says pointing to the open door where I can see into the kitchen.

On my granite table tops there is a gift basket with a bottle of wine, vodka and tequila from what I can see but there might be more.

"But you can't drink." I remind her looking at her protruding belly.