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“Yeah, she’s been pretty miserable lately. Keep me updated?”
I nodded, smiling down at him. “Good luck with that.” I nodded toward the glider he was trying to put together, and his lips twisted in grim amusement.
“For some reason, I feel like you being one of Lucy’s birthing coaches is the easier of the two jobs.”
Laughing, I walked away.
Back in Lucy and Harris’s bedroom, I found Lucy lying in bed, body pillow cradled around her while Harris rubbed her lower back. His face was pale, but Lucy was smiling with contentment.
“Feeling any better?” I asked as I shut the door.
“I think today just drained me,” she said with a sigh as Harris rubbed what must have been a particularly tender spot. “I feel so much better now.”
“What can I do?”
“Tylenol is in the bathroom medicine cabinet,” Harris instructed. “Can you grab her two? Them maybe go down and pretend like everything is okay so her dad doesn’t freak out and make things more stressful for her?”
“You got it,” I assured him as I went into their huge bathroom and found the bottle of Tylenol.
There was a bottle of water already on Lucy’s bedside table, so I uncapped it and handed over the two tablets. Harris helped her raise up long enough to swallow them as I made my way to the door. Closing it behind me, I headed downstairs and went about everything like nothing had just happened.
Only a few people remained in the house now. Lucy’s brothers were out on the beach with a few of the other kids, and I could hear them screaming and laughing through the open back windows. I picked up stray glasses, paper plates, and balled-up napkins on my way to the kitchen.
Layla was putting away the last of the food and Natalie was doing the dishes when I walked in. Lucy’s mom beamed at me as I came into the room. “Hey, sweetheart. Haven’t had time to talk to you much today. How are you?”
I handed Natalie the two glasses I’d found and moved to help Layla wrap up the last of the platters with cling wrap. “I’m good. How about you two? Today must have been exhausting for you both.”
“We wanted this day to be perfect,” Layla said with a smile. “After we fucked up so abysmally with the wedding, throwing this shower for Lucy was the least we could do.”
“You guys did a great job,” I assured them. “I’ll have to enlist your services when I throw a baby shower for Amara.”
“Cash’s girlfriend?” Natalie asked as she closed the dishwasher and wiped her hands on a dish towel.
“Yes. She’s actually one of my new roommates.” I lifted two of the wrapped platters and slid them into the huge fridge. “I don’t know if you met the other one or not, you two were so busy. She came with Nate.”
“Pocket Venus with the black bob haircut?” Natalie asked.
I beamed. “Yes, that’s Riley.”
“Angie isn’t living with you now?” Layla asked with concern.
“Oh no. She moved in with Jenna…” Natalie gasped, her jaw clenching as she turned away. “You didn’t know they are dating? But they were both here earlier.”
“We… We don’t talk,” Harris’s stepmother muttered, busying herself with wiping down all the flat surfaces in the kitchen.
I looked at Layla. Her brown eyes locked with mine, and we both sighed. Natalie and Jenna used to be really close. But then the Tessa thing happened, and Natalie hadn’t forgiven her sister. Everyone else was willing to let it go, especially Lucy and Harris, but Natalie loved Harris like a son, and she couldn’t get over what her sister’s ex did to him.
I got it, but at the same time, I loved Jenna. It wasn’t her fault she had a psycho ex. She’d just fallen for the wrong person and gotten in over her head. Between rehab and staying clean for two years, she’d worked hard to show everyone she was someone they all could rely on now.
“So they’re serious?” Layla asked after another minute passed without Natalie speaking.
“Very. Angie came out to her dad, which was really hard for her. She’d never told him or my mom before, although I’m pretty sure Mom suspected. But she never asked her, and I don’t know if they ever talked about it before Mom died.”
“Has Jenna told Stella and Clyde?”
I glanced at Natalie. From the set of her shoulders, I knew she was listening intently. “Not yet. I don’t think either of them is ready for that kind of crazy in their lives yet.”
“Of course not. Dad probably won’t care. But Mom will never accept Jenna’s sexuality. Every time she’s ever tried to come out to them in the past, Mom always cut her off.” Natalie tossed her cloth in the sink, her jaw clenched angrily. “She knows, but as long as no one says the words out loud, she doesn’t have to face the fact that her daughter is a lesbian. God, I hate that bitch.”
