I wasn’t even the pregnant one, I couldn’t imagine how she felt.
“I’m keeping the baby, Elizabeth.”
Of course. I would do the same. “Yeah, okay. That’s great. You’re going to be a mommy, and I’m going to be an auntie.” Did my happiness sound false?
Her cheeks paled again. “Mommy. God, that’s scary. It’s a huge responsibility. What if I’m not up for it?”
“You have nine months to get ready. I’ll help you. Mom will. Grandma Verda will be ecstatic.”
“Um. No. I have about seven months. I’ve ignored the signs for a while.”
“You’ve been under a lot of stress, so that makes sense. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
“What am I going to do?” she asked again.
“You’ve already decided, honey. You’re keeping the baby, right?”
“Yes. I know that. I just don’t know what else I’m going to do. It seems . . .” She shrugged. “Unimaginable.”
“We’ll start taking steps. We’ll find you a doctor first, then get all the information we can, and before you know it, it won’t seem so frightening.”
“Part of me wants to tell Troy,” she admitted softly.
“Why? Do you want him back?”
“No!” She shuddered. “I just think he should know, I guess.”
“But then he’ll be in your life forever. He’s not a good man.” When she didn’t say anything, I said, “You already know he’s a horrible father.”
“That’s why I haven’t told him yet.”
I leaned over and grasped her hand. “Just wait. Let yourself get accustomed to the idea first. And then, if you still want to let him know, we’ll talk about it.”
When she nodded, relief flooded me. No way, no how, did I want that man in her life.
The waitress came by and took our order. After she left, Alice said, “What’s it like living with Grandma?”
Happy to see some color return to her cheeks, I answered, “She’s not been around a lot lately. She’s with Vinny most of the time.”
Alice’s gaze slid to the side of me. “Someone’s heading this way,” she said.
“Hi, Elizabeth!”
I pivoted my head toward the familiar voice and saw Kevin approaching our table, an attractive woman I remembered from the wedding next to him. When they stopped at my chair, I forced a smile. “Hey, Kevin. How are you?”
“I’m great. This is my sister, Kathy. Kath, this is Elizabeth, a friend and one of my clients. You guys didn’t actually meet at Keith’s wedding.”
I introduced Alice, who barely responded, but come on, who could blame her? I noticed Kevin glance at Alice with interest. Under other circumstances, I would have maybe set them up. He was a great guy. But I didn’t think Alice would be in the mood for a date.
He smiled. “Thank you for the granola bars. I really enjoyed them!”
“I’m glad you got them. I’m sorry I didn’t see you when I dropped them off, but you were busy with a client.” The night Nate and I made up I’d put together a batch of home-baked granola bars, with a little magic, for Kevin. I’d used the same spell I’d used for Jon. You know, to erase any after-effects from the brownies. Just to be sure. I should probably do the same thing for Nate, but something kept stopping me. Things were good. Happy. And part of me didn’t want to know if it was only because of magic. I’d have to deal with it at some point. I knew that.
But not yet.
After a few minutes of chit-chatting, Kevin said, “We should get to our table.” He bent down, as if he were going to hug me, but then stood back up. “It was great seeing you! I hope you’re not giving up on your workouts.”
Well. “I wasn’t sure. Because of, you know.”
His eyes softened, and I remembered all the great things I’d seen in him. But even with that, I didn’t doubt my decision for a second.
“Just come on in. It will be great.”
The waitress brought our food, and Kevin and his sister went to their own table. I turned back to Alice. “Honey, how are you feeling?”
“Sick. Scared. Miserable. Excited. Freaked out.” Biting her lip, she said, “Does that answer your question?”
Clasping her hand in mine again, I tried to instill as much positive energy into my words as possible. “We’ll figure it out. You’re not alone.”
“Then why do I feel so alone?” The tremors in her voice made my heart crack in two.
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” But as I sat there, across the table from my sister and her unborn baby, a glimmer