“She’s really nice. We’ve been here twice lately because Junior here–” she rubbed her hand over her belly “– really likes the coconut cream pie, and she–”
Ellie stopped mid-sentence. Stared out the window. Trig and I looked in that direction wondering what she saw.
“Um… Trig,” she said, her voice calm, but weird. “I think… I think my water broke.”
His head whipped back around, then looked her over like maybe the baby was going to burst out of her stomach like in that alien movie. “What, how–are you sure?”
Those were all the questions I thought, too. From one second to the next, the baby was in and happy and then wanted out.
“Now?” I asked, my question right after Trig’s.
Like a switch was flipped, Trig was crazy flustered. He used to ride on the back of a fucking bull, but this? He looked panicked.
“Unless I peed my pants,” Ellie said, squirming in her chair.
“Are you sure it’s not those fake contractions, whatever they’re called?” I asked.Seriously? I justmet my woman. Ellie’d had nine months, plus an extra week andnowwe needed to leave?
It seemed my question wasn’t worth answering because she pushed back and stood, using the table to leverage herself up.
Trig popped to his feet and put his hand on her elbow to help. He’d gone as white as the snow outside and he wiped his brow, as if sweating at the same time.
I stared at the floor, thinking there was going to be a puddle beneath her. I didn’t notice any kind of water or anything breaking. Maybe the movies didn’t have it right when they showed this huge gush.
“Okay, sugar, I guess you’ve got your chance for beating Molly after all,” Trig told her with a smile of someone who was equally excited and scared shitless.
Ellie stroked over her belly, then curled over. “Holy fuck. Okay, that hurt.”
Trig’s eyes widened and froze in place because Ellie never cursed.
I froze, too. Was she going to pop out the kid here in the diner? I ran a hand down my face, then realized I wasn’t the one having a baby. I was sane. Logical. I ran a huge fucking ranch and saw hundreds of animals being born every year.
I could handle a human.
“Okay,” I said, setting my Stetson on my head, then clapping my hands together. “Trig, take Ellie to the hospital.”
“No way is he driving!” Ellie said, with more force than I’d ever heard from her. Sweat dotted her brow. Her hand moved to the underside of her huge belly as if she were trying to keep the baby in.
“I can drive, sugar,” Trig countered.
“You’re putting on my coat,” she countered. Out of the two of them, she was the calm one.
Trig froze, looked down and saw what he was doing. Which was putting on his wife’s jacket.
“Shit.” He hastily wrapped it around Ellie’s shoulders.
“I’ll drive,” I volunteered, realizing now wasn’t the time to ask my girl to dinner. Or ask her to marry me. Or havemybaby. I was being cockblocked by a baby. But if Mabel was recovering for six weeks, then I’d have my chance again.
Real soon.
I pulled out my wallet and absently threw cash on the table, following Trig and Ellie out the door into the cold.
2
SAGE
When Aunt Mabelhad said the Sip N’ Serv was the social center of Devil’s Ditch, she hadn’t been wrong.
Over the remainder of the breakfast shift and through the lunch rush, news spread that the woman who went into labor earlier was Ellie Wilder. As I screwed up orders and forgot drinks, I overheard all the chatter. It explained why they’d disappeared while I’d been in the kitchen grabbing more syrup–because I forgot to put it on my tray… again. As I poured pot after pot of coffee and served hot links and hash browns, I learned the Wilder family had a huge ranch outside of town. There were nine kids, all grown. Five of them were expecting babies. Maybe three now because the gossip mill said that besides the couple who were here, another brother and his wife, the sheriff and ER doctor, were in labor, too.
