Chapter 9 Grace
GRACE
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Kerry Winsor: @Hu Gh, why is your tractor parked at the square? It’s taking up two spots!
Comments:
Hu Gh: Car wouldn’t start and I drove it in. Where else am I supposed to park it?
Kerry Winsor: Fix your car!
Hu Gh: And trust some new-age mechanic with my baby? Nah. I’ll get to it when my knee stops hurting.
Tammy Jane: I don’t trust those mechanics either. Good on you, Hugh.
Kerry Winsor: What is the world coming to right now? Since when do Hugh and Tammy agree???
“Damn, it’s not even seven and there’s a line,” Jade muttered. “Can’t these people find something else to do?”
“It’s moving fast today,” I said. “Looks like hiring Kelsey was the right thing for Theo to do.”
Strawberry Springs’s new coffee shop, The Reserved Bean, opened up with an explosion of business. At first, I’d thought it had been because of the newness of it, but after trying the coffee, I knew the truth. It was the best drink I’d ever had, and all the business was well earned.
It was also more than one person could handle.
He’d been stubborn about it, but one complaint from Kerry was enough to get him in line. So far, Kelsey was helping keep the lines down and people were happier.
But Theo was still busy.
I’d asked Jade to meet up to talk about the disaster that was yesterday. We’d both made a silent agreement not to talk about anything involving the baby in public. She was doing a great job at pretending to be normal.
I was losing my mind. I hadn’t been this angry since Brooke nearly started a fire in the bathroom with a hair dryer. I didn’t do well when I was mad, and it showed when I walked away from Dean instead of figuring out a plan.
It was hard not to check my phone every five seconds to see if Dean messaged. I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to or not.
Brooke had almost been right. A lot of guys weren’t good people. It was easy for a man to pretend to be nice to get in my pants. But I bet he didn’t stick around places for a reason.
It took everything I had to focus on the line, which was slowly leading us into the building.
Theo was taking orders while Kelsey made them. The two of them seemed to get along well and had quickly become friends, but there was too much going on for either of them to talk.
Still, Kelsey waved at us when she saw us. We all were friends by proxy since we grew up together, but she hadn’t seemed to want to get attached to Strawberry Springs again. Jade had tried to invite her to hang out with all of us, but she turned it down.
The only person she talked to was Wren, but that was only because Wren was close to her mom, Tammy.
“You’re busy,” Jade said to Theo once we were at the front.
“Yeah, no kidding. What can I get you?”
This was how he was with me. Friendly enough, but distant. Everyone had their theories on why he didn’t date around, but we had no real idea why he was by himself so much.
“Iced coffee for me,” Jade said. “Grace, are you in the mood for any caffeine?”
I knew what she was hinting at. I dimly remembered the instructions Dr. Anderson had given me. I could have up to a certain amount a day.
“Just a regular, please. It’s not too strong, is it? On the caffeine, I mean.”
“No, it has the normal amount.”
“Which is?”
Kelsey was eyeing us from behind the counter and I wondered what she would say.
“I just get jittery,” I rushed to add.
Theo didn’t seem like he cared. “I think it’s around eighty milligrams, less if you leave room for milk and cream.”
“I’ll do that then. And please leave room.”
He nodded and entered in our order.
Jade put her card down, giving me a glare that told me not to fight her on this. Deep down, I knew I wouldn’t. I needed this.
“Thanks,” I said as we walked to the pickup counter.
“You look like you need it,” she whispered.
“One iced coffee and one hot,” Kelsey said with a smile. “Having one of those hot girl walks?”
“Definitely,” I replied.
“It’s a nice day for it,” she said. “It feels like spring is coming early.”
“Definitely,” Jade said. “Thanks, Kelsey.”
She gave us a wave as we walked out of The Reserved Bean.
Instead of going near the busy side of the square, we went down a side street where no one usually walked. The end goal would be the Treasure Trove, where I would open the shop and go back to pretending that everything was fine.
“Have an update for me?” Jade asked when we were finally alone.
“You know I do,” I said, and then took a sip of coffee. As usual, it was the best thing I’d ever had, and I let myself have one moment to enjoy it. “I talked to Dean yesterday.”
“Damn, already?”
“I ran into him in Knoxville after my appointment.”
“I knew I should have gone with you.”
I shrugged, but deep down, I agreed.
“How did he react?”
I winced. “Not . . . well.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean not well? Do I need to hunt him down? Wren has sledgehammers I can borrow.”
I sighed as I remembered it. “He reacted like any playboy being told he has a responsibility, I guess. He didn’t think he was the father, and then he asked what I wanted from him.”
“I fucking hate men.” Her grip on her coffee cup was tight. “As usual, they’re glad to get some, and when real life comes in, they can’t handle it. Well, fuck him. You have me. And the town, eventually.”
I thought about what he’d said about the town, about what they thought of me.
It made my heart sink.
“Y-yeah. I know. I just wanted it to go better. I wanted him to either step up or it to be a clean break.”
“Grace, you live off of trying to do everything right, but this is messy. It’s okay to be messy.”
The idea made me sick to my stomach. “Well, it’ll certainly be messy now. I have a feeling Dean’ll never talk to me again.”
“Does he have a way to contact you?”
“He does. I just don’t expect him to use it.”
“You could fight him for child support.”
I let out a long sigh. “You know I’m not gonna do that.”
“You deserve any support, and he doesn’t get off free from everything.”
“I’ll have enough on my plate once everyone knows. God, I’ll be raising a fucking child. I don’t wanna deal with all of that.”
“It’ll be okay. Maybe telling everyone won’t be so bad.”
I gave her a flat look. “Kerry will be so far up my ass that she’ll get to meet my baby before me.”
Jade blinked. “You do know that’s not where babies come from, right? It’s important to me that you know you don’t give birth from your ass.”
“Oh my God. Of course I know that. It’s a figure of speech.”
“Hey, the education system failed us.” She shrugged. “A girl has to check.”
I rubbed my forehead. “The point is, everyone will wanna know why I fucked up so badly, or if I’m more like Brooke than they assumed I was.”
“Okay, some of that is realistic. We can put it off, though.”
I was on a limited timeline. I could see that I was pregnant. Soon enough, everyone else would too.
The clock tower over the library chimed, and I was now two hours late to the shop. So was Jade.
“We should get to work. Who knows, maybe giving someone a makeover will make me feel better?”
“Boo,” she said. “But you’re right. At least I have this coffee to keep me happy. Oh, and show me the sonogram. I wanna see my mini-Grace.”
I laughed as I reached for my purse. “Your mini-Grace?”
“Um, yeah. I bet they’re gonna be freaking adorable. And I get aunt rights.”
“Technically, Brooke—”
“I get them because I’ll be here.”
“Okay, you have me there.” I’d gone through all my pockets only to come up empty. “Shit, where is it? Don’t tell me I dropped it.”
“Can you get another one?”
“I don’t think so.”
I was going through my bag with renewed vigor when we turned the corner to my shop. Jade came to an abrupt stop and I ran right into her.
“Ow, why did you—”
“Grace, be honest with me, do I need to murder him?”
I had no idea what she was talking about, but I followed her line of sight and nearly dropped my coffee when I saw a cowboy hat, black shirt, and tight jeans.
Because there, in all his glory, was Dean.
And in his hands was the printout of my ultrasound.