Chapter 27 Grace
GRACE
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Tammy Jane: I’m speaking in code here. Our new Day is gonna be a cute one.
Comments:
Jade Clark: What did you do???
Kerry Winsor: WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!?!
Dale Garrett: Is anyone else confused?
My day continued to be normal. No one broke down my door for information. No one gave me a second look.
I’d never seen a secret be revealed in Strawberry Springs that didn’t blow up the entire town. I wasn’t sure what kind of magic Dean had, but whatever it was, it worked.
I should have been feeling pure relief. I wanted to be, actually. But instead, there was an uneasiness in my stomach that grew as the day went on.
Was it from the town knowing? I had no idea. Was it guilt that Dean was inevitably dealing with everything while I had a peaceful day? Whatever it was, it refused to go away.
By the afternoon, I was worried that I was going to throw up at any given moment. I kept thinking about Mollie when she was pregnant and how often she got sick. Had I not made it out of pregnancy without morning sickness after all?
A quick Google search told me that while it was rare, morning sickness could develop in the second trimester. Was I seriously this cursed? That the very second I told people I was pregnant it would suddenly become extremely obvious because I’d be throwing up all the time?
It would be my luck.
I needed to tell Dean, but I could see the steady stream of people going in and out of the apartment he was working on. He had been doing it all for me, answering all of these questions and dealing with townspeople he didn’t even like. I didn’t want to worry him more than I had to.
I did, however, have a friend who had been through this. And it was time that I reached out.
I feel like I could throw up. This is awful. I’m so sorry you had this.
Mollie
All of a sudden?
Yeah. It’s rare but possible.
Keep hydrated and take things slow.
What do I do if I throw up?
It feels like it could happen at any moment.
Once or twice isn’t bad. Henry could help if it doesn’t stop. Or your OB-GYN, but I’m guessing that’s far away. You just don’t need to get dehydrated.
I’m sure this’ll pass.
Hopefully.
I needed it to. The last thing I wanted was to be sick while Dean was staying with me. I didn’t want anyone to see me while I was sick, but especially not him. He’d play nice, but no one wanted to deal with someone while they were throwing up.
Whenever I did get sick, I always tried to handle it myself. Being around Brooke, who never helped anyway, forced me to have to fend for myself. She was always the center of attention, and it was worse when someone else needed care. I was fine to melt into the shadows.
I wanted to do that today and pretend I was fine.
I wasn’t getting any better. I’d had a few customers come in, but the shop had been mostly slow. So instead of suffering further, I decided to flip the sign and go home. Hopefully, I could sleep this off.
The house was quiet and I went straight to my room to lay down. My stomach turned, but I ignored it and closed my eyes, hoping sleep would make this better.
I was able to get a little bit of rest, but I never truly felt okay. Eventually, my stomach started to cramp and there was no more resting. I sat up and fought my own body for far too long. Then I heard sounds from the living room.
Dean was here and working on something. I had no idea what it was. I slowly made my way downstairs. He was on a ladder, working on one of the cracks in the doorway. I’d learned to ignore it since it popped up years ago.
“Hey,” I said softly. “Thanks for working on that.”
“You’re up,” he replied as he turned. “I figured it was time to make true on my promise to work on things. I was beginning to feel like a freeloader.”
“You’ve been here three days.”
“Which is three days too long.” He eyed me up and down. “How are you feeling?”
I could only stare. How the hell did he know I wasn’t feeling well? Was it obvious or something?
“W-why do you ask?”
“The whole town found out when you weren’t ready, in case you forgot.”
It was strange how a stomachache could make me completely forget about what was going on in my life. Yesterday had been my worst nightmare.
It was too bad today was hanging around the corner with a baseball bat.
“I’ve been fine.”
His eyes narrowed as he looked me over, and I had a feeling that he knew I wasn’t fine, even if he didn’t know what was going on yet.
“You took on all of that for me,” I said. “How are you doing?”
Normally, Dean would not let me get away with changing the subject. But obviously, the town had been rough today because he immediately rolled his eyes. “They’re a typical small town. What else can I say?”
A slight stab of anxiety made its way through the unease in my stomach. “Did they do anything out of line?”
“That’s not for you to worry about.”
I blew out a breath. “I’m gonna worry about it anyway.”
“I said I was taking this off your shoulders and I am. There wasn’t anything that out of line. I just know how small towns can be and it’s not my thing.”
“You really don’t like people in your business, do you?”
“Not really.”
I wondered what he thought of me. I loved reading people and I enjoyed it when I could get a read on him. Did that bother him too?
“Let’s figure out dinner. I would have gone to the diner, but I’ve had enough of Tammy for the day.”
The idea of dinner brought back all of the nausea in my body. “You do whatever you wanna do. I’m not hungry.”
His brow furrowed. “Did you already eat?”
“I had a big breakfast.”
“Breakfast isn’t enough. Something’s wrong.”
My jaw tightened. I could see why it would be annoying when I read him, because he was also good at doing the same thing to me. “I think I’m finally developing morning sickness.”
“In the second trimester?”
“It’s possible.”
“I’m sure it is, but this could be something else.”
Dean immediately strode to me, putting a hand on my forehead. “You don’t feel hot. What did you eat this morning?”
“Brooke went out to get me something to eat. It was part of her apology.”
“From the diner? I have a feeling Tammy cares a lot about her food being safe.”
“No, not the diner. Brooke isn’t allowed to go there because Tammy won’t serve her. It was from somewhere else. I think it was from out near the interstate.”
Dean got out his phone. It was obvious he was looking for the restaurant.
“I’m fine,” I tried to tell him. “It’ll pass. I’m sure it’s just morning sickness hitting me late, like everything else has in this pregnancy.”
“Was it a waffle place?” Dean asked as he looked at his phone.
“There were waffles, yes.”
His lips pressed together. “Grace, if it was from there, they have terrible reviews of people getting sick after they eat there.”
“No way.” I took his phone from him and saw the reviews for myself. They were all absolutely disgusting. It did nothing for my nausea.
“I don’t think it’s very good to have food poisoning while pregnant.”
I swallowed even as my nerves grew. “I’m sure it’s not that. I can’t be that unlucky.”
But even as I said it, I felt my stomach turning more so now than it ever had before.
“Grace . . .”
“I’m gonna lie back down,” I said. “That should help.”
“Let me help—”
“I’ve got it.” The words came out more forcefully than I meant them to. And Dean’s eyes went wide. “I can handle this on my own.”
“You don’t have to handle anything on your own while I’m here.”
The words sounded nice, but I still didn’t want him to see me like this. I shook my head and made my way toward the stairs, hoping and praying that I would make it to my room and lay down before anything bad happened.
But my body betrayed me. The second I got up the first stair, a new wave of nausea hit me. My mouth watered and I immediately tried to stop it.
It did not work.