track because her pace seemed twice as fast as before.

My calves felt tight and I wanted to stretch them, but no way was I going to admit that I needed a break—before a pregnant women who seemed ready to deliver at any moment!

I glanced at my watch. We had only been walking fifteen minutes.

How could that be?

I felt like it had been an hour at least. When would she want to turn back?

“So anyway,” Evelyn continued, “I sent Helene and Margaret a note explaining how I’m teaching Kyle, like I’ve been taught at his preschool.”

“Which is?”

“What?” Evelyn asked, stopping cold in her tracks.

“Sorry. I guess I don’t know what you mean. Is it a special instruction—like Montessori or . . .”

A strong gust of wind whipped Evelyn’s hair loose from her ponytail and she stopped to fix it again. I took the opportunity to stretch. Hell, at least my stretching might keep her in place for a moment.

“No. But Kyle’s school doesn’t believe in punishing a child for doing something that he doesn’t know is wrong, and neither do I.”

I reached down to touch my toes and stretch my ham-strings. Thankfully this hid my face. Not that I’m a big believer in punishing small kids, per se, but how in the world is a child supposed to learn right from wrong if you never correct them?

“So then,” Evelyn continued, “Helene replies that they weren’t upset with Kyle because, after all, he’s only two, but that they were upset with me and the way I handled it. Can you imagine? What was I supposed to do? Fawn all over Sara’s silly baby?”

I straightened out of my stretch. “What did you do?”

She looked perplexed. Her mouth opened then closed. “I explained to Sara that Kyle didn’t understand his actions.”

“Did you apologize?”

“Apologize?” Evelyn looked horrified. “Kyle didn’t break skin or anything.”

He bit a baby!

But I couldn’t say it. The words got stuck in my throat.

Evelyn continued, “Sara seemed to understand. And the baby didn’t cry all that long.”

Note to self: Do not leave Laurie in arm’s reach of a vampire two-year-old.

Evelyn scooped up her flip-flops and began to walk again. “The whole situation was blown out of proportion. Really, it wasn’t a big deal. But then when I got the e-mails and get this—Helene said, ‘Well, if that’s what they’re teaching at Little Bears, when I have kids, you can be sure I won’t send them there.’ ”

The Cliff House was suddenly suspended above us; we had made it to the end of the beach. I stopped walking and glanced at my watch—thirty minutes had elapsed.

“Want to start back?” I asked.

“All right.” Evelyn nodded. But instead of turning around, she plopped down in the sand and was silent.

I listened to the lapping sound as the waves crashed against the sand, the tide breaking a few feet from where I stood. I reluctantly sat next to Evelyn, wondering if I would be able to get back up.

I picked up some sand in my fist then slowly let it trickle out like an hourglass. Evelyn watched me, her face showed strain.

“Are you feeling okay?” I asked.

Evelyn shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

“I mean physically? You’re not having contractions or anything, are you?”

Why hadn’t I brought my cell phone with me? Jim was right—I needed to make a better habit of it! What if the woman went into labor here on the beach? What was I going to do?

“No, don’t worry. I won’t go into labor on you.” Evelyn picked up a stick and drew a flower in the sand. “I’m not due for another couple weeks and my first was five days late, so I don’t think I can get that lucky.”

“You never know. And we just had this strenuous walk.”

“You think that was strenuous?”

Oh, brother. Now I was going to get into a fitness competition—with a pregnant woman, no less.

She picked up her stick, crossed out the flower. “Celia is having me walk every day. Supposedly it can help induce labor, but I don’t know. I did my own research and it’s not conclusive. I see her on the fifteenth. Maybe I’ll be dilated.”

I bit my tongue. I could see how having a home birth might be nice. But what about the pain medication, for God’s sake!

Evelyn read my face. “What?”

“Aren’t you concerned, you know, what if something goes wrong?”

“If there’s any emergency, you just go to the hospital.”

“What about—”

“The epidural didn’t work on me with Kyle. So I experienced labor firsthand. I’m not afraid of