Her wail brought Andi slowly back to the present. She sensed she should say she missed him, too, but the words stuck in her throat and Mimi rushed in with, “You probably hate me. I’m so sorry. I . . . I loved him!” She was gulping hard and shaking with emotion.
“Yeah, well, um . . . he was a good man.” Was he? Andi wasn’t sure about that.
But Mimi, her blue eyes full of naked pain, said on a hiccup, “He was. He really was. I can’t believe he’s gone. I just can’t believe it.”
She looked at Andi, clearly waiting for her to explain why she was on her doorstep. “I just wanted to . . . see how you were,” Andi said.
“Would you . . . you want to come in and have a cup of decaf tea?”
“I think maybe I should go.” She gestured toward the evidence of Mimi’s pregnancy. “I just was thinking about everything and . . . we really haven’t really given you any support.”
“Oh, it’s okay.” Her mouth worked as she fought for control.
“No, it’s not. If you’re . . .” She stopped herself and said instead, “We were surprised when you and your brother showed up at the offices and announced—”
“Please come in. I’ll get you some tea.”
She left the door wide open and hurried toward the back of the town house. Andi stood on the porch a moment longer, reluctant to enter, already wishing she hadn’t come. Exhaling a pent-up breath, she followed in Mimi’s wake.
“Is chamomile okay?” Mimi asked as Andi stood by the small kitchen table at the end of the U-shaped kitchen.
“Sure.” Andi had harbored a lot of bad thoughts about Greg’s lover, but faced with this pregnant woman child, those feelings started to slip away. Mimi was too open and gullible to despise, though Andi could sense she might grow impatient with her very easily.
“Could we talk about Greg a little?” Mimi asked. “I’m . . . I’m just . . . I know he is . . . was your husband and all, but . . .”
Mimi was holding two mugs and suddenly her hands started trembling so violently that hot tea splashed onto the backs of her hands. Andi jumped forward to help as Mimi dropped one mug, shrieked, then burst into a fresh flood of tears.
“No, leave it,” Andi said when Mimi bent down to address the mess. “Sit down.” She led her toward to a chair.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Just take a breath.” Once Mimi was seated, Andi grabbed a paper towel and picked up the mug, which had stayed remarkably intact except for a broken handle. She threw the mug into a trash bin under the kitchen sink, then grabbed more paper towels and mopped up the rest of the tea. Throughout, Mimi apologized profusely. When Andi was finished, she tried to hand Andi the still unbroken mug in her hand with its half-full contents, but Andi refused.
“You keep it. I really can’t stay long anyway,” Andi said. “We need to work this out, but I need to talk to Carter and Emma, Greg’s brother and sister, and remind them about the baby.”
Mimi looked down at her stomach. “They’ve forgotten?”
“A lot’s happened,” Andi said. “We really didn’t know where things stood with you after Greg died. When are you due, by the way? I think you told us, but I really can’t remember. I was ... processing.”
“Oh, um ...” She looked away. “I don’t know if I’m keeping it.”
“You’re putting the baby up for adoption?” Andi’s mind grappled with the thought.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.” She gulped down some tea. “I wish Scott were here. He always knows what to do.”
“Is Scott not around?” Andi questioned.
She thought that over hard. “He’s at work.”
“He still lives around here?”
“He never wants to leave the lake,” she said, almost in a whisper.
Andi automatically looked past her and through the window that looked over the back parking lot. Schultz Lake was somewhere beyond, but the view was blocked by more apartments. “What’s Scott do?”
“You mean like a job? Um ... lots of things.”
Andi wondered if that meant he was between jobs. “Is he . . . helping you with the baby?”
“Kind of. He wants to talk to Carter, but the receptionist won’t put him through.”
“Did he leave a message with Jill?”
“I don’t know. I guess. That’s just what he said.”
Carter hadn’t let Andi know he’d been contacted by Scott Quade, but then, Carter didn’t believe Mimi was carrying Greg’s baby. However, the way Mimi felt about Greg made it hard for Andi to believe the child was anyone’s but his. “I’ll tell Carter to talk to Scott.”
“Okay,” she choked out.
“I promise we’re not going to ignore Greg’s child any longer,” Andi told her.
She flapped a hand at Andi, too overcome to say anything more.
Andi said a few more words of encouragement, aware how ironic it was that she was the one comforting Greg’s paramour. She let herself out the door, almost feeling bad about leaving Mimi. She put a call in to Carter, who didn’t pick up his phone, and left him a message about Mimi’s pregnancy, saying they could talk about it further the next day.
She didn’t notice the car that eased from a parking spot down the block and followed after her.