over the ocean. “Can you blame them?”
“Not really.” Moonstone Cove was nestled in a curve of the Central California coast, smack between the coastal range and the Pacific Ocean. The weather was mild, the breeze was cool, and there were far more sunny days than overcast.
Baxter and Katherine taught at the local state university that specialized in marine biology and had a thriving agricultural and viticultural school. Nearly all of Toni’s family—brothers, sisters, and cousins—worked locally, and many hadn’t even left town for college.
“There’s just so many of them,” Toni said. “And they all have opinions. About everything.”
“I heard a writer once compare family to an octopus,” Baxter mused.
“That’s not… inaccurate,” Toni said. “Some days it’s a thin line between hugging and strangulation.”
“Indeed.” He finished cutting the baguette into thin slices. “Let’s see if food makes a difference, shall we?” He patted her shoulder and motioned her out the doors. “Or do you want to stay in here and hide from the perceptive ones?”
“Tempting, but they’d find me.” Toni popped a slice of pear in her mouth and grabbed her tall glass of water. “I better face the music.”
Baxter ushered her out to the back deck and set down the basket of bread while Toni scooted the wine bottle out of the way and set down the tray of snacks. Baxter gave Katherine a kiss on the cheek and then promptly decamped to the study to leave the women to their own devices.
“Here.” Megan held out a glass of red wine to Toni. “For when you’re done hydrating.”
Toni hesitated a moment before she took the wine and sat next to Megan. “Thanks.”
Katherine leaned her elbows on the table. “Out with it. I’m not an empath, but the worry is rolling off you like waves. Even I can feel it.”
“Cheers.” Megan clinked her glass with Katherine’s. “Here’s to Wine Wednesday and girlfriends. Together we can solve the mysteries of the universe.”
Toni nodded and took a long drink of water. “Okay, cool. What do you want to start with? The detached finger I found while trying to fix my cousin’s tractor this morning? Or the fact that I’m pretty sure I’m kind of pregnant?”
Chapter 3
Katherine promptly spat a mouthful of wine across the table. Megan, with her lightning-fast reflexes, diverted the wine with a swipe of her telekinesis before it could hit the cheese. It splashed next to Katherine’s chair as she sat coughing into a napkin.
“Well, at least I saved the cheese.” Megan gave her a sideways glare. “You have fun giving us a heart attack like that?”
“What was it? The severed finger or the pregnancy?”
“The pregnancy of course.” Megan rolled her eyes. “Who hasn’t seen a severed finger or two? You getting knocked up, on the other hand—”
“Please don’t say knocked up,” Toni said. “I’m not a teenager.”
“Could have fooled me, Miss I Don’t Know What Condoms Are.” Megan shook her head. “Are you sure?”
“Well, you’re the one with three kids. How positive is a week of bathroom pee tests that all say ‘pregnant’?”
“Yeah, you’re knocked up.”
“Will you not?” Toni reached for another slice of pear. Her stomach was in full revolt. She hadn’t eaten anything since lunch, and she was getting more nauseated as the day went by, not less. “I thought it was called morning sickness, not evening sickness.”
“Have some bread.” Megan handed her the basket. “It doesn’t follow the clock a lot of the time.” She sighed a little. “What were you thinking, Toni?”
“I was thinking I haven’t had sex in like… five years and hot man and ooooh, orgasms! I wasn’t thinking about birth control anymore.” She bit into a slice of bread. “I’m not twenty-five.”
“Did you think your uterus just stopped working?” Megan snatched the glass of red wine from Toni’s hand. “Did you come equipped with an ovary gauge that I don’t have? Women can get more fertile in their forties, Toni. It’s like a going-out-of-business sale down there.”
Toni closed her eyes. “I wasn’t thinking clearly. Obviously.”
Katherine was staring at Toni and not saying a word.
Megan took a long drink of wine. “I think you broke Katherine.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“You know, I have these discussions with my teenagers,” Megan quipped. “I didn’t think I needed to have them with my girlfriends too. Are you keeping it?”
“I…” It hadn’t even occurred to her not to keep it. She’d been too absorbed with how she was going to manage her mother finding out. “I guess I am. I mean, I’m financially independent. I own my home.