Sadie ignored me and kept jumping on Gina, her swishing tail knocking off the stack of newspapers I hadn’t dealt with yet on the end table.
The baby started to cry. I tilted back my head, praying for strength.
“The Jeep,” I said through clenched teeth, gripping the keys in my fist. “You can take the Jeep.”
“Fine. Easier not to argue with your chauvinistic ass.”
“It’s being chauvinistic to be concerned you’ll be driving in the snow late at night?”
“It is when you assume by way of prick you can do it better.” She sidestepped Sadie and gave me a healthy nudge in the belly before she snagged my keys and sashayed past me. “Trust me, pussy wins in all things.”
I really didn’t need her saying that particular word right now. God knows I loved it fervently, but that rarely practiced love had led to my predicament.
I shifted my attention to the baby. She might as well have been a diaper ticking time bomb. “Maybe we can wait until first thing in the morning?”
“Oh, I’m staying the night, am I, slugger? If so, you better make up that guest room. I’m not couching it after my shift.” Gina rubbed her lower back.
“You can sleep in my bed.”
The sharp look she shot me would’ve been amusing if her assumption didn’t lead me to picture things I should not.
Namely, her asleep beside me, probably wearing some scanty little pair of male-torment device panties and a tiny T-shirt that barely constrained…things.
“No,” we said at the same time.
“I didn’t mean with me in it,” I added. “I meant I’ll take the guest room bed.”
“We’ll see how tired I am when I get back from the store. I have a lot to get.”
“I wonder if Erica is still up? Maybe she could go with—”
Gina’s stare shut me up quick.
“I am not asking my very pregnant sister to accompany me to Walmart late at night because your granny panties are too tight. We could both go and bring Samantha if you had a car seat, but you do not since your loins bore fruit you were not aware of.”
I winced. “Stop. Please stop.”
Before she could torture me any more, I grabbed my wallet off the coffee table and pulled out my credit card. “Bring back McDonald’s if you can find one open.”
“What, and not shop local?” She pretended to gasp as she took my card.
“Why do I like you again?” I asked as she moved past me to get her jacket.
“Because I’m the light of your life.”
When the door shut behind her—much to Sadie’s eternal woe—I gave in and smiled.
She was right.
Five
I shopped like a madwoman.
Like many of my gender, stress sent me into a spending frenzy. That I had Jared’s credit card was just a bonus.
It was petty to buy things he probably didn’t need, but I couldn’t vent my frustration toward him in another manner. At least not now. He was in a vulnerable state, and I wasn’t heartless enough make this any harder for him.
So, I filled my cart.
My list was comprehensive, and yet I was sure I was forgetting things. I wasn’t an expert on babies, although I’d definitely spent more time with them than Jared had. When I could get up the nerve to talk to Erica about this, I’d get the lowdown from her on infants. My sister never skimped on research. My mom would weigh in too. Probably enough to talk my ear off. But I couldn’t tell them until he’d decided what he was going to do about telling everyone.
I suspected burying his head in the snow was his most likely plan.
In no time, the cart was filled. I’d gotten a huge multipack of diapers. A collapsible playpen. A carseat. I’d almost bought two, so I’d have one too, but I wasn’t ready to go there. I stacked up onesies and little pairs of pants and tiny socks with ruffles and bows that made my heart ache. Shirts and a few dresses fell into my cart without my help. And the minuscule shoes! I’d gotten three pairs—one dressy, one casual, and sneakers. Then of course I had to get a winter outfit of a warm jacket and insulated pants and adorable boots.
She seemed small for her age, so I’d done a lot of guessing. Hopefully, I was on the right path.
My next step was to buy a padded lounger for sleeping when she was somewhere other than her bed. I figured he might want his buddy August to build her a