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Winnie closes her eyes and moans, “Queso… mmm… Let’s go.”
I cackle as Winnie grabs ahold of my arm and pulls me in a rush towards the registers.
We both only buy the one item before slipping into Winnie’s Honda Civic. Within fifteen minutes, we are two very happy pregnant women as we sip on virgin margaritas and eat our weight in chips and queso.
“So you have a little crush on Bull?” I tease.
Her cheeks flame pink and she hides behind her tall drink.
“No… I just know an attractive man when I see one.” She scoops enough cheese to cover her entire chip before stuffing it in her mouth. “Besides, I am in no position to be thinking about any type of man in that way.”
I frown. “Because of Pete?”
She rolls her eyes waving to her belly. “No, not just because of Pete. I mean, that’s a large part of it, but I’m pregnant for God sake.”
“So,” I say with my mouth full of chips and shrug, “Men and women get together when the woman is pregnant all the time.”
“Even if that were true, me and Pete got together when we were fifteen. In case you don’t want to do the math, that’s almost fifteen years.”
“When you put it like that, it does make it a little more intense.” I lean across the table, grabbing some of the remaining crumbs that were our chips. “I’m really sorry he didn’t stick around, Winnie.”
She shrugs, finishing off her drink. “I am too, but you know what? I’ve finally come to terms that I’m okay without him. The only difference in my life now is I don’t have someone eating the food in the fridge, and I have way less of a mess to clean up. Oh, and there is a lot more money in my bank account now than there was before.”
I smile at her indifference to the situation.
“The only thing that makes me sad is that my baby isn’t going to experience their parents together. I had the best example growing up with my parents, so I obviously really wanted that for my kids.”
“My parents sucked. They fought all the time, but my mom is the most self absorbed person I’ve ever met, so that isn’t saying much.”
“You didn’t really know Pete if you think your mom was self absorbed,” Winnie giggles.
The cute server drops our food in front of us. Immediately, all conversation is cut off as we both devour our food in silence.
* * *
Winnie drops me off at Tank and Maria’s house with a wave, and I laugh at the two familiar motorcycles parked in the driveway.
Sitting at the big dining table to the right of the entrance are Tank, Trigger, and Bull. Maria is standing at the counter in the kitchen plating apple pie as the guys listen to Bull tell a story about some of the guys he is in the service with.
“Hey, babe,” Trigger says, holding his hand out to me as I walk into the dining room.
I smile, taking his hand and letting him guide me to sit in the chair next to him.
Maria smiles as she sets the first piece of pie, which is smothered in vanilla ice cream, down in front of me.
Tank guffaws. “She just got here! Why is she getting a piece before me, woman?” he barks at his wife with a joking smile.
“She is pregnant, you animal!” Maria scolds, her smile beaming white.
Trigger chuckles next to me, wrapping his arm on the back of my chair as I eat the delicious pie. I instantly know it’s from Lilah’s bakery.
Bull sits across from me and watches Trigger’s arm carefully.
“How far along are you, Pebs?”
I lean back in my chair, panic settling in my chest. I don’t know why it is so easy for me to talk to some people, and then the thought of speaking to others has red hot terror seeping into my bones.
Trigger saves me from having to speak at the same time, surprising the hell out of me as he says, “She’ll be thirteen weeks tomorrow.”
