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“I’ll be there after supper. Don’t you worry.” I tipped my head down and went back to my work. Only a couple of hours more to go.
Eric stepped back and shook his head, but I didn’t miss him sliding the phone from his pant’s pocket and hitting the call button.
As he stepped out on to the tarmac, his voice bellowed. “What the hell is going on between you and Cedar?”
Chapter Eight
I tiptoed up the stairs of Eric’s place an hour after dinner, when the sun was dipping into the ocean behind his house. Someday, I was going to own a house like this. It was a dream. A retirement dream with the salary I took home, but you never know. I could win the lottery first. Although, that possibility may be more likely than anyone on the strip moving out of here. Most of these homes had been in families forever.
Regardless of the dream, I shifted all the bags to one hand and rapped my knuckles on the screen door. Beyond it, a baby wailed. Poor little guy.
Eric came and let me in. “She’s just finishing feeding him.”
“Oh, I can wait out here. Let me know when she’s done.” I stepped back to indicate I was just going to sit in my car a while. I had apps to catch up on.
Eric glanced around. “No Mitch?”
“Not unless he’s here.” I shrugged. “I haven’t been home yet.”
Eric stepped out onto the deck and closed the door. “I try not interfere, but when my two best friends are having a squabble, it’s upsetting. What’s going on between you two?”
“Nothing.” And it would probably stay that way for a while too. The anger deep down was rage intense and I knew if I got within range of Mitch, it was all going to come hurling out at full speed.
“Not buying it, because it’s definitely something.”
“Whatever. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Talk to Lily about it?” Oh Eric - the kind of guy that had always hated seeing someone upset. The true fix it man.
“I already talked to Amber.”
“And she hasn’t killed anyone yet, so I’ll take that as a plus.”
Amber’s beef with men was legendary around this town to the point where no one even tried to ask her out on a date as they’d just get shot down.
Lily’s voice called down the hall. “We’re finished.”
“Come on in.” Eric held open the door, and I stepped under his arm, bags in tow.
I had to do a double take at Lily when I stepped into the living room. She didn’t even look like she’d had a baby less than a week ago. “Damn. You look great.”
“Thanks.” She blushed and fluffed her shirt. “I still feel huge.”
“Nah. You’re gorgeous. Motherhood suits you.”
Although I’d only known her a couple of months, it wasn’t lip service. Lily had a glow about her, and it radiated into the air. If I were at all skilled in aura readings, I’d say hers was a soft pink, but it had been so long since I’d tried. Mitch thought the whole practice was a form of witchcraft and wasn’t natural, so I stopped. Regardless, Lily was giving off a shade of pink that was hard to ignore.
“You want to meet him?”
“Of course, but first, these are for you.” I passed her three bags.
“You went overboard. Way overboard.”
I shrugged but smiled. “Really hard not too. The store just had these amazing sleepers and well, you’ll see.” Giddiness blossomed inside me, thrilled for my friend.
In eight short months I’d be able to buy these same things for my little one and had itemized an internal list a mile long.
Bag by bag, Lily and Eric opened the gifts, holding them up to admire. They were in love with the cute little frame ready to hold a snapshot of him every month until he turned a year old,and the soft blankets for the upcoming winter and really loved the pack of washcloths in the softest fabric ever. According to the lady atBelles et Garconsyou could just never have enough of them.
