“I get it. I really do.”
“You can even have them make a donation to a women’s shelter. What about the one Mom volunteered at?”
“That’s a good idea,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ll put something together.” I took a drink of my water. “How are you feeling?”
Her face lit up, making her glow brighter. She was the prettiest pregnant woman I’d ever seen. A part of me hated that I’d never get to see myself all swollen and blimpish, my ankles as big as elephants, like Jada was at the moment.
Stop it. You have more than you could ever wish for.
“I’m really good. I feel great now that the morning sickness has kind of stopped. But I’m ready to see my toes again. I complained about it last night and Cane volunteered to paint my toenails. I told him no way,” she giggled.
“Yeah, let’s go get a pedicure and keep Cane out of it. That’s weird.”
“Right?” she laughed. “Okay, I gotta go. I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon and you have to go to work, right?”
I nodded and stood, pulling her hand and helping her get to her feet. “Just a few weeks left, sister.”
“Just a few weeks left.”
KARI
“Today’s been one-of-a-kind,” Connor said, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
“It sure has and I’m ready to go home. I’m just exhausted.” I dug through my pocket for some Tylenol. My entire body ached and I wanted to feel good when I got home to Max to celebrate. I opened the pocket of the lining and pulled out a sticky note.
I giggled and shoved it back inside, forgetting about the pain reliever.
“Want some coffee?” Connor asked, stirring a red stick around in his cup. The corner of his mouth was upturned, making him look young and mischievous. He was incredibly handsome.
I turned up my nose. “That stuff smells rancid.”
He took a big gulp and smiled. “It’s fine by me.”
“If you turn up in the ER, I’ll let them know what happened,” I laughed. I reached for a bottle of water and the light caught the diamond.
“Ah, what’s this?” Connor asked, nodding to my hand. “Someone had an eventful weekend, it appears.”
I blushed, feeling almost giddy. “I did. Max proposed.”
He grinned back, watching me with interest. “I’m assuming you said yes.”
“I did. I finally did.”
“Finally?”
“He’s been asking for months,” I laughed.
“What changed your mind?” He took a sip of his coffee and waited patiently. He was a bit of an asshole, I’d seen that firsthand, but that was usually when someone wasn’t listening or was making a decision that was uninformed. Most times he was kind and he was very smart—we just got along. We clicked like we’d known each other forever. I couldn’t explain it.
I twisted the cap off my bottle. “It was just time. Things just sort of fell in place. I think once you know, you know. Sounds stupid, but it’s true. Hey, how’s your mother?”
He took a deep breath. “She’s alright, learning how to deal with her condition. I just got the results from her last exam yesterday and I expected it to look better than it does.”
“I’m sorry. Anything I can do?”
He took another drink. “Thank you. There’s really nothing we can do. I have her on the best treatment plan and I’m monitoring everything I can.”
“Just do everything you can and let me know if I can help out somehow.”
“I’ve been trying to make sure she has everything lined up—paperwork, insurances, things like that. I’m trying to get her to write a will and get her medical end-of-life care lined out. Not that she’s dying today, but I’ve seen things change in a matter of days. I know you’ve seen that, too.”
“Absolutely.”
“I’m trying to get her to work out all her loose ends. You know, tie everything up that she has dangling out there.”
“It’s just you though, right? I mean, you don’t have to consult with brothers or sisters or anything?”
“Yeah. She does have another son somewhere. I thought she might want to try to find him. I mean, I think it would be a good thing for her to have some sort of closure. She never really talked about him at all. I found out he existed by finding a picture of him when I was younger. He was standing in the middle of a sand pile with a big yellow Tonka truck. I thought it might be me because he looked like me, but I didn’t have a truck like that. And of course I took the picture to my mom and told her I wanted to know where that truck was!” he laughed. “Then she explained that he was my brother but he lived with his father. And she just brushed me off if I ever brought it up again, so finally I just stopped.”
“So she never saw him at all?”