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“So, are you really keeping the massive dog?” Kate asked as Daisy came up beside her and took a seat.
Tara laughed and shook her head. “At this point, I don’t have a choice. I’m outnumbered when it comes to the new Daisy. The slobber kind of grows on you, in a weird sort of way.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Kate stated as she patted Daisy’s head. “Gray and I decided on baby names. Do you want to hear them?”
“Of course I do,” Tara exclaimed. “It is killing me that I don’t know if it is a boy or a girl. I guess I’ll buy things for each and take back what you can’t use. My credit card is so ready for a baby shopping spree.”
Kate laughed and patted Tara’s arm. “Calm down. We don’t want our little one spoiled right off the bat.”
“Fine.” Tara pouted. “But I’m still going to spoil Baby Gallagher a little.”
“Considering we’re living over the bar, it’s not like we’re decorating the nursery pink or blue,” Kate explained.
“Babies never know what their room looks like. Too many people get caught up in stuff that isn’t important.” Tara crossed to the kitchen table and took a seat. “The most important thing is love and security, and you and Gray will provide both. And the toys and fashionable clothes I’ll provide.”
Kate rolled her eyes and winced as her hand clutched the side of her belly.
“What is it?” Tara asked.
“Just Braxton Hicks,” Kate hissed. “Damn things have been attacking out of nowhere.”
Tara patted Kate’s knee. “I remember those. You only have about six weeks left. Everything will be worth it once you’re holding your little bundle.”
“That’s what I hear, but I could do without these,” Kate complained. “Sorry, I’m grouchy when I get a false contraction.”
“Understandable. Nobody wants them until it’s showtime,” Tara joked.
Kate let out a long sigh and smiled. “There. It passed. So, where is Marley? I was hoping I would get to see her.”
“Sam took her to visit his mother.” There wasn’t much else she could say and still be nice about the situation regarding her soon-to-be ex-mother-in-law. “We thought it was better that way instead of her coming to visit here.”
“I don’t understand that woman,” Kate commented as Daisy rested her head on Kate’s lap.
The sweet dog was apparently so happy to be free from the shelter, she loved on everyone. How could Tara say anything about drool puddles?
“Well, first she thought we married too fast,” Tara explained, as if she could sum up her mother-in-law in only a few sentences. “She figured I was after a baby-daddy. Then, when I asked Sam to leave, she thought I was turning him away when he needed someone most.”
Turning him away had been the toughest decision of her life. She’d heard the term tough love before, but she’d never had to implement it. Even now, she had layers of guilt recalling how ugly their words had been, how nasty their actions had gotten. Broken glass was nothing compared to shattered hearts.
Thankfully they’d kept Marley sheltered from the brunt of their falling out. Separating parents was never easy on a child, but they’d done all they could.
Well, Tara had done more because Sam had checked himself into rehab. But Tara had simply explained that Daddy was sick and had to go away to get better.
“Turning him away was the only way he was going to get the help he needed,” Kate reminded her. “He still loves you, you know.”
Tara chewed the inside of her lip to keep from admitting or denying any such thing. “We were married. I’m sure he still feels something for me.”
No need to express he’d said as much two nights ago while he’d been holding her hand in bed.
Holding her hand. Like they hadn’t made love in that exact spot, like he hadn’t held her night after night in that very room. He’d simply held her hand and that simple touch had unlocked something in her heart that no kiss could have done.
There was a tenderness about Sam that reminded her of the man she’d married. But did that man even exist anymore? Every part of her wanted to believe so. But that was also a dangerous way of thinking.
