AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay, now that my healthcare is taken care of, what were you doing at Kelly’s?”
“She called and asked if I could help take cats to the two vets, so I did. Evidently, she’s involved with Ted LeBlanc, but you didn’t hear it from me.”
“You mean Ted LeBarf. We know all about it. It’s supposed to be such a big friggin’ secret, but he’s all she can talk about at Sunday dinner. I think my mother-in-law sees a pot of gold if Kelly marries the wealthy vet.”
“Is he wealthy?” Maggie asked, the memory of his smug chat still fresh.
“Oh yeah, the LaBarfs are loaded. Old money.”
“No amount of money could make that man attractive to me.”
“Tell me about it! Anyway, I guess I’m going to have to start working in the hardware. Can you just say ugh with me?”
“Ugh,” they chorused, then laughed out loud.
“Maybe something more in tune to your experience will come up. Like something over at the community center.”
“You mean with the homeless guys? No thanks. I’m more of a foster family social worker.”
“Christmas is coming. We have four weeks.”
“I can’t even think of it now. Somehow I have to tell Steve about my job.”
“How will he take it? He seems so easygoing.”
“He really is, almost to a fault. He’ll just say it will work out.”
But that wasn’t exactly the whole truth, and Annie wasn’t going to badmouth her husband to her best friend. After all, Maggie had introduced Annie and Steve. It wasn’t Maggie’s fault Annie got pregnant the first day she met Steve.
At the same time, Maggie thought of Johanna but didn’t say anything since Annie had enough on her mind. She’d tell Justin about this new wrinkle; Annie had lost her job. The dog might have to take a back seat to the family’s bigger issues.
They had coffee, and then Maggie looked at the wall clock in Annie’s kitchen. “I’ve got to get going. Poor Brulee’s been alone since before eleven.” It was nearly two. “I need to run next door and pick up a few things.”
“Making amends for the salty apple pie last night?”
“Ha! Yes. How embarrassing. Give me your info, and I’ll take care of the COBRA payment for your insurance, okay?”
Annie wrote down the information, handing it to her friend gratefully, and Maggie hugged her again before going down the staircase. “It’s all good. It makes me happy my ex-husband was a jackass.”
“Ha! Thank you, dear.”
In Spencer’s, Maggie picked up a bakery apple pie and the makings for meatloaf. She’d make it up to Justin for that pie if she had to do something special for him on a daily basis. The trip to the dock gave her a chance to process everything. Annie losing her job at this critical juncture was troubling. What could she do with a new baby on the way in Cypress Cove?
Gus was at the dock, helping a fisherman load his boat with ice. It was a bigger boat than Maggie was used to seeing, at least twenty feet long, with outrigging and giant motors.
“Hey, Gus,” she called, waving to him.
He waved back, and when the other boat slowly departed, he came to help her with her bags.
“What kind of pie?” he asked, peeking in the bag.
“Apple,” she said. “His favorite.”
“Did you get over to LeBlanc’s?”
“I did,” she answered, taking his hand to climb down the ladder.
“What did you think?” Gus asked, grinning.
