Page 137 of Rare Blend
By ten o’clock, I’m still wide awake and anxious. My phone chimes, and Marisa’s name lights up the screen. It’s a text.
Marisa: You’re probably sleeping but here’s a pic of me and baby Josephine.
A few seconds later, a picture pops up of Marisa smiling brightly, holding the smallest baby girl. I stare at the image for far too long.
I’ve never seen her hold a baby before, and she looks so right doing it. The baby in her arms, an equal mix of Hillary’s round eyes and Archie’s red hair, soon distorts, and I’m imagining a baby with Marisa’s dark hair and her olive skin and my hazel eyes. The perfect mix of both of us.
What the fuck am I doing and why did I let her go?! I jump out of bed, so abruptly it makes Goose jump too.
“Come on.” I whistle. “Get your leash. You’re going to go stay at Grandpa and Grandma’s.”
In less than thirty minutes, I have Goose loaded in my truck with his overnight bag in my passenger seat. I should’ve sent a text to my parents before showing up this late, but I’m not exactly thinking beyond getting to Seattle as quickly as possible. I knock harshly and press their camera doorbell.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” my dad barks through the speaker.
A few minutes later, the front door opens and both of my parents stand at the entrance, very clearly having been woken up.
My dad groans and grabs on to Goose’s leash. “Drive safe. The pass is still shit.”
“How did you know I was going to Seattle?”
He looks me up and down, regarding me, somehow both proud and annoyed. “Wild guess.”
CHAPTER 50
Marisa
A FREAK OF NATURE
I’m breaking the law…well, sort of. The laws of the hospital. It is well past visiting hours, but Hillary refused to let me go back to the apartment.
I don’t know how she’s not passed out. She’s honestly a freak of nature. Not only did she work a full eight-hour day—because she refused to start maternity leave before the baby arrived—she gave birth without any drugs, and baby Josephine was almost a ten-pounder. If I’m fortunate enough to have kids, I’ll be begging for pain meds.
Archie is snoring loudly on the pullout couch, looking totally exhausted.
“I think I broke his hand,” Hillary says to me with a giggle. “Poor guy wasn’t ready.”
“Seems only fair, considering the state of your vagina.”
She groans. “Don’t remind me. She’s never going to look the same again.”
I laugh quietly, trying not to wake Archie or the baby. “It’ll be good as new in a few months.”
Her eyes roll. “I doubt it. Tonight, do yourself a favor and take some good vagina pics. You can send them to Ethan for safe keeping. That way you’ll always remember how pretty shewas before a baby, with a head in the ninety-eighth percentile, squeezed out of it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I murmur, distracted by thoughts of Ethan.
Hillary stays quiet for a beat, watching me. “You’re going to marry him, you know. He’s the one.”
My eyes meet hers, and I breathe out, giving her a small smile, nodding. “I hope so.”
She squeals and then realizes where she is and claps a hand over her mouth. Once she’s calmed down, she gestures for me to come closer. “Why did you come back? And don’t tell me it was for that stupid job. You don’t even like being a technical writer.”
“I know,” I say, flashing my eyes downcast. “He was adamant that I needed to move back so I would know what I really wanted. But I knew, Hill. I knew I should’ve stayed. I just let myself think it was too soon. I’ve regretted moving back every second I’ve been here. The only reason I would consider staying is because I do love having you close by, and it’s hard being away from you.”
She snorts. “Sweetie, I can move. I got Archie to cross an ocean for me. If I wake up tomorrow and tell him, ‘Babe, let’s move to Red Mountain,’ he would have the moving truck scheduled that week.”
I cock my head at her. “You’re not moving, Hillary.”
