Chapter 30 #2
Alicia walked between them as they entered the elevator and rode down to the parking garage. Since she had forgotten her sweater in all the commotion, Luca removed her jacket and wrapped it around Alicia’s shoulders.
“Do you want me to call Danica for you?”
“No. Not until I’m sure.”
“All right. Just know that this wouldn’t be my first birthday.”
“I know that I am in good hands should something be serious.”
The doors opened. Sarah accepted the keys to the BMW currently held behind a sheet of bulletproof glass.
The security guard on duty tipped his hat as the three of them got into the car.
Alicia found the back more comfortable. Luca surprised them both by joining her back there. For comfort, she assured them.
Sarah readjusted the seat and mirrors before buckling up and starting the ignition.
The guard waved at them on their way by.
As soon as the bright May sunlight blinded Sarah in the face, she fished out the usual driver’s spare pair of sunglasses from the glove compartment and hoped they wouldn’t slide off her lean face.
“Oh…”
“Well!” Luca scooted to the far side of the backseat away from Alicia. “Also, not the first time I’ve been on the receiving end of a woman’s water breaking.”
“I’m so sorry!”
Sarah changed gears and honked the horn at the car in front of them. Come on! The hospital was only, what, a mile away? It should not have been a ten-minute ordeal getting there!
“Okay, wow… that hurts.”
The facade was quickly dropping. Alicia winced in the rearview mirror whenever Sarah glanced over. Luca tried to keep it cool, but there was no mistaking how uncomfortable she was now that her best friend’s wife was in labor.
“Breathe. Remember. Breathing.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. What is with this woman up here? She swerved into the other lane and honked her horn again. Assholes. Every driver was an asshole. Except her, of course.
“Fuck it,” she muttered. She was leaving the country soon. She could risk having her license suspended due to reckless driving. When was she going to use it again, anyway?
“I’ve got chocolate, chips, and peanuts. Pick your poison.”
Sarah turned her weary eyes away from her phone and stared at the small pile of snacks Luca had procured from some vending machine.
Her jacket had gone missing between Alicia’s water breaking in the car and being admitted to the hospital.
Not a terrible thing when everyone’s nerves were running wild and Luca had to make a terrifying phone call to her best friend.
“Hey, uh, Dan? You might wanna cut your meeting short and head back home, ‘cause your wife is in labor. For real. You know it’s an hour drive, right?” Now, however, the air conditioning was on full blast, and they had been sitting around for over four hours.
The only sign of life from the Moreau camp was when Danica arrived and nearly mowed her friend over with questions.
Sarah was free to go home, but if Luca was sticking around for the sake of her friend, she figured she might as well keep her company. Besides, somebody had to keep the Moreaus’ PR person updated with developments, and she might as well be the one to do it.
“Give me the peanuts.”
Luca sat next to her with a heavy sigh, slamming the small bag of peanuts into her hand. “One salty bag of protein coming right up.”
“Heard anything yet?”
Luca had gone for a walk to both stretch her legs and to see if she could find out what was going on. Since Danica arrived two and a half hours ago, things had been quiet. That was either a good or a bad thing. So, not helpful one bit.
“Tried getting some info out of a nurse I came across, but nothing.”
“I’m sure everything is fine.”
“Man.” Luca leaned back in her seat, hands folded on her stomach, and head resting on the back of her chair. “I do not envy her at all. Watching your first kid be born is the most nerve-wracking thing. Worse than getting married, honestly.”
Sarah popped open her peanuts. Damn, she hadn’t known how badly she needed salt. “I could’ve had a baby by now. Weird thing to think about.”
“How are you handling this?”
She chewed on a single peanut. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve said that sometimes this whole pregnancy thing makes you have bad thoughts.”
“I’m doing better now.” Sarah shrugged. “It’s not my pregnancy, not my birth, not my baby. I wish her luck, but that’s about it.”
Luca chuckled. “You wouldn’t say that if you were still working for them next week.”
“You’re right. The fact that their baby woes are now Abby’s problem crossed my mind.”
“Ruthless.”
“The fewer diapers I have to change, the better.”
Luca pretended to read the back of her water bottle. Sarah wasn’t buying it. The woman was deep in thought, and she would hear all about it.
“What if we have a kid someday, hm?”
You’ve got to be kidding me. They already had this talk. Twice. Both times after sex, when hormones made them high enough to think it was a good idea. “I can’t get pregnant, and you don’t seem the type to do it. You know that.”
“That’s not the only way we could have a baby one day.” Luca gently nudged her shoulder. “We could adopt. Surrogate. Send Victor back to the cabbage patch from whence he came and find himself a new brother or sister. Or neither. I can’t keep up with what’s going on.”
“Then I guess I would be changing a few diapers. Not that I want to, mind you.”
“Admit it, Angel. You wanna know what a kid of ours would be like. Bonus points if you don’t have to deal with the gruesome end of childbirth.”
“You’re making me think you really want another kid, Lu.”