“I wonder if your baby will be blonde at first, too,” Van mused from the other side of Maddie. Along with Becca, Logan’s sister, all four of them were at the salon before they were due to be picked up by a limo and taken to the airport to catch their flight to Boston. It had been Maddie’s idea to come here first, and Lainey had been more than happy to bring two extra stylists in. Courtney looked around at them all, feeling warm inside.
It felt like she was part of something new. Something good. For the first time in a long while she felt excited. Tonight she’d be reunited with Logan, something she was so damn happy about. It had been a long couple of weeks without him, and the telephone and Skype calls didn’t cut it. She needed his warmth, his strength, the deep woodsy scent of his body. No amount of phone calls could substitute for that.
They’d already planned the weekend out. Tonight would be busy, of course, with getting ready for the party and with all the family around. And Sunday morning would be spent having brunch with them all. But in the afternoon, before she was due to catch her flight back, Logan had asked if they could go shopping together. Buy a few novelty items for the baby in Boston, followed by a tour of some of the sights. It felt important to him. As though it was his last chance to show her the city he loved. So of course she readily agreed.
“So, have you and Logan found anywhere to live yet?”
“We haven’t had a chance. Not with the restaurant opening. Hopefully things will calm down now.”
Maddie turned to look at Courtney, earning her disapproval from the stylist. “I bet you’ll miss that place. Presley and Marley loved it when we came over last week. They haven’t stopped babbling about the hens.”
Courtney had shown them around, introducing them to Ellis and Mary, whose faces had lit up at the smiling, toddling little boys. Ellis had even taken them for a ride in his tractor, much to the twins’ delight. It had given her a little insight into how excited they’d be when her own baby arrived. That thought warmed her inside.
“We loved having them there. And they can still come over after I move. I’ll still be working on the farm.”
“You will?” Lainey’s brows lifted. “How are you going to manage that?”
“I’ll take the baby with me, at least at first. Mary has offered to help. And then I’ll look into daycare.”
“How does Logan feel about Mary taking care of the baby?” Lainey wrinkled her nose. “It has to be strange since they’re Shaun’s parents.”
Courtney shrugged. “We haven’t had a chance to talk about it yet. But it makes sense. I can go and feed the baby on demand and still work. There aren’t many jobs where you can do both.”
“It could feel a bit emasculating though,” Lainey pointed out. “I’d check it out with him first.”
“I will. We’ve got a lot of things to sort out. But there’s plenty of time. I’m only eighteen weeks.”
“Enjoy them,” Maddie said darkly, though her lips curled up. “You’ll never know how good it feels to pee in solitude again.”
“Any time you want to pee alone, I’m happy to look after the baby,” Becca called out. “And you know I’ll look after the twins, too,” she added to Maddie. “I love spoiling them. It’s the best thing about being an auntie.”
“By spoiling them, she means giving them each a huge candy bar, then laughing in Gray’s face when she hands them back in the middle of a sugar rush,” Maddie told Courtney. “Don’t be deceived by her sweet face. She’s evil.”
“That’s why your boys love me,” Becca called out over their heads.
“And that’s why Tanner and I aren’t having kids yet,” Van said, deadpan. “Not until Becca gets this auntie thing out of her system.”
“I’m never getting it out of my system,” Becca said gleefully. “You should just go ahead and get pregnant. Give in to the inevitable.”
“We’re so going to get you back when you meet someone,” Maddie told her. “Gray can’t wait to do the big brother act on the lucky guy.”
Becca was notoriously unlucky in love. She blamed it on the fact that her brothers loomed so large in Hartson’s Creek. It would take a strong man to deal with them.
“Tanner’s already made an album up of your baby photos,” Van added, laughing at Becca’s outraged expression. “I’m not lying. He claims he’ll get it out the first time you bring a guy home.”
“I’m not scared of Gray and Tanner,” Becca said, laughing. “I know all their darkest secrets. And I’m more than happy to spill them for a fee.” She rubbed her hands together.
“I might take you up on that,” Van said, pretending to twirl a moustache. “Tanner played a prank on me yesterday, and I owe him one.”
“What kind of prank?” Becca asked. “Tell me more.”
Courtney smiled as Van related Tanner’s antics of the day before, when he’d jumped out of the closet, wearing a Freddy Krueger mask. Van had apparently screamed and hit him before he could run away from her. When she described chasing him around the house and yard with the first thing she could lay her hands on – a wooden spoon – the women all collapsed into laughter.
It was hard to remember the last time Courtney had spent time with girl friends like this. Of course she had Lainey – and she loved her to bits – but these women were wonderful. It was nice being able to talk about the Hartson men – or the Heartbreak Brothers, as Van insisted on calling them, much to Becca’s amusement. It was fun to listen about Van and Tanner’s teasing relationship, and Maddie and Gray’s love of being parents.
When her phone buzzed in her purse down by her feet, her
