Timothy finally set the plate down and pushed it toward Josh like this was territory in a war and he’d just surrendered.
“Got anything to say to him?”I gave him a look I hoped screamed“Manners 101.”
He glared at me and stormed back out the door.
“That man needs to learn to see beyond his own ass,” I muttered.
Josh’s dad bit back a snicker, but the gaze he shot me was a mixture of approval and surprise.
I spooned about a third from my plate onto Josh’s.
Josh began, “No?—”
“I’ve got banana pudding in the bag,” I interrupted.“All good.”
“Nice to see you, Erika.”Mason Hurst waved like a tiny general and was gone, leaving us staring at the Tupperware like survivors of some strange, organized battle.
Josh’s phone dinged four times in rapid succession.He stared at it, brow furrowed.“The down cow just graduated to full-blown emergency.”He let his head drop onto his hand. “All I wanted was twenty minutes.That’s it.Twenty minutes for us to talk about something that wouldn’t trigger a fight.”
I swallowed a bite of casserole and shrugged.“That’s our life, isn’t it?Always on the edge of war?”
He looked up, eyes softening, a hint of guilt threading through the exasperation.“It shouldn’t be.”
I nudged my plate toward him.“Your mom’s a great cook.Eat up.”I winked, teasing lightly, but my voice carried something more.“If being on the edge of war keeps it this hot, maybe it’s not all bad.”
ChapterThirty-Three
ERIKA
I pulledmy raincoat tight around me as I jogged through the pelting rain up to the main Hurst house.I tripped and almost landed on my knees.Running in rubber boots sucked.The sun was waning into dusk on this already dark Thursday evening.I planned to see Josh tonight, maybe catch him at the clinic before he left for the day.He liked to finish billing and writing charts for the farm calls between six and seven in the evening.But it was my night on-call.Again.
I’d actually switched Thursday for Friday with Josh so I could go to the school’s parent-teacher night with Vinny tomorrow.
At this point the days were blending together.We didn’t have time for ourselves, never mind a relationship.Work all day and possibly all night?This wasn’t sustainable.
I smiled to myself as I slowed my pace.Josh had left a chocolate muffin on my desk before he took off to a goat farm this morning.It’d been a sweet offering.
Mrs.Hurst’s little horse had somehow managed to damage the skin on its other front leg.Alone, I’d managed to convince the miniature horse to stay still by using food and placed a bandage.I wanted to stop by the main house before I left to thank Mrs.Hurst for the meals.
On the front porch, someone in a pink raincoat sat huddled in a chair, crying.Drawing closer, I realized it was…Milly?I may have had every reason to resent her, and there was a whole mess of ugly history between us, but I wasn’t heartless.
“Are you okay?”I asked, although I kept a safe distance from the crying woman.
She swiped her puffy eyes.“I don’t know why I thought it’d be a good idea to talk to Mrs.Hurst.She always seems so sweet at church.I thought she could help smooth things over, or at least give me some advice about her son, but she got fussy.Said it was my problem and left for church.Just up and left.”She waved a hand toward where the Hursts parked their cars.“You’d think she’d be happy to be a grandmother.”
Agrandmother?Milly was pregnant?The words crashed over me, but they didn’t make sense.My brain just…stopped.The world tilted, sounds blurring into a distant roar.Josh and Milly—theywere having a baby?My chest tightened like it might crack open.
Somehow, I managed to whisper, “He doesn’t want the baby?”
“He made it clear this afternoon it’s never really been his thing.Wishes it gone.”Milly started choke-sob crying again.“You’ve…you’ve got Josh now and I’ve got…” The sniffling came hard with a lot of indelicate nose wiping.“I don’t know what I’ve got.”
“I don’t know that anyonehasJosh,” I echoed.
“Look, this isn’t your problem.”She rushed off the porch to her car and drove off.
My heart cracked—sharp, splintering into a million pieces I couldn’t gather.A Josh as cold and heartless as Milly said wasn’t the man I knew.That aside, even if she may have misinterpreted him, he could never actually be mine.Not now.Not if he was starting a family with Milly.Not if he was becoming someone’s father.He was the kind of man who would commit one hundred percent to fatherhood.I knew it in my heart.
That door to a life with Josh slammed shut.I felt the echo all the way down to my bones.
