surprise?’ Bob asked.
Out of fear that Susan would blurt it out anyway, I said, ‘ It’ s not final, so that’ s why I didn’ t want to say anything. But when Deedee has her baby in August-’
‘ Deedee’ s her Little Shishter,’ Susan provided helpfully.
‘ As I was saying, when she has the baby, I’ m going to adopt it.’
If silence has a sound, then it became very, very loud at that moment.
Susan broke the quiet. ‘ June’ sh gonna be a mommy!’
‘ By yourself?’ Mrs. Mankowski asked.
‘ Yeah. The girl’ s only fourteen, and she was going to raise the baby herself otherwise. And I’ ve always wanted children, so it seemed& ‘ I let my voice trail off. I don’ t know what reaction I was expecting, but this wasn’ t it.
My mom rubbed her forehead. ‘ I don’ t even know what to say.’
‘ Congrashulations! Thash what you shay!’
‘ We’ ve caused enough damage. We’ ll be going now,’ Chase said, hefting Susan up. He nodded to my parents. ‘ Thanks for the party.’
‘ Yesh. Shank you very mush.’
Charlotte jumped to her feet. ‘ Congratulations,’ she managed to whisper through the tears that were starting. ‘ That’ s wonderful news.’ She turned and ran into the house. Bob followed her.
It got quiet again, and then my dad said, ‘ You’ re not adopting this baby with another woman, are you?’
I didn’ t dignify his question with an answer and instead went to check on Bob and Charlotte. When I got inside the house, Bob was wheeling a bag from his old bedroom.
‘ You’ re leaving?’ I asked.
‘ Yeah. Charlotte’ s in the car.’
‘ Bob, I’ m sorry. I didn’ t want to say anything today.’
‘ Don’ t worry about it. We’ re going to hit the road. I was about to come say good-bye.’
‘ Mom told me everything you’ ve been going through, and-’
‘ I’ ve got to run& don’ t want to leave Charlotte sitting there.’
‘ Can I go talk to her?’
He shook his head. ‘ It’ s nothing personal, June. It’ s going to take her a while to wrap her head around your news. We’ ve been wanting a baby for so long.’
‘ But Mom told me you didn’ t want to adopt.’
‘ It still hurts. That’ s all I can say.’ He reached an arm around me to give me a quick hug. ‘ Congratulations.’
‘ Thanks,’ I said softly. Then I handed him the letter in an envelope. ‘ It’ s no rush reading it. Just stuff I wanted you to know.’
From there, the Mankowskis couldn’ t scoot out fast enough. My parents and I cleaned up the party without a word about the baby. We were tipsy and tired, and the Parkers never talk about anything if it can possibly be avoided, and thank goodness, at that point it could.
IT WASN’ T UNTIL the next morning, over a breakfast of leftover tiny sandwiches, that I had a chance to discuss the baby with my mom. I let her tell me every parental horror story to try to dissuade me from making a rash decision. I nodded patiently and smiled as she outlined the sleepless nights and hurt knees and sassing back I could expect.
‘ Don’ t get me wrong,’ she said, sipping her coffee, elbows on the table, ‘ I’ m delighted I’ m going to be a grandma. And you might have to get a bigger apartment to handle the stuff I plan to buy that kid. I just wonder if you’ ve thought this through.’
‘ Sometimes it’ s all I think about.’
She set down her cup. ‘ I’ m going to play ‘ what if.’ What if the perfect man comes around tomorrow and says, ‘ I want to marry you, but you have a child’ ?’
‘ Then he’ s hardly the perfect man, is he?’
‘ No,’ she replied. ‘ I suppose not.’
‘ Now let me play ‘ what if.’ What if the perfect man never comes around?’
‘ Oh, sweetie,’ she said, clasping my hand across the table. ‘ He will.’
Chapter 19
A t the last minute, Marissa’ s mom and grandma begged out of the ride I’ d offered to Las Vegas. Instead, they said they’ d fly up and meet us at the hotel. I suspected they weren’ t eager to spend five hours on the road trying to make conversation-which might have offended me had I not been dreading the very same thing. I’ d need every minute of the drive to psych up for the weekend to come, which was why I was about to bitch-slap Brie if she didn’ t stop talking about what a long-ass drive this was, and why didn’ t we bring DVDs for the player?
It was eight o’ clock by the time Martucci pulled the Rideshare Mobile into the Flamingo parking lot. We checked in and headed up to our rooms. Marissa’ s mom and grandma had already arrived, but Troy hadn’ t. (And, ha! I’ d told him those carpool lanes would save us time. Plus, Martucci had driven straight through. Brie and I were able to use the bathroom in the motor home, and apparently Martucci had a bladder the size of an oil tanker.)
After calling Kitty Jones, Marissa’ s mom, to arrange for all of us to meet in the lobby in an hour, I collapsed on the bed.
‘ What is it about sitting that makes me so tired?’ I whined. ‘ It makes no sense.’
Our
