on a refund,” I said. “I’m pretty sure Scarlet burned her ship down and now she’s banned for life.”
Rosemarie pouted and then blew out a breath. “Well, I suppose these things happen.”
“Really?” I asked. “’Cause I can’t imagine they happen very often.”
I heard a thunk and Rosemarie screamed and put her hand to her chest. I turned and saw Scarlet on the other side of the door, her fur coat covering almost her entire body, and two big cake boxes stacked in her hands.
“It’s just Aunt Scarlet,” I said, going over to help her inside.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Rosemarie said. “I thought it was a sasquatch.”
“You got two cakes?” I asked Scarlet, taking the boxes from her. The scent of warm sugar wafted from the boxes and my mouth started watering. I was reminded I hadn’t put anything in my stomach other than tea, and I was feeling much better now that the nausea had completely subsided.
“One is a cake,” Scarlet said. “The other is pastries. Suzanne said you looked like you needed them.”
“It’s true,” Rosemarie said. “You are looking a little peaky. And you’ve got dark circles under your eyes.”
“Thanks,” I said, taking the box of pastries over to the settee. “I’m so glad I used ridiculously expensive concealer to not cover them up.”
“You must be having a girl,” Rosemarie said. “They get jealous and zap all the beauty right out of you.”
“So I’ve been told,” I said, selecting a bourbon sugar ball from the box and popping it in my mouth.
I was feeling pretty raw regarding her comment on the dark circles under my eyes. Had I woken up at my best? No. But I’d done my best to ignore the morning sickness and put on a bright and cheerful face on a gloomy day.
With Nick back to work and me feeling sorry for myself, I’d known an attitude adjustment was in order. I just didn’t understand why I was so sad. The weather made me sad, Nick getting to go to work made me sad, my dark circles made me sad, and the fact that there was a hole in my favorite underwear made me sad.
So I’d tried to brighten my day by wearing my black leggings and topping them with a yellow-and-black plaid skirt with pleats. I’d put on a matching yellow turtleneck and a black fuzzy vest. I thought it had been cheerful, but Aunt Scarlet had told me I looked like a bumblebee. I was a bumblebee with bags under her eyes.
I popped another bourbon sugar ball into my mouth and sniffed a little, trying to keep the tears at bay. I didn’t feel quite so sad with the rush of sugar flowing through my veins.
I looked up to see both Scarlet and Rosemarie staring at me.
“What?” I asked.
“We’ve been talking to you for ten minutes,” Rosemarie said. “You haven’t heard a word we’ve said.”
“If it’s about the circles under my eyes or how I look like a bumblebee, then I don’t want to hear it. I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life.”
“You’ve been in the doldrums ever since you kissed that hunk you married goodbye this morning,” Scarlet said.
“How’d you see that?” I said. “I thought you were sleeping.”
“I told you, I’ve got eyes in the back of my head.”
“Wait, why did you kiss Nick goodbye?” Rosemarie asked, confused. “I thought he was retiring from police work so he could run for his grandfather’s senate seat.”
“He is,” I said. “But his grandfather’s seat doesn’t come open for another two years. Nick said he’ll stay with the police department until the baby comes, and then he’ll spend the next year or so campaigning for the seat.”
I hoped Rosemarie didn’t ask me how I felt about potentially being a senator’s wife. I honestly had no idea. I mean, being a cop’s wife was no walk in the park. I’d learned staying busy was key so you didn’t constantly think about the million ways your husband could die. Plus, I figured the dangers of the job were probably a lot lower and the life expectancy was a lot higher for senators.
As far as the whole senator thing went, I was being supportive, but I couldn’t really see myself in the role of senator’s wife. I was presentable enough if the occasion called for it, and I knew which fork to eat with, but I was one of those people who could stick my foot in my mouth at any given moment. And if something