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She wrinkled her nose at me. “You like it well enough when I keep my lips soft, now don’t you?” she asked in a low voice.
That was the damn truth. I curled my fingers into the loopholes of her navy work pants. “Hopefully, we won’t be here all night. Then you can remind me why I love it so much.”
She rolled her eyes at me, but quickly glossed her lips with the watermelon-flavored balm. “It’s probably going to be a long one.”
“I don’t care.”
She tapped the badge on my chest. “You sure you don’t have to get back to work? I’d understand.”
I tucked my finger under her chin. “Haven’t you figured it out yet? I’m not going anywhere.”
The look in her eyes made me wonder what was going on in that beautiful brain of hers. I was hoping it was just nerves, but it felt like it might be more.
And I just wasn’t sure why.
Twenty-Two
“How long is this going to take?”
I crossed to Kayla, whose nerves had hit an all-time high when her brother only spared us a scant two minute update. Erica was getting close enough that we couldn’t go back to visit her. She was advancing quickly.
Shocker. My sister did everything fast.
“Babies are definitely on their own timetable. However,” I gripped her fingers, “this is my sister. She will probably will it out and set some sort of record in town.”
“Are they betting on her too?” Jared muttered.
I gave him an arched brow, and he slouched down on the oddly uncomfortable couch. It was a pretty seafoam green, but there was no give to those cushions. I led Kayla back to them anyway and sat down.
“So, tell me what kind of menu you are going to put together for baby Mills?”
Kayla was an amazing chef, minus the degree. One of those natural cooks I wished I could be. I was a serviceable one when I took the time to deep-dive into Pinterest. And when I convinced Mitch to let me add something crazy to the menu just to spice up the sameness of my life.
Now?
No sameness. And definitely no boring moments anymore.
But asking the question let Kayla spin out. She started babbling about the waffle breakfast she was going to create if it was a girl, and a burger bar with pretzels and pub cheese for a boy. Obviously, she’d been thinking about it for a while.
Then again with Jake being a firefighter—and a code enforcement chief to boot—there was going to be much partying after the baby came.
Kayla suddenly jackknifed up. “Ben.”
I looked over my shoulder. A very muscular man stood in the doorway to the waiting room with a CCFD hat in his hands.
“Hey, Kayla. How’s the Chief doing?”
She crossed to him and went on her toes to hug the big guy. “He’s shitting himself.”
I laughed. Kayla certainly knew her brother.
Seven more guys appeared wearing various states of firefighter gear. The dimpled Ben seemed to only have eyes for my sister-in-law though.
Not so surprisingly, the nursing staff kept finding reasons to come and check on us.
I knew a few of the firefighters by sight from the diner, and a few more by name from various town functions. The CCFD worked closely with Brooks, so he was finally entertained. An iPad was propped up on one of the corner tables to watch some shouty sports show the guys always seemed to like.
My dad sneaked over to watch with them.
