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“That’s a beautiful name.”
“He was a beautiful kid.” His voice was thick.
She lifted her hand to wipe away a tear. “Ignore me,” she told him. “I’m constantly emotional. Yesterday I cried because I ran out of pink thread. I’m driving myself crazy.”
“It’s okay,” he told her. She nodded at him, her eyes still watery.
“I can’t imagine what it must have been like,” she continued. “You must have been through hell.”
“It was nearly three years ago. It’s been a while.”
“Three years isn’t that long ago.” The ocean breeze lifted the pink tips of her hair, fanning it over her shoulders. “I still hold grudges from twenty years ago.”
He laughed. She was giving him an out from this difficult conversation. And he welcomed it. “Let’s hope the baby takes after me then,” he said lightly.
But deep inside, where the hold on his stomach was loosened a little, and he could feel something else, too. A wonder that he’d spent the last hour talking honestly to this woman – and that was longer than he’d been able to hold a conversation with anybody else in three years.
She said she was changing, thanks to this baby. For the first time he wondered if he could change, too.
* * *
“So it went better than you’d hoped?” Brooke asked as the five women sat on a large woolen blanket on the sand. It was Sunday morning – girl time, according to Ember and Ally – and they’d invited Caitie and Harper to join them. It was a tradition that Caitie’s sister-in-law and her friends had followed for years. No matter how involved they got with life, work, or men, Sunday mornings were sacred.
Ally had brought them all coffees and pastries from Déjà Brew, a decaf latte and two blueberry muffins for Harper.
“You remembered,” she said, her stomach gurgling at the sight of the cakes. “Thank you.”
“How could I forget? It looked like some kind of smut film when you ate that muffin the other day.” Ally’s brows rose up and Ember and Brooke turned to grin at them. “Oooh, yes,” she sighed loudly, doing a great impression of Harper. “That’s so good.”
“Stop it,” Harper said, biting down a laugh. “I did not sound like that.”
“You do it all the time.” Caitie joined in. “Remember last night and that tub of Ben and Jerry’s?” Caitie let out a low moan that sounded way too sexual. “That was you all evening. Even Breck started to get hot.”
“What is this? Let’s all pick on the pregnant woman day?”
“They’re not picking on me,” Ember pointed out. She rubbed her swollen stomach – already looking ready to pop in spite of her having two more months to go.
“Where’s the sisterly support?” Harper asked her, grinning. “And back to your question, Brooke,” she said, turning to the one person who hadn’t teased her. “James seemed okay about it all. He wants to pay for the medical bills and seemed interested in how I was doing. That was more than I’d hoped for.”
“That’s positive,” Brooke said, smiling. “I know how hard it is going through a pregnancy alone. I did it myself with Nick, though it seems like a long time ago now.”
“It was a long time ago,” Ally teased. “Nick’s practically a teenager.”
“Don’t say that.” Brooke gave a mock-shudder. “He’s not even eleven yet. And he’ll always be my baby.”
Harper smiled at their gentle teasing. It was so lovely to be surrounded by friends, especially here on the beach. She couldn’t imagine a better way of spending a Sunday morning. Lifting the first muffin, she took a deep inhale. The combination of fruit and sugar sent a shiver down her spine.
“See. Porn sigh,” Ally said.
Harper opened her mouth to deny it, but her phone began to ring, James’s name flashing across the screen. She rolled her eyes at Caitie as she accepted the call and lifted her phone to her ear.
“Hi.” Her voice was soft.
“Hey. You okay?”
They’d spoken a couple of times since their meeting, but she knew James was back on shift. “I’m good. I’m at the beach, stuffing one of those amazing muffins down my throat.”
“And making porn worthy noises,” Ally shouted out.
