Page 124 of Bountiful
Kieran made a face like he’d tasted something bad. “I dunno. I have to wipe down the machines and getgoing.”
At that, hedisappeared.
“What do you think?” I whispered. “Should we beworried?”
“I don’t know what to think,” Audrey replied in the same hushed tone. “Kieran has been surly for months. And he didn’t give us much to goon,here.”
He really hadn’t. “We checked Roderick’s references. They love him in Norwich. His baking blog has a bigfollowing.”
“And we already hired him,” Audrey said, brushing her hands of muffin crumbs. “It will either work or it won’t. Let’s notworry.”
“Okay.” This was why I loved Audrey. She didn’t do drama. She was the sunshine that reminded me not to be gloomy. “I guess we’d better get back to it.” I headed out of the kitchen. It was a quiet afternoon, and Audrey was due togohome.
“Now if I were you,” Audrey said, following me. “I’d be looking for flights to New York in three weeks or so. There’s a window of opportunity here—this baby will come in twenty weeks whether we’re ready or not. So go visit your man while you still have thechance.”
“Wow.” I got a shiver just thinking about it. This was really the first moment when that had seemedpossible.
“How’s he doing,anyway?”
“Good,” I said. I’d watched a livestream of one of his pre-season games last night. “He’s in Philadelphia right now. Nicole and I will probably Skype with him on theweekend.”
“Both of you? That’s not the Skype call I’d be having with him.” Audreywinked.
“Oh, stop.” We’d had only G-rated Skype sessions. I’d shown him all the furniture I’d bought for the house. Purchases that had become easy the week after he’d left, when a check had come in the mail for me—more money than the coffee shop had earned in its first year. The memo line had said: Child Support Lump SumPayment.
That stinker had managed to pay for my furniture, after all. And I’d put a down payment on a used car Alec foundforme.
And, sure, I always called him when the baby was awake. I told myself that it was good for him to remember that we were a team—that I wasn’t just an erotic fantasy of his. But it also kept us from having the big conversations. I don’t think I’d realized before this moment that I’d been doing it onpurpose.
“I’m still holding him at arm’s length,” I said slowly. “I am, right?Jesus.”
“Honey,” Audrey said. “If you keep it up, he’ll alwaysbeat an arm’slength.”
“I don’t know how to stop,” I said, realizing what she’d saidwastrue.
“Buy a fricking plane ticket, go wrap yourself around him, and tell him how much you miss him. It really isthateasy.”
“You’re probablyright.”
“I know I am.” She grabbed her phone out of her pocket. “Jet Blue flies to JFK. Let’s just see what the flighttimesare…”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Zara
As it turned out,planning a trip to see Dave wasn’t quite that easy. Dave’s excitement over my visit was uninhibited. But when we sat down to find a time that worked for everyone, we hitsnags.
His schedule was tight, and when we checked the flights, they didn’t arrive and depart when we neededthemto.
I’d offered to drive instead, but it would be five hours with Nicole alone and cranky in the backseat. Not the best option. I began to get discouraged as we looked at dates further andfurtherout.
But then Dave called me back with a proposed solution—he had a couple of early season games in Florida, with a two-day gap between them. He could fly us to Miami for three nights—two with him at a resort hotel, and then one by ourselves when he rejoined the team for the Miami game. Nicole and I would have second-rowseats.
“Book it,” I said, tired of waiting. Now that I was all in, I wanted to tell him inperson.
I did some panic shopping with Audrey. Now that our new guy Roderick had started, we were all breathing a little easier. Two days before I was due to depart, we hit the stores in Burlington for maternity clothes for her and a new bathing suitforme.
“Let’s not forget lingerie,” she said as we carried shopping bags down the outdoor ChurchStreetmall.
