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Josh opened my door. “Yeah, I do. She’s actually a nice person, Avery. You’d like her if you got to know her.”
I sat in the passenger seat, waiting for Josh to jog around to his side. “If she were interested in getting to know me, I’d be friends with her, too. Don’t you see it, Josh? You can’t be that blind.”
“She works the late shift, Avery. I’m off when she’s off. Otherwise, she’d be bugging you to run her errands for her.”
I frowned. “Is this the first time she’s called you for something?”
“Er … no. But sometimes I’m busy.”
“Josh, you are not her husband! Stop letting her order you around!”
“Okay, Avery. Don’t get upset. I’ll fix this.”
“You’d better,” I said, settling back into the seat.
Tipping the longneck to my lips, I let the beer slide down my throat, soothing the itch that had been forming. Winter had come and gone. The March air was warm, but I still wore my old hoodie. It smelled like Avery.
“Shots no longer doing it for ya?” Ginger ran her bar rag over the wooden surface. She was smiling, but her eyes showed how long of a day she’d had.
“Needed a change of pace,” I replied, leaning the bottle back to read over the label.
“Everything okay with you and the old lady?”
I nodded, chuckling at her terminology. Ginger had recently been seeing Bear, a meathead biker who rarely showered. He was already rubbing off on her.
“She’s a little stressed,” I said.
“Hormones.”
I nodded and took another swig. It was more than the baby on the way. In fact, Avery loved every minute of being pregnant, even with all the aches and pains that came with being thirty-one weeks along. As time passed, she’d grown more agitated. She’d even begun to suffer from hallucinations, and they’d been happening more frequently.
It was scary as hell, but we’d been to the doctor, taken as many tests as being pregnant would allow, and our only option was to try meds she couldn’t or wouldn’t take.
“It’s not just hormones, Ginger.”
“How did the tests come out?” she asked.
I shrugged, taking another swig. “With her fluctuating hormones, the doctor is reluctant to diagnose her. The MRI didn’t reveal anything, either.” I was beginning to worry it was all just in our heads.
“Is she still working so much? That can’t be good.”
“No,” I said simply. I’d convinced her to cut back at work because the stress seemed to make things worse. At first, Avery was resistant, until she saw how terrified I was that something may happen to her and our daughter.
My mind went to Kayla and how she may have looked today, on her twenty-third birthday. A black cloud had always hovered over March sixth, but today it seemed worse knowing that soon I would have my own little girl to look after. I couldn’t help but worry that just because Avery hadn’t experienced the extent of my bad luck, Penny might.
I wondered if she would take after me, dark hair and light eyes, reminding me of Kayla. Maybe even curly tendrils like the ones I used to tug on and laugh when they sprung back into place.
A chill ran up my spine, thinking of those curls being wet and sprawled across the grass.
“You stalking me now?”
I glanced over my shoulder as Hope slid onto the stool next to me, pulling her pink hair up into a high, messy ponytail. It was now fuchsia instead of Pepto-Bismol. She was still wearing her white T-shirt and black slacks for her waitressing job.
“I was here first. That’s not how stalking works.”
I held up a finger to Ginger, letting her know I needed another beer. She noticed Hope and arched an eyebrow.
“I’ll get her drink, too,” I said, feeling the alcohol burn through my veins. “That doesn’t mean this is a date.”
“Of course not. Thanks,” Hope said, flicking her hair behind her shoulder.
“What are you doing here?”
“I needed a break, and I remembered this place when you told me the story about how you started dating Avery.” She sighed. “I love that story.”
“Where’s Toby?” I asked.
“Cinda has him. That woman is a godsend. Thanks for the heads-up. Toby loves her.”
I bobbed my head in agreement, peeling back the label of my beer. “She’s great with kids.”
“And thanks for letting me use your dryer. I think I’m going to have to try to find another one at the secondhand. It’s a huge pain in the ass lugging all our wet laundry to the laundromat with Toby in tow.”
“No problem.”
“Is it weird that he has more clothes than I do? I have five white shirts for work, two pairs of jeans, six T-shirts, two pairs of cotton shorts, two nightgowns, one bar shirt, one black dress, four pairs of socks, two bras, and ten pairs of panties.” She made a face. “You’re officially poor when you have an exact count of every article of clothing you own.”
“I prefer to call it frugal.”
“What’s wrong?” Hope bumped her shoulder against mine. I swayed slightly on my stool. “You worried about being a daddy?”
I shook my head, looking down at the wooden surface in front of me. It wasn’t me I was worried about. My gut twisted, feeling like I was betraying Avery just by my thoughts.
“I’ve seen you in action under pressure, Josh. You’re going to do just fine. And if you need help … well, I owe you one or fifty.”
Hope’s words didn’t help, and the tightening in my chest was becoming vise-like.
