Chapter 25 Jade #3
Caroline plucked her scarf from the rack and dangled it in her hands. ‘That’s amazing. What a gift she’s giving them, huh? You, too. Can’t be easy to be the partner and not, you know, get a baby out of the deal.’
‘Well, thankfully, I’d rather crack the ice on the Mississippi and take a long swim over getting a baby.
’ Jade chuckled and twirled the ring on her finger.
‘The journey has been pretty daunting, but there are some major bonuses. I’ve become close with the dads, and I get to witness my partner being kind of a badass.
Besides, when the dads bring the baby home, they won’t have as much time for Lucy, so I’ll finally get her all to myself. Win, win, you know?’
Caroline laughed along with Jade, thank God, because the words had somehow sounded ickier than intended. But they weren’t entirely untrue. After birth, Jade couldn’t wait to reconnect with the woman she’d first met at the grocery store.
‘Sorry about that,’ Lucy called out as she approached. ‘I cannot wait until I can go a solid four hours again between bathroom visits like a normal human.’
‘It gets worse.’ Caroline laughed and stuffed her notebook into her bag. ‘With my daughter at the end there, it felt like every twenty minutes. How far along are you?’
‘Twenty-five weeks.’
Caroline nodded. ‘So, you’re a surrogate for your friend. He must be pretty special, huh?’
Lucy shrugged, then sat on the lobby chair. ‘Yep. We’ve been besties since we met at St James in kindergarten.’
‘St James?’ Caroline nearly shrieked and pulled a chair next to Lucy. ‘I went there. Many, many years before you, I’m sure. Was Sister Katherine still there?’ She glanced at Jade for a snap, then returned her focus to Lucy.
Jade fiddled with her watch and took a step back. This conversation was not for her. She didn’t know if she should pull up a chair and listen or walk away. She grabbed a pen from the desk, needing to do something with her hand, and tapped it against her palm.
‘Oh, yes. Sister Katherine is definitely one of those people who’s gonna live forever. Too stubborn to die, you know? Oh, the memories.’ Lucy pulled her hands into her chest. ‘That woman is probably still there to this day, terrorising the children.’ Lucy giggled. ‘What about Father O’Neil?’
Caroline smacked the top of the seat. ‘Right?’
‘Right.’
Like some sort of Catholic-girl secret code, they swapped a look, then dived into stories about the creepy stairway under the tunnel they swore was used during prohibition, the locked room on the top floor that Lucy heard had confiscated Ouija boards, and the blood stain on the second-floor bathroom ceiling that had never been cleaned.
Caroline was convinced it was to scare the children about the devil.
‘Tell me more about the surrogacy journey,’ Caroline said. ‘Are you nervous about the birth and handing over the baby?’
Lucy rested her hands on her belly. ‘I’m nervous about labour, sure, but handing the baby over is easy-peasy lemon-squeezy. Getting there is the hard part, and there was so much work and prep to even get to where we are today. Pushing this thing out will be the easy part.’
As Caroline peppered Lucy with questions, Jade’s smile faded. A few minutes in, she stepped back, and five minutes in, she excused herself to go to the bathroom.
As soon as she closed the bathroom door behind her, tears welled.
Jade frantically blinked them away. ‘Stop it,’ she murmured under her breath, fanning her reddened face.
She was being ridiculous. Surrogacy was fascinating, and Caroline was certainly not the first person to be intrigued and ask Lucy questions.
But did Lucy need to be such an open book?
Jade shook out her hands and her shoulders, taking in gulps of air.
Jealousy was not a good look. This appeared to be jealousy.
But this didn’t feel like jealousy. She couldn’t pinpoint the sensation pricking at her insides, but it was terrible and gross.
And familiar. Jesus Christ, what was wrong with her?
She’d had this same feeling multiple times with Elizabeth, this fear of being invisible and unimportant.
The fight inside between wanting to shrink into the corner so no one could see her, while screaming and pounding her feet to make people pay attention.
But Lucy was not Elizabeth, not even close.
After pressing a cold towel behind her neck, Jade forced a smile and returned to Lucy, who was scribbling in Caroline’s notebook.
‘I better get out of here,’ Caroline was saying as Lucy wrapped up whatever she was writing with a flourish and handed the notebook back.
‘Our photographer has been in the car this whole time, oops. I’m sure he’s ready to head back to St Paul.
’ She stuffed the notebook in her bag and swung it over her shoulder.
‘Thanks so much, both of you. Who knew it’d be a two-for-one type of night? I appreciate both your time.’
When the door swung closed, Lucy wrapped her arms around Jade’s waist and nuzzled into her chest. ‘How did it go? She was super nice. Did you answer all the questions?’
A half hour ago, Jade couldn’t wait to tell Lucy every single detail. And now, the words stuck like thick peanut butter in her mouth, and she was struggling to formulate a sentence. ‘Yeah, it went well. Sounds like …’ She cleared the tackiness. ‘Sounds like you two had a chat?’
Lucy’s released her grip. ‘Yeah, get this. She wants to do a story on me, Drew, and Mason. Crazy, huh? She’s going to talk to her editor and then get back to me next week.
I gave her my contact info.’ She tapped her fingers together, her smile widening.
‘What if we have an article out the same day? Wouldn’t that be cool?
I’m totally going to frame it and add a big fat, obnoxious heart around it. ’
Jade tried to smile, she really did. But right now, she was using one hundred per cent of her effort just so she didn’t burst into tears.
Lucy’s face dropped. ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’
Now was not the time to dive into the inner workings of Jade’s mind – which, by the way, she could barely decode herself. Jade put her hands against her stomach. ‘Oh, uh … man, that salad I had for lunch is doing something funky to my belly. I’m so sorry. I don’t think I can do dinner tonight.’
Lucy’s eyebrows clenched. ‘Oh no. Are you okay? We can go home, order in, I can run to the store for veggie soup? Or I have a Costco-sized box of saltines in my cupboard, and a fridge full of ginger ale.’ Lucy nibbled on her lip as she glanced around the salon.
‘You still have that peppermint tea? I’ll steal some for home, but since it’s your shop and for your consumption, it’s not really stealing. But that might settle your belly?’
Jade kissed Lucy’s cheek, but her lips felt numb. ‘Nah. Thanks, though. I think I just need to head home and take a bath.’ She grabbed her keys and threw on her coat. ‘You parked out front? I’ll lock up behind you. I have to go through the back to get to my car.’
‘Oh. Yeah, um okay.’ Lucy pushed her arms through her jacket and grabbed her purse. ‘You sure you’re okay?’
No. ‘Yep. Hopefully this is just a twenty-four-hour bug thing.’
Jade held her arm out to walk Lucy to her car and then rushed back inside. She shut the lights off, locked the door, and hurried back to her office. She didn’t make it to the door before she burst into tears.