“Candace had better not drink the water,” she said. “She’s the only one left.”
Gabby bit her bottom lip and let a moment tick by. “Where are we going to eat tonight?”
“Fudpucker’s? Or the Back Porch?”
Crisis averted…for now. “Either. I so wish I could drink.” She wished she could swim too, but her new tattoo wouldn’t allow for it. What had she been thinking, coming here without the ability to drink or swim or eat her weight in shrimp?
“Sorry, girl. When I was at my biggest and most miserable, I told Evan all I could think about was being on the beach with a margarita in my hand. He told me he’d make it happen. As soon as Alex was old enough to leave with your mom for a few days, he brought me here. But you know, as much as I wanted to enjoy it, I missed Alex so much that I really couldn’t. All I could think about was getting back and holding him. Not that I’m not enjoying your company, but I feel that way now too. I don’t mean to scare you, but your life will truly never, ever be the same.”
“I know. I mean, I don’t really, but I believe you.”
“Enjoy this time. Hard as it seems, these next couple of months will be the last semi-normal ones of your life. Before you have to have help tying your own shoes and getting out of the bathtub. Before you sneeze and pee down both legs. And just wait until it feels like the baby punches you right in the cervix. And you wear shoes to work in the morning that you can’t wear home that evening because your feet are so swollen. There will also come the inevitable day when you lose sight of your nether regions.”
“Kelsey? Shut up.”
“Then the baby gets here, and the chaos really begins. It’s all worth it, though.”
“Funny how moms usually tack that on to the end of the list of miserable things they have to endure.”
“You’ll see.”
The storm moved closer, so they gathered their beach gear and headed indoors as the sun was finally obscured by the incoming clouds. The rain and lightning probably wouldn’t last long, but they went ahead and changed for dinner. Gabby stared out the patio doors as the foamy surf below pounded the graying sand while Kelsey finished getting ready.
She hadn’t spoken at length to Ian since the night they’d spent together. It wasn’t anything he’d said or done; it was simply her confusion, her terrible, terrible confusion.
When had she ever been one to let fear hold her back from doing anything? Why was she doing it now? So much was at stake. She’d felt responsible for human lives before, but not like this. Never like this.
“Are you okay?” Kelsey asked as she entered the room at Gabby’s back.
“Yeah. Just thinking.”
“You can think yourself silly.”
“As I’m finding out.”
“While I was in the shower just now, I came up with a question for you.”
“It’s weird that you think of me while you’re nak*d.”
“Right? Anyway. If everything could work out exactly like you wanted, what would happen?”
“Hmm. I’d be married to the father of my child, first off.”
Kelsey’s already big gray eyes rounded even farther. “You want to marry him?”
“I only meant the father of my child was always someone I envisioned being married to. Not someone I sleep with occasionally who will soon live three hours away.”
“You need to feel him out. If you want to commit and really give this thing a go, but he’s not willing to move back there—you’ll have your answer, won’t you? It’ll mean you and this baby aren’t important enough for him to make a few sacrifices.”
It made sense, didn’t it? If only she didn’t feel it was way too soon to expect that from him. In a few months, maybe. But now, when they were still getting to know each other?
“You already know you miss him,” Kelsey continued, falling onto the couch and putting her bare feet up. “So there’s that. Yet, you know you can see him in a couple of days. What if you knew you weren’t going to see him for, like, a month? How would you feel?”
Gabby chuckled. “I might be making an unplanned road trip in the middle of the night after about a week. If that long.”
She looked gravely at Kelsey, who blew out a low whistle. “Whew. I think you’ve got it bad, girl.”
“We decided to take things day by day. I guess that’s what I need to keep doing right now. I’m not putting pressure on him, and he isn’t putting any on me.”
“Hmm.” Kelsey began twirling a dark curl around her index finger, staring off into space. Gabby turned and contemplated the raging Gulf of Mexico again.
“Do you think you ever really know someone?” she asked.
“Sure. I know Evan.”
“I thought I knew Mark, though.”
“You knew him for a year or so. I knew Evan from the time I was twenty years old. I can guarantee I know him better than you or his family.”
“Really?” Gabby turned again. “Did you know when he was in high school, Mr. Prosecutor took eighty dollars out of Mom’s wallet and let Brian take the fall for it?”
Kelsey grinned. “Did you know that Brian offered to take the fall for it if Evan wrote a paper for him?”
Okay. Score one for knowing someone. Gabby shook her head. “Scoundrels. Mom fumed about that for weeks. What did he do with the money?”
“Bought a necklace for his girlfriend.”
“Trying to get laid. Of course.”
“Evan never had to try really hard,” Kelsey said wryly. “I remember the long line of his girlfriends I had to suffer through to end up with him.”
“You should’ve grabbed him by the collar and told him how it was gonna be from the start.”
“Oh yeah? Well, put your money where your mouth is,” Kelsey fired back good-naturedly.
Touché. “This trip wasn’t about me starting to hate you, you know.”
“If you drag this out, torture yourself and make yourself miserable over him, you’ll regret it for a long, long time, Gabby. Take it from me. But if you just give it a chance, you’ll know. If he turns out to be the love of your life, then you win. If not, then you’ll move on. I know you’re smart enough and a good enough judge of character not to make any stupid mistakes or stay somewhere that isn’t a good environment for you or my niece.”
Gabby digested Kelsey’s words silently and, sighing, dropped onto the opposite end of the couch from her. “You’re right. You’re totally right. It’s excellent advice. I just don’t know if I can take it.”
“Well, I know how that feels too. Keep doing what you’re doing, I guess.”
Unfortunately, that was even more unthinkable.
Kelsey laughed merrily when Gabby announced at eight o’clock that she was going to bed. “Your energy will come back in the second trimester,” she called as Gabby shuffled out of the living room and into her bedroom.
That was it. Kelsey was paying her back for all the unwanted medical advice she’d doled out over the past two years. Admittedly, she was bad about doing that. But then Gabby was the one Kelsey had called in a panic when little Alex spiked a fever in the middle of the night last winter, so it wasn’t as if she didn’t appreciate her.
Two months pregnant and already she couldn’t wait for this to be over. It was going to be a very long thirty-two weeks.
Crawling into bed after slipping into an oversized T-shirt, she expected to be snoring as soon as her head hit the pillow. No such luck. Instead, she tossed and turned and worried. She thought about that cute little blonde she’d seen sniffing around Dermamania, slipping Ian what was obviously her phone number. Was that his game? The whole cool, hard-to-get thing to hook them into the chase before he moved in for the kill?
She snatched her phone from her nightstand and sent him a text. What are you up to?
I’m at the bar, was the almost instant reply.
The bar? Really? Huh. Be careful you don’t take some other girl home and knock her up too.
WTF?
She was in the middle of typing a reply when her phone rang. It was him, of course. She accepted the call without any kind of greeting. Given the silence in the background, he must’ve stepped outside.
“Are you there?” he asked after a few seconds. Gabby couldn’t contain her visceral reaction to his deep voice in her ear. Her entire body went boneless, and her heart skipped a beat.
“Yeah.”
“What the hell are you pissed at me for? I came by to grab a beer. Nothing more.”
She knew she was being a bitch. She simply could not get that picture out of her head. Was this what she’d be reduced to? Watching the baby at home every night while he went out to grab a beer and collect phone numbers and come-ons? “You don’t make a habit of f**king your clients, do you? Or strange girls you take home from the bar?”
“What the— No, Gabby, I do not. I’m no saint, but I haven’t been with anyone since I moved here except you. Where is this coming from?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. Apparently, insanity is another pregnancy symptom. I kept thinking about that girl making a pass at you when I came in to tell you about the baby, and… I’m sorry.”
“I don’t give a shit about any other girls.”
“Glad to hear it.” She chuckled sadly.
“Are you okay? Where are you?”
“I’m in Florida, actually.”
There was a long silence during which she heard some raucous conversation going on in the background—probably some bar patrons leaving for the night. “What in the hell are you doing in Florida?”
“Parents’ condo. A girls’ weekend thing. I’ll be back in a couple of days.”
“Gabby…you’re fuckin’ worrying me, you know?”
For some reason, hearing that from him of all people, made something inside her snap. “Well, stop f**king worrying! I’m pregnant. Millions of women have gotten pregnant without losing their minds. I’m sure I’ll be one of them. The odds are in my favor.”
“You know, I’m starting to get the feeling you texted me just to start shit with me.”
“I texted you, Ian, because I miss you.” And with that admission, she almost wanted to slap her hand over her mouth. She would have if the action could possibly cram those foolish words back in.
“Then what did you run off to Florida for?”
“To see if I missed you. Maybe. That wasn’t really the reason, but it’s been a good experiment.”
“Who are you with?”
“My sister-in-law.”
“Does she know?”
“Yes. She’s the only person I’ve told.”
“I miss you too, baby.”
Her breath left her in a rush. Sweetness rushed through her veins, and all that mushy crap she’d never thought she would ever care about feeling. Clinical. That was how she liked her life to be. She liked everything neat and tidy and in a nice little box. Ian Rhodes had come into her life, torn open the box and strewn the contents around the room. She couldn’t even begin to pick them up and put them back where they belonged. They would no longer fit. She’d outgrown the box. “You haven’t exactly been beating down my door,” she said, her voice small.