“Good. Do you have a big round brush?”
Charity nodded her head, mostly to watch her hair move.
Julia demonstrated the way to get the shape right, explained what products worked best and how to use them. Charity listened carefully, then paid her bill and left a large tip. The fact that everyone in the salon would talk about her after she was gone didn’t bother her one bit. Not when her hair looked so good.
She walked back toward the hotel, catching her reflection every now and then and smiling as she saw her hair move. When she walked by Morgan’s bookstore, the old man stuck his head out the open door.
“Lookin’ good, pretty lady.”
She laughed. “Thank you.”
“Hope Josh knows he’s a lucky man.”
“I’ll tell him in case he doesn’t.”
“You do that.”
Now, feeling fabulous, she could think about the conversation in the salon and tell herself no one meant anything bad by their meddling. Josh was important to them, and with her dating him, she was part of what was going on. Although things had gotten out of hand with the whole pregnancy topic. That wasn’t a subject to kid about. Talk about a disaster. An unplanned pregnancy would…
Charity stopped in front of the hotel and stared at the beautiful old building. But instead of seeing the impressive architecture or the gleaming windows, she stared at the mental calendar in her head and tried to do the math. Exactly how many days had it been since her last period?
She hurried inside, calling distracted greetings when the staff welcomed her. When she reached the third floor, she ran to her room, raced inside and closed the door behind her. Her date book was on the desk by the wall. She flipped back until she found the day with a little daisy by the date—her private notation of her period’s arrival—then counted forward.
As the numbers mounted, so did her panic. She counted a second time and got the same number. She was two weeks late. Two weeks.
Her first thought was to rush to the nearest drugstore, buy a test and find out. Then she thought of all the people who would see her and how the information would be spread from one end of town to the other in a matter of minutes. Which meant what? That she had to drive to the next town?
She was halfway across the room, heading for her car keys, when she remembered the pregnancy test Josh had bought when Emily had insisted she was pregnant with his baby. He’d handed the kit to Charity who had brought it to her room and put it where?
It took two minutes of frantic drawer pulling to find it, another few seconds to get in the bathroom and pee, then three minutes of pacing until she could know one way or the other.
She stared at the two straight lines, then at the chart in the instructions.
She was pregnant.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHARITY STARED AT THE stick for a long time, then carefully wrapped it in tissue and put it in her pocket. She would have to get rid of it somewhere other than her room. Because the maid would probably tell the entire town what it said.
After circling the room several times, Charity realized she couldn’t stay here. Not with her mind swirling and her stomach flipping and flopping and her hands shaking. Maybe walking somewhere would help. She didn’t have anywhere to go, but right now a destination seemed highly overrated.
Once she reached the street, she moved purposefully, which made her feel a little better. She started to go back to the office, but wasn’t sure what she would do there. After turning down a couple of streets, she found herself in front of Marsha’s house. Maybe this was the best place to start.
She walked up to the porch. The front door opened before she could knock.
“Look at your hair,” Marsha said, smiling at her. “I love it.”
Charity had nearly forgotten about her sassy new style. “Julia did it.”
“It suits you. The highlights are great. You look even more beautiful than you did before.”
“Thanks.” Charity walked in.
Marsha closed the door. “This is a nice surprise. I was just thinking about what I wanted for dinner. Would you like to join me? We can go out. I’m thinking Angelo’s. I do love the bread.” She patted her hips. “Even though I shouldn’t.”
Charity drew in a breath. “I’m pregnant.”
She hadn’t meant to say that, exactly, but now that she had, there was no going back.
Marsha’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “Pregnant?” she whispered.