18. Living The Dream.

The day Charles Marshall found out Linda Baker was pregnant would be one of the happiest and saddest in his life although he would not immediately notice it because he welcomed the day like any other day: to the pitter patter of paws marching on his bed in attempt to awake him from his slumber. Charles rose to reward Sparrow with breakfast for being the perfect alarm clock, not too obnoxious, but always consistent then begrudgingly began to get ready. He pulled out a razor and inspected his skin, aside from a little stubble around the edges, he looked pretty clean, but decided that a closer shave couldn't hurt. When Charles finished his morning routine, he ascended the stairs from the basement and entered his mother's kitchen. Upon seeing her hard at work at the stove, he came up behind her, gently squeezed her shoulders and gave her a kiss on the cheek. They did the same song and dance they always did as Charles offered to take over cooking while his mother insisted that he relax, Charles telling her he just woke up and her telling him that he needs some coffee first, not wanting her bacon to get burnt on account of him being too tired. Ultimately, they both knew that she would always make the breakfast, but she liked that he offered to help.

After doing his chores around the house, Charles went for a 7 mile run before getting ready to go to the pizzeria. He knew his 5 hour shift would fly by because all he would think about was being with Linda after work. But to his surprise, when he got to the restaurant there was a note taped to his locker summoning him to see the boss. Charles the eternal optimist walked into his boss' office with a smile on his face as a lowly worker and after 20 minutes emerged whistling as the new assistant manager! Charles knew that this was the first step to living the dream. He couldn't wait to tell Linda. Had he known Linda was going to tell him she was pregnant and the child wasn't his, he would have gone home to share the news with his mother so they could savor the moment together. Instead he found himself sitting with his head hanging low listening to the lies from the woman he loved, seeing his future fall apart before it even began.