Page 21 of Shining Pearls
“Just having a friendly lunch,” Dean assured her, following up his words with a warm smile.
Molly took his kind gaze as an invitation and plopped down on the booth seat right next to him. Since he’d been sitting in the middle, she practically had to sit in his lap. Dean scooted over a bit to make room for her, so she slid further in to eliminate the space he had created between them.
I almost felt sorry for her. It was obvious that she was insecure in her relationship with Dean and jealous of my friendship with him. I wasn’t willing to give up my closest friend in town for her sake, though.
Giving me a flat stare, Molly asked, “So, what were you two chatting so intently about?”
I didn’t feel like it was any of her business––especially since she had forcefully inserted herself into our lunch––so I simply stared back, silently refusing to answer her nosy question.
Where I was born in the Midwest, her inquiries would get her labelled as being ‘nibby,’ but I knew enough of the differences in our regional dialects to realize Dean and Molly wouldn’t recognize that word. I had learned my lesson with that soon after my arrival, thanks to the confused looks I received when I referred to soda as pop or fried dough as elephant ears. We all spoke the same language, but sometimes it seemed like vastly different versions of it.
Filling in the awkward gap, Dean turned to shower his warm brown gaze down at his seatmate. “Actually, we were eavesdropping, more than talking.”
Molly’s eyes lit up at this news. “On who?”
Rather than answering aloud, Dean tilted his head in Aunt Mimi’s direction. Molly’s gaze darted to Mimi, who now had her back to us as she spoke into the phone.
We had to strain to hear any of her words, but I was pretty certain I heard her say, “Tomorrow evening would be great, Howard.”
Molly scrunched up her face. “Who is Howard?”
“Mr. Hayes from Hayes Farm Stand,” Dean answered.
Molly said, “I thought his first name was mister.”
Dean nodded his agreement. “Me too.”
The couple beamed at each other as if this proved they were on the same wavelength.
Suddenly, I felt like an intruder at my own lunch, even though Molly was the one who had added herself into the mix. I tilted my head down to shovel in the rest of my food. Just because I wanted to get away from these two lovebirds didn’t mean I was willing to leave a fry behind.
As much as I didn’t want to be a jealous harpy, it was beginning to dawn on me that almost everyone in my life was pairing off. Dean was dating Molly, Aunt Mimi was flirting with Mr. Hayes, and Alex was back where he belonged with his wife.
Touching my stomach lightly, I scooted out of the booth and made a lame excuse for leaving so suddenly. Neither Dean nor Molly did more than give a half-hearted nod to acknowledge my departure before refocusing on each other.
Feeling lonely as I walked out of the diner, I decided that at least I wasn’t totally alone. Little Bit would soon be my full-time companion. Although I hadn’t thought I wanted to have a baby at this stage in my life, my guess was that I would need my child as much as he or she depended on me. We were destined to be an unstoppable team of two.
18
Claire
My younger sister glared up at me with outrage etched on her face. “What do you mean he doesn’t want to have sex with you?”
“I mean exactly what it sounds like. And do you have to be so loud?” I hissed at Meg, not wanting Hannah or Harper to overhear us from their cousins’ playdate in Meg’s living room.
“Oh, the girls are too engrossed in their game of Yahtzee to pay any attention to us.” Meg brushed off my valid concern before glaring at me as if she was personally affronted by my revelation. “How could he not want to be intimate with you? He’s always had the hots for you, since we were kids.”
I nodded, well aware that I used to be Alex’s sole desire. She seemed to be expecting an answer from me––even though my husband was the only one who could properly respond to her question. Shrugging, I gave her my best guess. “Maybe he’s missing the nanny.”
Meg’s bright green eyes flared with barely-contained rage. “Josie,” she practically spat the name as if it burned her tongue to say it.
While I appreciated my sister’s vehemence on my behalf, I did not want her to go on a rampage bent on destroying the young woman. Hoping to calm down Meg’s fury, I revealed, “I can’t even bring myself to truly blame her––or Alex––for what happened. It’s just a shitty situation that we were all thrown into against our will.”
“Thanks to Kevin Durley.” Meg inserted, shifting her venomous anger to my imprisoner.
Although I preferred having her wrath aimed at my captor, rather than reasonably-innocent Josie, I didn’t want her to go off half-cocked and put herself in danger by searching for him herself or doing something equally irrational. When Meg was fired up, there was no stopping her, but I felt obliged to try to be the voice of reason with her.
“Yes, what Kevin did could have destroyed us all, but I refuse to let it. My life isn’t over––not by a longshot––and I won’t let what happened define me.”
