Making It Right (Most Likely To #3)

Sensing their stares, Mel turned around. “What?”


“Nothing,” Jo said, turning first.

Zoe grinned and pulled a bottle of white wine from her bag. “Mel, can you get some wineglasses?”

Jo watched Mel remove two glasses from her liquor shelf.

Mel looked up. “I’m driving.”

“One glass won’t hurt,” Zoe tempted.

And in the past, Mel had no problem having a glass of wine, so long as she wasn’t leaving right away and food was involved. Yeah, their friend had something to share.

“The roads are a mess. Besides, it might start raining again.”

The sky had cleared up before Jo turned in for the evening. “Suit yourself,” Jo said.

Zoe scooped up portions of food for all of them.

Jo’s mouth watered.

From the magic bag, Mel removed foil wrapped garlic bread.

“I’m so glad one of us can cook,” Jo said.

“We all have our talents.” Zoe grinned and handed her a plate.

They sat in the living room. Mel was cross-legged on the couch, Zoe sat on the floor and used the coffee table for her wine, and Jo kicked back in an old recliner dating back to her dad.

“So dish it out, sister,” Mel said.

“This is fantastic,” Jo told Zoe.

“Jo!”

“I’m sure Zoe told you the bulk of my story.”

Mel talked around her fork. “His name is Gill, he works with that agent friend of yours. You met him in DC and he lives in Eugene.”

Jo kept chewing. “Mmm-hmm, that’s about it.”

Mel rolled her eyes. “What does he look like?”

“I met him at a dive bar and he fit right in. Then I saw him at the federal training center in a suit and tie . . . and he fit right in.” Jo pitched a fork into her pasta, spoke right before popping it into her mouth. “I guess you can say he’s a chameleon.”

Mel was not amused. She glanced at Zoe and said directly to her, “She’s dating a lizard.”

“Do you have a picture?” Zoe asked.

Jo shook her head.

“You’re not helping, Jo!” Mel was miffed.

Jo rolled her eyes. “He’s tall, I don’t know, six twoish. Thick, cuz well, you know . . . that’s what I’ve always been attracted to. Big and mmmm! He has a five o’clock shadow on his head and a groomed goatee. Is that better, Mel?”

Mel hummed to herself as she ate. “I feel better.”

“You’re going to see him again. That’s the part that has me all girlie with giggling,” Zoe said. “I don’t remember the last time that happened.”

Jo glanced at the ceiling. “Me either.”

“I never saw you dating a cop.” Zoe sipped her wine after eating only half of the meal she put on her plate.

“He’s a Fed, not a cop.”

“Is there a difference?” Mel asked.

“Probably not. But hell, I never thought I’d be a cop, so dating one can’t be completely outside my new norm.”

“When will you see him again?” Mel was like a kid with a new toy.

“I don’t know. Eugene isn’t exactly next door.”

“It isn’t crazy far away either.”

“I’ll be sure and run my dating life past you once I know what it is,” Jo teased. “Now enough about me. When is that baby due?”

Mel didn’t miss a beat, obviously didn’t think before she answered, “November.”

Zoe squealed.

Mel dropped her fork and covered her lips as if they had a mind of their own.

“I knew it!”

Jo and Zoe both stared at their friend.

“I wasn’t going to say anything yet.”

“Why?” Zoe asked.

Mel put her bowl aside, looked down at her flat stomach. “I almost lost Hope in my first trimester. I guess I didn’t want to get everyone excited until I was past that.”

Jo reached over and touched Mel’s shoulder. “If something happened with this baby, don’t you think you’d want us around to help? How can we be here for you if you don’t let us know what’s happening?”

Mel had a tear in her eye. “I guess you’re right.”

“I’m always right,” Jo said, deadpan.

Zoe crawled up to a place beside Mel on the couch, wrapped an arm around her. “You’re having a baby!”

Jo joined them in a group hug.

“And Jo has a boyfriend,” Mel said.

They hugged again.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Whatever,” both Mel and Zoe said together.





Chapter Thirteen




Fog socked in, cloaking River Bend in a layer so thick it needed a blowtorch to get through it. Not that it slowed Jo down.

She arrived at the track at six, did her warm-up laps, and waited for the distance team to arrive.

Tim, her team captain, showed up first. Right behind him, Maureen and Tina, her top girls varsity runners, waltzed onto the field, their heads stuck together in gossip.

“Hey, Coach,” Tim greeted when he was close enough. “Finally let up enough for us to practice.”

Jo smiled. “Not going to do anybody any good breaking an ankle this close to the invitational.” The track drained rather well for something that needed to be replaced three years ago, but when it poured like it had, the thing resembled a lake more than a place for kids to run.

Maureen and Tina were still yakking when they hung their backpacks on the spikes of the fence.

Jo looked at her watch and peeked around the bleachers to the parking lot.

Her youngest runner, Louis, was jogging from his mother’s car.

The kid was all legs and hadn’t yet grown into his years. “Hi, Coach,” he yelled from yards away. “I’m not late.”

“No, you’re not.”

The rest had three minutes left. “Tim?” she called out.

“Yeah?”

“You got ahold of everyone about today’s practice, right?”

“Texted everyone last night.”

“And they all responded?”

“Yep.”

Jo removed her cell phone from her armband that housed it when she ran and checked for messages.

From behind her, she heard a girl’s voice. “We’re here!”

Jo looked up. Ella and Gustavo were running beside each other. Ella was Jo’s junior, and Gustavo was the forced recruit that couldn’t afford to be late.

The two looked very cozy beside each other.

At exactly 6:30, Tim pulled them all together to stretch them out. At 6:32, Drew, the other varsity senior, rolled in.

Jo gave him the look and raised two fingers in the air.

He didn’t argue.

An extra lap after practice for every minute they were late. Those were her rules.

Arguing about the rules resulted in more laps. And as much as these kids liked to run, when they were done with her workout, they were done!

Forced recruits such as Gustavo were given the extra laps and community service. Which for Jo was cleaning up trash on the field, cleaning equipment, and raking the long jump pits. And if there was one thing teenagers hated, it was cleaning up after other teenagers.

“Coach?” Tim caught her attention.

“Yeah?”

“Is Billy coming today?”

“Billy had to take his mother into Waterville for a doctor’s appointment.”