....The More They Stay the Same

....After a very nice "shower" with Mercy I made my way across the locker room to my bag as she dressed and headed out hte door to deal with this and htat before we left for Oregon. I shuffled the clothes around to get to the cell phone that had so rudely interrupted my "Mercy Time". I looked down at the phone flipping to the missed calls and the name stared back at me almost as angerily as she would have if she was here, "Lori Ann", it blinked at me...What could she possibly want now. I few weeks back she sent me papers for an official divorce, after some reluctance I signed them and sent them back to her. I was as free as a jaybird now, free to do as I please, so why call me now....

....I dialed her number and she picked up on the third ring....

Lori Ann: Hun, why in the hell didn't ya answer my call earlier??

Vinnie: I was in the shower nursing an ass beating, not that it matters....What do ya want now?? Don't you think you have skull fucked me enough with this whole divorce thing?

Lori Ann: This ain't got nuthin' to do with all that, Vin....

....She paused and I could almost hear her sigh and the worry in her voice....

Vinnie: Lori Ann, Darlin', what's wrong? I know you like my favorite boots and I know when you ain't right...and you sound that way now.

Lori Ann: There ain't no easy way to say this baby, I am pregnant...

I dropped the phone in utter shock, we hadn't been trying....As a matter of fact far from it. We decided that our lives were too jam packed with bullshit to put a kid in the middle of everything. But, that's when things like this usually happened.....

Vinnie: Well, what are we gonna do about this? I just signed off on a divorce you were practically beggin' for and now you hit me with this....

Lori Ann: I know, I know....Do you think I planned fro this to happen. Hell, I took 5 at home tests before I went to the doctor. I didn't wanna believe it either. We have to work this out, for the baby....I can't have a baby by myself Vin. This kid can't grow up without a daddy....

Shit, I knew how that was, my real daddy ran out on mama when I was knee high to a grasshopper and I was seeing first hand how it can mess up a kid if their mom wasn't always around watching Mercy deal with her crap over the past week or so.

Vinnie: I will tell you what darlin', I have to finish up this west coast swing with the fed but as soon as we get a break, I will head back to Hazzard and we can talk about what to do. Don't do anything stupid til I get back, I make enough stupid decisions for the both of us....

She agreed and we both laughed as we hung up. We ended with an awkward I love you and then there was nothin' but silence on the line. I set the phone down next to me and put my head in my hands.....How in the hell am I gonna tell Mercy about this and how in the hell is a guy like me gonna be a dad.....

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