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I sighed as I snatched it off the counter. I really could use a shot of caffeine to keep me going. A memory in the far reaches of my fuzzy brain corroborated the coffee to preggo ration being like one cup.
I was going to expire.
I took a tentative sip of the tea. The hit of ginger settled my queasy belly like a stroke of Mav’s careful hand. My eyes stung and I had to blink back tears.
He was always taking care of me, even when he was mad at me. Or even worse, disappointed in how I treated him last night. A rolling catalog of sweet gestures filtered through the fear I’d been trying to hold back since yesterday.
“Dammit, Maverick McNeill. How am I not going to fall in love with you?”
Hadn’t I already?
I slid a hand over my still mostly flat belly. Working at the bakery hadn’t helped my waistline even before he’d planted a baby in me.
I was about to put the stainless steel to-go cup down when I noticed a smaller Post-it where the cup had been.
Don’t forget your dress.
As if I’d forget. Okay, maybe I would have possibly forgotten before I left. But definitely not before I left the driveway.
Maybe.
I tucked the tumbler in the crook of my arm and grabbed my purse, then took the dress out of the closet. Of course it was neatly pressed and laundered under the plastic. He’d probably thought of that too.
And I had not.
Chaos goblin reporting for duty.
Another note was tacked to the dress.
You’ll be beautiful. Take care of you and that little peanut today. Drink water. NO COFFEE. See you at the house.
M
I tucked the note in my purse in the zipper part where it wouldn’t get lost. Before I could think that little action to death, I rushed out the door and down the stairs.
Mickey’s compact car was idling at the end of the driveway. She popped out and hurried over to help me.
She took the dress by the hanger. “Man, you got your dress dry-cleaned? I thought I only had to do that after I wore it.”
To own up to the lie or not.
“My mom would kill me if I didn’t.” Not exactly a lie. My very proper professor mother ironed her pillowcases, for God’s sake. I was just used to being a disappointment.
The pang reminded me of what Mav had said last night. Dammit, I really hated how much he’d been right about how I’d been treating him. We both had that parallel. Only one of us had actually changed in that regard.
And it wasn’t me.
“You okay?” Mickey tilted her head.
“Yeah. Just a lot on my mind. Did you talk to Tab yet? She hasn’t answered my texts.”
“She just asked if I deposited the till last night.” She grinned. “Even on her wedding day, she’s worried about Sugar Rush.”
“That’s Tab.” I opened the passenger door and dropped down into the bucket seat. “Thank goodness we got a sunny day.”
Mickey hung my dress in the back and slammed the door then got in the driver’s side. “In this area, it’s a miracle. The possibility of clouds or rain or even lake effect is no joke in the fall.” She pressed play on her in-dash, and Billy Idol screamed out of the speakers. She gave me a wide smile and the Billy snarl as she sang along.
I couldn’t help but laugh as we shot down the street toward Turnbull. Maybe it wasn’t exactly a white wedding, but that made it even funnier.
