Page 45 of Bountiful
“I’m Zara,” I said in a hurry, taking care of the introductions myself. “And you met my brotherBenito.”
“I’m Bess.” Suddenly my hands were full of a giant dog, and she’d wrapped her arms around me. “It’s an honor tomeetyou.”
An honor?After she let me go, I set the stuffed animal down on the floor beside the sofa, where it assumed a lazy position, its cute chin on its paws. “Nicole is going to lose her mind over the dog,” I said, swallowing hard. Who could resist a giant stuffy? “Thank you. That was reallysweet.”
“I’m just getting started,” Bess said, rubbing her handstogether.
“Bess,” Dave cautioned gently. Then hesighed.
Shewasa little terrifying, even if I knew she was only being enthusiastic. I gestured toward the kitchen. “Would you like some coffee? I also have muffins and cookies. In fact—take one now because I’ll probably make them disappear when Nicole wakes up. I don’t really let her eat sugar.” I was babbling now.Awesome.
“I would love a cup of coffee,” Dave said. He gave me a little smile, as if trying to tell me that he knew this was awkward asallhell.
Sprinting to the other end of the room, I poured a couple of cups of coffee and grabbed the plate of bakedgoods.
But when I carried the mug to Dave, I realized I didn’t even know how he took his coffee. “I have milk andsugar.”
“Black is just fine,” he said in a quiet voice. “Do you want us to come back another time? If she’snapping…”
“She’ll wake up really soon,” I said. “The big nap happens later intheday.”
Bess waved off the coffee, so I handed it to my brother, who was quietly watching this drama unfold. Bess took a tiny lemon muffin off the plate and took a bite. “Yum! Are these from yourcoffeeshop?”
“They are. This is Audrey’s recipe. I’m more of achocolategirl.”
“It must be hard to run a business and take care of a baby,” she said, nibbling on themuffin.
“I like being my own boss,” I said quickly. “And my family has been really great.” Single-motherhood was exhausting, of course, but I was never admitting that to Bess.AuntBess,really.
Weird.
“This is a cool apartment,” she said, glancing around with asmile.
“It will be when it’s done,” I said, hating the half-constructed look we had going on in here. The floors were already gleaming, and the old leaded windows had been restored to their former glory. But the kitchen was a work in progress. The cabinets were new but the countertop was currently a big piece of plywood. “This is Benito’s place, and you can see that he’s still putting on the finishing touches. Nicole and I have been staying here because he was away for a fewmonths.”
“But it’s yours for as long as you need,” my brother addedquickly.
“It’s been great to be close to my business.” The tension was killing me, and I couldn’t stop talking. “My mother takes care of Nicole while I’m working. And this way I’ve been able to pop in during my work day. But I’m looking at houses up the hill in town. Nicole needs a yard to play in when she getsbigger.”
Gah. Somehow I clamped my jaw together and shut the hell up. My housing woes weren’t something I wanted to drawattentionto.
“Davey,” Bess prompted. “Please give Zara that bag inyourhand.”
He looked down at the shopping bag he was holding as if he’d never seen it before. “Of course.” He stepped forward and handed me the bag, which was from BabyGap. “My sister shoots first and asks questions later. But she brought you a few things justforfun.”
The bag was surprisingly heavy in my hand. She must have bought out the entire store. “Wow,” I said, sitting on the sofa. I opened the bag and pulled out a pink snowsuit with bear ears on the hood. Size 2T. “This isadorable.”
“The Detroit store had all their fall stuff out already,” Bess said. She was practically bouncing up and down at the other end of Ben’s L-shapedsofa.
I dipped into the bag again and came up with three fall outfits for Nicole, each one more beautiful than the last. She was going to be the best-dressed toddler in Vermont. “Thank you so much,” I said for what felt like thehundredthtime.
“She’s just really excited,” Dave said, sipping fromhismug.
“We don’t have any family,” Bess said. “Except each other. So, sorry.You’reit.”
I was just trying to get my head around that when I heard a squawk from the other room. And for some reason I leapt out of my seat at Nicole’s first sound—as if jumping to attention would advertise what an excellent parent I was. “Excuse me a second,” I said, grateful to get away for a moment from the unbearabletension.
Sprinting into the bedroom, I looked down at Nicole’s grumpy little face. She was sprawled out on her back, her chubby legs propped up on the crib’s bars. Even though I had a fan running at low speed in here, shelookedhot.
