Taboo Boss - Natasha L. Black Page 0,92

me.

I nodded. “I’m fine. We just came out for a second of fresh air.”

Ava smiled. “Us, too. It’s crazy in there. Are you feeling alright?”

I nodded again. “Little Bean is still giving me some trouble, but I can deal with it. It’s not too bad.”

“Good. Don’t push yourself too hard. Drink plenty of water. And if you ever need anything, let me know,” she said.

“I will,” I said.

“That goes for both of you,” Mason said. “We want you to know we’re here for you through all the pregnancy and parenting stuff. We’ve been there, and we’re happy to help you in any way we can.”

“Even if it’s just venting,” Ava said.

This filled me with relief and made me smile even more. I needed to hear that. Emily wouldn’t ever understand, so while she was still my best friend and I adored her, knowing I had someone to be there for me in this way meant so much.

39

Tom

The grand reopening of the bar was wildly successful, and we were there until the early hours of Sunday morning cleaning up and talking about what an amazing time we had. We were all looking forward to the future and excited for what was to come. There was a lot of adrenaline rushing through us, and even I felt like I could just keep going, but we needed to finish up and get some rest.

Amanda and I had a flight Monday morning to head back to San Francisco. It wouldn’t be long until we were back in Astoria for a little while, I knew. We both really enjoyed working from there and wanted to be more involved in the running of the Hollow. But we needed to get back to the office and work there in person for a while. Besides, we had a new life to introduce to everyone.

Ava came over Sunday evening to help us finish packing up the hotel room, and we had one more dinner at the hotel restaurant. There were still a few dishes I could just as soon never see again, but the place was growing on me. Even more importantly, Amanda said she wanted to go there. I was shocked considering she was the one who told me how tired she was of it.

“Maybe it’s just the baby talking. Of all things for me to not have an aversion to, I’m craving the garlicky shrimp pasta with cream sauce and garlic cheese bread from the restaurant,” she said.

“Seriously? I would think just the smell of that would make you sick.”

“Me too. Ava told me it would have made her turn green instantly if she tried that when she was pregnant, but she couldn’t get enough of drinking milk, which made me want to throw up in that instant,” Amanda said.

We laughed and I felt another surge of gratitude for having her in my life, and that she was getting along so well with my family.

“You two seem to be getting close,” I said.

“We really are. I love being able to confide in her and talk about what I’m going through. Even just the smallest things like wondering if a symptom is normal, or big things like being excited about finding out if it’s a boy or a girl,” she said.

This was the big controversy going on between us at that point in the pregnancy.

I rolled my eyes. “I still don’t want to know what the baby is until it’s born. You know I love the idea of the doctor catching the baby, pulling it up, and announcing what it is before putting it on your chest and letting me cut the cord.”

“I know. And that is an adorable, nostalgic image, I have to admit. It was definitely something we would remember for the rest of our lives. I still want to find out as soon as possible. I want to design the baby’s nursery and get into the debate about names. That’s going to take a long time to settle on,” she said.

“Why?”

“It took me three months to finalize a name for my puppy when I was little, and since that perpetually confused dog, I’ve never been good at picking names. I want as much time as possible to make lists, mark through all the options, come up with other lists, and eventually narrow it to a handful to debate when the baby gets here,” she said.

I laughed. “You know, we can come up with lists of names even if we don’t know what it is. Make