I shook my head. “Who gets the flu in the summertime?”
“This is my lot in life,” Erica replied. “This is the kind of bullsh— the kind of stuff that happens to me.”
I eyed her sternly then refocused my attention on the puzzle. Right now it was just Little Noah and me. Annie was napping. She’d been napping for an awfully long time, and I wondered if I should wake her up. Erica told me to let her sleep—that she was sick, too—and I argued that she wouldn’t go to bed tonight.
“Noah will be home,” she explained.
I laughed. “The poor guy’s been gone on business for a week, and now he’ll be up all night with a sick baby?”
“He loves it,” Erica said, waving her hand dismissively. She looked at me and grinned.
“What?” I asked.
“Oh, nothing,” she replied airily.
I hated when Erica did that. She obviously knew something I didn’t, was dying to tell me, but knew she wasn’t allowed. The worst part was that she wanted me to beg, and she knew I would.
“I guess you know a surprise about my birthday?” I asked.
“Of course, I do,” Erica replied. “Reece is doing something extra special since you two couldn’t spend the day together. I still feel badly about it.”
“Stop feeling badly!” I chastised. “I offered to help.”
“But I have other friends,” Erica pointed out.
“None who would do this,” I said. “Except for your mommy friends, and you hate them.”
“True.”
“I just hope I’m not too tired tonight to . . . you know.” I glanced at Erica and winked.
“Well, that’s why I didn’t ask you to take the kids to the park,” Erica said.
I laughed.
“I want you to have a fun birthday, Bailey,” Erica said softly.
“Erica, I swear I am.”
“I know you’re not big into surprises,” she went on.
“I’m getting better about them.”
Erica sat up too quickly and grabbed her face. “Dear. Lord.”
“Take it easy there,” I said.
She shut her eyes tightly as a wave of coughing took over. I instinctively covered my nose and mouth.
“B-Bailey, I’m so . . . so p-proud of you,” she wheezed.
“Finish coughing before you try to speak.”
Once her coughing subsided, Erica gingerly leaned against the back of the couch, wincing at the soreness in her muscles.
“Muscle aches are the worst, I think,” she said.
I nodded.
She took a deep breath. “So as I was saying, I’m really proud of you.”
“Over what?”
“Over what? Seriously? How about the fact that you walk into work at any time now.”
“Before eight,” I clarified.
“You know what I mean. You completely abandoned your 7:58 A.M. ritual.”
“I know.”
“Do you still count?”
“Haven’t in months.”
“And your proofreading pens?”
“Wherever,” I replied.
Erica’s eyebrows shot up. “Turning the stove knobs?”
“I did that?”
“A long time ago. In another life,” Erica said.
I grinned.
“And how about the hand sanitizer?”
“Oh, I still do that, but I don’t have to apply it at exactly noon and three,” I said.
“Oh, Bailey.”
“Hmm?”
“I just love how you’ve let go,” Erica said softly.
“Me, too. I can’t believe how much I don’t care anymore. I can’t believe how another person was able to help me give up control.”
“How did he do it?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “The magic of love, perhaps?”
“Love,” Erica sighed. “It’s the most powerful force on the planet.”
I nodded.
“I’m so happy for you, B,” Erica said.
“Thanks,” I replied. “And I’m happy for you. Business is booming, I hear. How do you spray all those clients?”
“I hired a girl,” she replied.
“What? When? You never tell me anything.”
“About three weeks ago. I have so many clients I’m drowning,” Erica explained. She blew her nose, long and loud.
“Is she doing it on her own yet?”
“Today’s her first full day by herself since I trained her.”
“Who is she?”
“College student. Her name’s Taylor. She’s a junior. Business major.”
“How’d you find her?”
“Posted an ad on the boards all over campus,” Erica said. “She’s a sweetie. Really personable. Cute little thing. Fast learner, too.”
I smiled.
Erica thought for a moment. “She’s a quiet one, too. Totally has sh— stuff in her past I plan to dig up.”
“Erica!”
“Well, if she’s working for me, I need to know these things.”
“You do a background check on her?”
“Oh, yeah. Clean as a whistle. It’s not like a legal thing with her. It’s something else entirely. I’ll figure it out.”
“By asking her point blank?”
“No. I have other ways of extracting info,” Erica replied.
“That poor girl,” I said, shaking my head.
“You’re talking about me, right?” she asked. “‘Cause I feel like pure sh— crap.”
I frowned. “What can I do for you?”
“You can leave here promptly at six,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because that’s when I promised I’d send you home,” Erica said.
I watched her carefully. “How much do you know?”
She sighed pleasantly. “Oh, everything.”
***
Reece sat at the table on the patio, heel tapping with fearful anticipation. What if she didn’t like the back yard? What if she didn’t like the ring? What if she wasn’t ready to get married? Yes, she had agreed in the past, but that relationship fell apart. What if the pain she experienced from that broken engagement scarred her permanently? What if it made her afraid of marriage?
No. That’s not right. She was so upset that her sister walked down the aisle first. The girl wanted to get married. But what if she didn’t want to marry him? His mind spun, thinking of all the reasons she wouldn’t want to be bound to him for life.
His socks smelled sometimes. He never loaded the dishwasher right, and she always had to come behind him and redo it. (Were these legitimate reasons?) He was bad about remembering to turn off lights when he’d leave a room. He wanted to hang all over her all the time, and she wasn’t a cuddler. Maybe that annoyed her.