“Did you guys talk about where you want to go for dinner?” Kellie asked.
I shrugged, turning to Lauren. “Where do you want to go?”
Lauren stared at her plate like an addict then dumped maple syrup on the massive pile of pancakes and sausages she’d ordered, until they were all practically floating.
“Dang, cowgirl. That much syrup should be illegal.”
She turned her fork on me. “Don’t even start, Mr. Five-Bottles-of Ketchup-on-my-Hash-Browns.”
So, she’d noticed my ketchup problem.
“Just sayin’.”
“I think he has a death wish,” Kellie stage-whispered to Jared.
“Any man willing to mess with a pregnant woman’s taste buds has it coming.” Jared shook the salt over his eggs, took his hat off, and glanced at me. “Want to do the honors?”
Huh. No.
“Sure thing, boss,” I heard myself answer.
Jared closed his eyes, and I closed mine, digging for just a hint of the faith Megs had shared with me.
I hadn’t prayed publicly in almost a year, but if I was serious about getting right with God, now was as good a time as any to get started.
“Life’s crazy, Lord,” I said, which was the strangest start to a prayer ever, but it was dead accurate. “Thank You for the food and for tonight. Please protect Lauren. Help her through this, God. Help us all to help her the best we can. In Your name. Amen.”
“Amen,” they echoed.
Lauren smiled at me, her dimples pricking. She mouthed, Thank you.
I nodded toward her pancakes. “Those things aren’t gonna eat themselves.”
Lauren took a bite. Her lids fluttered shut and she groaned, basically passing out in a dazed stupor.
“Perfection,” she whispered.
“Snap out of it, crazy.” Kellie threw a balled-up straw wrapper at her and giggled.
Lauren’s eyes flicked open. “Don’t pretend like you don’t get it. I remember your cheese cravings with Aiden. Remember those, Jared?”
Jared chuckled. “Don’t remind me.”
Three hours and a hilarious time of Putt-Putt later, we headed back to Jared and Kellie’s. Kellie made some coffee, and Jared whipped out a deck of cards for a game of rummy. We sat around laughing and talking, and I didn't miss the glow in Lauren’s eyes when me and Jared swapped stories about our sports glory days.
“What about you, girls?” I asked. “Did you do anything sporty, other than cheering?”
Lauren and Kellie shared a glance and Kellie sighed. “Our mom made us try every sport, but neither of us were into them.”
“That’s not true, babe,” Jared cut in. “You were really good at tennis.”
Kellie rolled her eyes. “I only played because it was the one thing Mom and Dad would come watch together.”
“Have you heard from Dad lately?” Lauren asked.
Kellie shook her head and Jared put down a seven.
“Just last Christmas. He’s still super bitter.”
“What’s he bitter about?” I asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
Lauren said, “He wanted us to move out to Texas with him when he transferred, but I’d just started my first semester at community, and Kel just found out she was pregnant with Liam.”
“He’s hurting, but he won’t admit it.” Kellie slid her cards into a clean stack. “He should just transfer back, but he won’t listen.”
“He’s a senior master sergeant,” Lauren said. “He can’t handle being wrong about anything, and he definitely can’t handle apologizing.”
Jared said, “You guys are being too hard on him. He offered to fly you out for a visit, but you wouldn’t go.”
Kellie scoffed. “I was thirty-weeks pregnant with Aiden, and Lauren was about to graduate with her AA! He should’ve come here.”
Lauren used to be close to her dad. Maybe having him around would help her more than she thought. “Would he come now?” I asked.
“Nope,” both girls said in unison.
Lauren tapped her cards on the table and studied her nails. Turquoise today. I liked the way the color popped beside her tan skin.
“He’s as bullheaded as it gets,” Jared said. “We really should make a trip out there though, Kel. It’d probably be good for him.”
Kellie pressed her lips into a tight line and lifted her brows, giving Jared the disbelieving look that ran through her bloodline. “It’d do him some good to get over himself and come back here. I’m not visiting my grouchy dad just to hear him complain about us living in California.”
Lauren yanked out her ponytail and flipped her hair, left, then right, then back left again.
Kellie studied her and set a hand on her arm. “What’s wrong?”
“He’ll disown me when he finds out.”
“He’ll rage and then he’ll get over it. And it’s not like it matters anyway. He chose Texas, right?”
“I still don’t get why.”
Kellie’s phone rang. She looked at the screen and her face went pale.
“What?” Lauren asked.
Kellie silenced her phone and paused a few seconds before saying, “It’s Mom.”
-LAUREN-
My blood froze, and ice trickled down my spine. “You don’t have to answer it.”
“It’s always better on her first try.”
Kellie was right. If she didn’t answer, Mom would call back ten more times, just to leave nasty messages. I swallowed and twisted my fingers together inside my lap as Kellie tapped on the green button.
“Hello?”
Please, God. Don’t let her cut me off.
“Uh huh. I just talked to her yesterday. Seems like camp’s going good.” Kellie lifted a hand like, what else am I supposed to say? “Oh, you did? That’s weird. No, I don’t know why she needed bloodwork.”
Kellie winced and pulled the phone away from her ear, Mom’s shrill voice piercing through the air. It was too muffled to make out, but I could guess what she was saying. My life was about to be over.
Carter settled his hand over mine. “I’m right here,” he whispered.
“No. I don’t know,” Kellie said, and began pacing. “But, obviously it wasn’t intentional. She would never—”
Kellie pulled the phone back again, another string of words screaming through the air. I could barely feel anything. My whole world was going numb. My eyes were stinging again, and I hated how emotional the pregnancy hormones were making me.
“She’s your blood,” Kellie said,
