Page 9 of Pick Me This Time

I shrugged and flashed her a coy smile. “Eric might’ve mentioned something to me.”

“Of course, he did.” She moaned as she took her first sip of her drink. “You know, this is the best thing about pregnancy so far. I’d never have gone for anything decaffeinated otherwise. I’ve also been craving grilled cheese sandwiches with pickles and maple syrup. I sure hope that goes away once I pop this little one out.”

Watching her frown and shake her head, I hesitated to ask, but I was too curious to keep it to myself for much longer. “So, uh, did you know Sterling is back in town for the reunion?”

My friend’s eyes popped wide open and all remnants of her earlier smile vanished. “No. Is he really?”

“Yep. I picked him up from the airport myself just a little while ago. Eric couldn’t make it, so he asked me to go instead.”

Rachel took a beat to process what I’d said before her teeth sank into her lower lip. “I wonder if Jake knew he was coming.”

“I’m sure Eric would’ve told him,” I said. “Although I had no idea who I was picking up until I saw none other than Sterling North walk through the doors, so maybe Eric didn’t tell Jake either.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he kept his mouth shut about it to my husband. You know how upset he was when Sterling didn’t show up for our wedding. I mean, we had his suit ready to be fitted and he just called and said, ‘sorry. I have to work.’ He was supposed to have been a groomsman for one of his best friends, for heaven’s sake.”

It had been three years since, but judging from the stormy expression in Rachel’s eyes, neither she nor Jake had forgiven Sterling for canceling at the last minute. Eric had been pretty pissed about it himself, and it hadn’t even been his wedding.

Rachel shook her head. “I hope he’s ready to apologize, is all. If not, we’re going to be in for an interesting time while he’s in town.”

Thinking back to his behavior at the airport and in the car earlier, I had to wonder if he even cared enough to apologize. He sure hadn’t been interested in catching up with me, and while Eric and Jake had been like his brothers once upon a time, I just didn’t know if that Sterling was still in there somewhere.

Giving her a noncommittal shrug, I reached into the basket behind me and set one of June’s strawberry pastries down in front of Rachel. “Eat that. It’ll make you feel better. It doesn’t have pickles, but you know how much the baby loves strawberry.”

She inhaled a deep breath and dropped her head, closing her eyes and shaking her hands out at her sides. Then she finally looked at me again. “You’re right. It’s their fight. I need to stay out of it. It just makes me so angry that he hurt my Jakey so much, but the baby does love strawberry and so do I, so thanks. We needed this.”

Picking up the pastry, she took a big bite and then changed the subject, talking to me about the colors they were considering for the nursery walls instead. When she was done with her latte and her snack, she stood up and smiled at me.

“Thanks. As always. Hey, are you closing up here today?”

“Yep. At seven, so if you want some more of any of that, just be here before then and I’ll have it ready for you.”

“I’m always going to want more, but one a day is what I’ve promised myself.” She glanced down at the beach-ball-size swell of her belly. “Any more than that, and I really will be rolling before this baby is born. Do you want to meet up after work? Jake’s meeting Eric after some planning committee thing for the reunion.”

“I can’t tonight,” I said apologetically. “Dinner with my parents, but we’ll catch up tomorrow?”

“Sure,” she responded easily, then slid her sunglasses back over her eyes and waved goodbye. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. If family dinner finishes up early, give me a call, okay?”

“Will do,” I said, watching her hobble back out to her car.

I smiled, so jealous of what she had with Jake and the fact that they had a baby on the way, but still so happy for them that I could barely contain it.

Life in Allisburg was good.

Despite what Sterling North might think of us and our little town, and despite his lack of enthusiasm for being home, I loved it here. Our town and our people were the best, and while we’d once thought there was a Sterling-sized hole in the very fabric of our communal being, he could go suck an egg.

We’d been doing just flipping fine without him and we’d keep doing fine once he left here all over again.