“Well, a baby won’t need to pee outside,” Emily offered brightly.
Sienna huffed. “But a baby will need a whole lot more… And I work for a living. What will I do?”
“You can still work,” Emily offered.
“How will I fit a child into our lifestyle? I’m going to fail this baby.”
Emily wanted to tell her that her life would take shape around the child, and she’d love that little ball of joy, but not having any kids of her own, she wasn’t anywhere near an expert. A flash of fear overtook her as her personal issue took hold of her mind again, but she quickly pushed it away.
“What are you going to do?” Emily asked.
“I don’t know yet.” Sienna hung her head. “I’ve thought about the options, and I can’t fathom doing anything other than keeping it. I just don’t know how Tyson is going to react.”
Blair squeezed Sienna’s hand. “I’ll help you. It’ll be okay.”
Sienna’s shoulders fell, and she addressed Blair. “I sound like such an ungrateful jerk. I’m supposed to be lifting you up.” She took a long, slow drink from her cup.
“I’m not the only one in the world with struggles. It’s okay to have your own. I’ve got your back,” Blair said.
Emily leaned across the table and gave Sienna’s arm an affectionate squeeze. “When will you tell Tyson?”
“I don’t know. He’s not going to be thrilled. And I need time to get my mind around us having a baby before I say anything to him.” She looked down at her cup.
“We’re here for you,” Emily said.
As the coffee shop buzzed with activity, the three of them sat in turmoil. Were they headed toward some kind of crossroads in their adult lives? A singular moment where things would change forever? In a strange way, it felt as if they were.
TWO
ONE WEEK LATER
Emily stood at the bottom of the walking trail at Radnor Lake State Park, bent at the waist and stretched, grabbing hold of one ankle, and welcoming the pull on her leg muscles. She righted herself and shifted her weight into a side lunge.
The sun was already blazing, casting its warm glow over the grass. A morning hike had been Blair’s idea. Her holistic health practitioner had suggested she lay off the caffeine and get outside more, so this week’s meet-up had been relocated from The Brewing Bloom.
“Morning,” Sienna said, coming up beside Emily. She was wearing a fashionable pair of aviators and a matching shirt and shorts set.
“Good morning,” Emily said.
Sienna held out her arms and began doing circles with them. “I’m glad we skipped the coffee today. Yesterday, when I got one with Tyson, it turned my stomach out of nowhere. I had to fake that they’d made it with dairy instead of oat milk. He insisted on taking it back to the barista, but I convinced him not to bother.”
“You still haven’t told him?” Emily asked.
“No. I don’t know how long I can keep this up, though. And once he knows, it’ll feel real, and I’ll have to deal with it. What ifhe doesn’t want the baby? What if he doesn’t want us? The mere thought is heartbreaking. I’ve still got a few months to figure it out before I show.”
A few months was longer than Emily had to fix her problem…
“What’s that face?” Sienna asked.
“What face?”
Sienna eyed Emily. “You have the same weird look you did when we were at the coffee shop last week.”
“I saw it too,” Blair said, crossing the grass toward them. “And you’d admitted in line that something was going on, but you wouldn’t say what it was.”
Given how close Blair’s husband was to Will, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t gotten wind of everything from Rocko. She was just going to have to come out with it. Better the news came from her than Will. Her friends had both confided in her. Now it was Emily’s turn to drop her own bomb.
Blair put an arm around her shoulders. “You can tell us.”
