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“Until we step on the scale tomorrow,” Jo cracked and took a sip of hers. “Except I’m drinking for two. Probably for another nine months at the rate I’m going. This baby’s taking her own sweet time.”
“She’ll be here any day,” Riley said. Her sister was having a girl and had the ultrasound to prove it. She also had a dresser full of cute outfits so her little girl could be as stylin’ as she was.
“I’m ready. I’m more than ready. I have cleaned this house from top to bottom.”
“It looks great,” said Noel.
Jo’s house always looked great. It was like an ad for Crate & Barrel. Chocolate-brown leather sofa and matching chairs, an expensive, thick throw rug over hardwood floors, her cupboards stocked with artisan stoneware. Tonight an arrangement of fall flowers in a long vase sat on her antique dining table, and she had a balsam-scented candle burning.
“I even cleaned the grout in the shower,” she told them. “Mom says it’s that final burst of energy before the baby comes. I sure hope she knows what she’s talking about. I’d like to see my feet again.”
“I thought expectant mothers were supposed to, like, glow,” Noel said with a frown.
“I left glowing behind two months ago,” Jo informed her.
“But you’re going to have a baby!”
Jo did smile at that and rubbed her bulging belly.
Wait a minute. What was wrong with her sister’s smile? The lips were in the right position but something was missing.
“Are you all right?” Riley asked her.
“Me? Of course I’m all right.”
“Are you sure?”
Jo’s chin went up a notch, a sign that she wasn’t all right at all.
Riley’s stomach started churning her eggnog. She set down her mug. “What’s going on?”
Jo shrugged and downed the last of her drink. “Nothing.”
“Okay, something is definitely wrong,” Riley said.
“Not really wrong, just...not right. I don’t know if I want to stay married to Mike.”
Riley could feel her eyes bugging. “What? You and Mike have a great marriage. What are you talking about?”
“There’s nothing great about him being gone all the time,” Jo snapped. “He wants to re-up.”
“Reenlist? You guys already talked about that,” Riley said.
“We did. And I thought we had it settled. Obviously, we don’t, not according to the email I just got.” Jo frowned. “All he can see is that big bonus he’ll get. He thinks we need it now that we’ve got the baby coming.”
“Well, his motives are good,” said Noel.
“No, they’re not. He’s just being greedy.”
“Maybe he’s worried about finding a job once he gets out,” Riley suggested. Mike was a nice guy. He would never cheat on his woman. Jo had no idea how lucky she was.
“He’d have no trouble getting a job. He’ll be in high demand. That’s why they’re offering him such a big signing bonus. I told him it’s either me or the navy. If he re-ups it’s anchors aweigh. We’re through.”
Jo had dashed all over the emotional landscape during the last few months. Riley was sure this was simply one more case of whacked-out hormones. “You shouldn’t make any big decision like that right now. And anyway, Mike loves you. And you’re about to have a baby, for crying out loud.”
Tears started leaking from Jo’s eyes. “I don’t want to raise this baby alone.”
“You won’t be,” Riley assured her. “Yeah, Mike goes out to sea but he always comes back to you.”
“He’s gone for months at a time,” Jo said, wiping her eyes.
“But we’re all here.”
“It’s not the same. In the end it’ll be me and Annabelle alone in this place. It’ll be me up all night when she’s sick, just me at the PTO meetings and the school plays. He’ll be off...somewhere, keeping the world safe. Super Squid in a sub,” Jo said bitterly.
“But think how noble—he’s serving his country,” Noel pointed out.
“I know, but he’s been doing it for eight years. Isn’t that enough? Can’t he let someone else take a turn?”
This was obviously a rhetorical question, so Riley didn’t respond. Instead she said, “You really need to think about this, sis. If you split with Mike you’ll be even more alone.”
“I’ll replace him.”
“You don’t mean that,” Riley said sternly.
Jo sighed. “I don’t know what I mean. I’m just so...mad.”
It was all Riley could do not to tell her to get over it. But that would be unkind and not very helpful. This was hormones talking. Had to be. So she decided to say, “Mike’s a good man, and it’s darn hard to find a good man.” This was something she was now an expert on.
“Yeah, he’s practically perfect,” Noel added.
“There’s no such thing as a perfect man,” Jo said in disgust.
“I’ll settle for almost perfect,” Noel said.
“I’ll settle for playing Farkle,” Riley said. Sheesh. This was supposed to be a girlfriend party to cheer her up. At the rate they were going, they’d all be lying down in the middle of Pine Street waiting to get run over by a reindeer. “Come on, let’s have fun. No more talk of men. Okay?”
Noel nodded. “I agree.”
“Me, too,” Jo said and fetched the game.
For the next two hours they played games. Then they turned on the Hallmark Channel and watched a Christmas movie. “The guys in these movies are all so great,” Noel said with a sigh as the ending credits rolled.
“That’s because they’re not real,” Jo said. “If you sit around waiting for the perfect man you’ll be on your buttsky for a long time.”
“Thanks,” Noel muttered. “You sure know how to inspire a girl.”
“Just sayin’.” Jo heaved a sigh. “Oh, never mind me. I’m cranky. And I’m pooped. You guys feel free to stay up as long as you want, but my daughter and I are going to bed so we’ll be ready to hit the mall tomorrow.” She waddled off to her bedroom, calling over her shoulder, “Leave the mess. We can clean it up in the morning.”
“I’m tired, too,” Riley said. It had been a long day and she suddenly felt the weight of all her misery. She stacked the empty popcorn bowls and grabbed a couple of glasses.
“Me, too,” Noel said, picking up the rest of the mess. “Do you think your sister’s right?” she asked as they loaded the dishwasher.
“About what?” Not about Mike, that was for sure.
“About there being no such thing as a perfect man.”
“Well, none of us is perfect, but I hope there’s such a thing as the perfect man for me,” said Riley.
Maybe someday, somewhere, she’d find him.
Chapter Three (#u6bb90c9d-0f9e-5c55-aa0f-fa78f3b99f22)
The problem with writing children’s stories was that the only men you met were A) editors, who were either married or gay; B) happily married stay-at-home dads who brought their children to author appearances (where were the single dads these days?); and C) little boys who came to those author appearances (all those adorable little boys—where were the big ones?). Even Noel’s landlord was a woman. Mrs. Bing was fifty-something and you’d think she’d have had a son but no. Actually, considering what Mrs. Bing looked like, that was probably just as well.
So, naturally, Noel had been thrilled when Donny Lockhart walked into Java Josie’s one rainy fall morning. Noel had been seated at a table, working on her latest project with her gingersnap latte within easy reach. It was a Saturday, practically the only day of the week besides Sunday that she got out of her jammie bottoms and got out of the house. The coffee shop was packed with people. Tables were scarce. He’d asked if he could share hers. Donny was tall and cute with red hair and freckles and trendy glasses. Of course she’d said yes.
He’d taken out his tablet and gotten to work, typing away. There was no “Hey, we’re both redheads.” No “Crappy weather we’re having, huh?” No “What are you drinking? It looks good.” No “Wow, are you an artist?”
She could’ve asked him what he was working on, but she didn’t have the nerve. All kinds of clever words poured out of her when she was working on her Marvella Monster books but when it came to picking up guys, she was more of a Timid Tillie Titmouse.
It wasn’t that she was ugly. She was okay-looking. She just...well, all those years of wearing glasses before they became a fashion statement, coupled with braces and a few extra pounds (the kiss of death when you were in high school) had messed with her self-esteem. That, plus being a bit of a nerd. Who wanted a nerd when you could hook up with a cheerleader? That had become her belief and she’d kept it all through college, which left the shelves in the boyfriend department pretty bare. If a guy got things started, she was fine, but it was hard to put herself out there and make the first move, even though the glasses had been replaced with contacts and the extra pounds had long since disappeared.
So she’d sighed inwardly and gone back to sketching the illustrations for her latest Marvella book, Marvella and the Monster Under Mary’s Bed.
She’d just finished sketching Marvella pulling a protesting green gremlin out from under the hapless Mary’s bed when someone spoke. “Are you an artist?”
Mr. Cute Glasses was talking to her? “Yes.” Now, there was an area where she had complete confidence. “I’m a children’s book author but I illustrate all my own books.” That in itself was quite an accomplishment, if she did say so herself. Not many people could do both well.
“Yeah?” He’d leaned over and checked out Marvella, who was upside down. She’d turned her sketch tablet around so he could see her creation better.
“You’re really good.”
She’d smiled modestly and thanked him. Now that the conversational gate was open, she’d had no problem asking, “What about you? What do you do?”
His cheeks had turned a little pink. “I’m between jobs at the moment. What I want to do is be a writer.”
A kindred soul! “Really? What do you want to write?”
“Legal thrillers. You know, like John Grisham.”
“I love him.” Something else they had in common. “So is that what you’re working on right now?”
His cheeks had gone from pink to red. “Actually, no. I’m, uh, writing something different, along the lines of Fifty Shades.”
She’d felt her own cheeks sizzling. She’d tried to watch the movie, but her eyes had started to melt five minutes in. Her life was more like fifty shades of white.
“I heard there’s big money in romance novels,” he’d said, “so I thought I’d start there.”
“That sounds like a plan,” she’d said, at a loss for anything better. She knew quite a few writers, and none of them were in it for the money. They wrote because they loved to write. Still, she supposed it was good to be practical.
Donny had introduced himself and they’d wound up talking for twenty minutes until he’d checked his cell phone and announced that he had to go. Writers group meeting.
But before he left, he’d gotten her phone number and promised to call.
Lo and behold, he had. They’d dated hot and heavy for six glorious months. Six months of foreign films at The Orpheum. Lunch at Lettuce Love, since lunch was cheaper than dinner and Donny was on a budget...so of course she always offered to pay and he always let her. (Very secure in who he was as a man.) Six months of open mike on Monday nights at Java Josie’s, where aspiring writers read their work. (Donny always read. His stuff was...well, he was still a beginner. He had room to grow.)
Six months of Donny asking her if her agent represented romance novelists, if she could edit his latest chapter, what she thought of his new scene. Six months of Donny talking about Donny and his dreams and very little talking about Noel and hers. Six months of him looking for a job to support himself while he finished his novel and finding nothing and continuing to live in his parents’ basement. Of him asking if he could borrow ten bucks and then forgetting to pay her back. Six months before she finally realized that Donny was cute and creative—and self-centered and a user. After six months, Donny was history. The last time she saw him at the coffee shop he was hitting on a blonde in a business suit. So much for true love.
But she wasn’t going to think about that. There was more to life than men.
Like holiday sales. And the mall, which served both Whispering Pines and the nearby town of Salmon Run, definitely had that going now that Black Friday was here. Christmas decorations were up and oversize golden balls and swags hung everywhere. In the middle of the mall, right by the information booth, Santa’s shack, a red plywood chalet with white gingerbread trim, was being erected. A sign at the corner of the fake snow lawn announced: Santa Arrives December 1.
Good thing he wasn’t arriving this weekend, she thought. He’d never have found a place to park his sleigh. It looked as if everyone in Whispering Pines and their fishy neighbor seven miles to the east was here. They all seemed to be swarming the department stores, getting their cell phones upgraded or their ears pierced or buying cookies over at Carmen’s Cookie House. And they were all ready to do battle for bargains, especially at Macy’s. One woman beat her to the last black sweater in her size by all of two seconds.
Jo was currently using her belly as a lethal weapon, knocking competitors out of the way in the activewear department. “She’s fierce,” Noel observed to Riley.
“Yep. She always has been. Sometimes I feel sorry for poor Mike.”
“You don’t think they’re going to split up, do you?”
“I hope not,” Riley said. “His shipping out never bothered her when it was only the two of them, but now with the baby in the picture, she’s been complaining a lot about him being gone so much. Of course, she’s been complaining a lot about all kinds of stuff. It’s really not like her. I’m not sure being pregnant agrees with her.”
“It would with me,” Noel said. Darn, but she wanted a baby. Here she wrote children’s books and didn’t have a child. What was wrong with that picture? “Maybe I’ll adopt.” Why wait for a man to come along? At the rate she was going, she could be waiting until she was fifty.
“I don’t know,” Riley said. “I think I’d rather have a dad in the picture, someone to take over when you’ve got cramps and just want to go to bed.”
“Yeah, but what if I never find someone? What if...” Oh, dear. Don’t go there. “But we’re not going to think about that.”
Riley frowned. “No, we’re not. Instead we’re going to try on dresses.”
She hauled Noel over to a rack where evening outfits were thirty percent off. “I don’t need an evening dress,” Noel protested. Besides being on a tight budget, she wasn’t exactly the fancy-dress kind of girl. Her pink sweats and Uggs said it all—boring homebody who writes on her laptop in her jammies. Besides, if they went out and she needed something fancy, she had the red bridesmaid dress she’d bought for Riley’s wedding.
Except wearing that around her friend would be mean. And tacky. Anyway, where were they going to go with their love lives in the toilet?
“Well, I do,” Riley said. “Let’s buy some sexy dresses to wear on New Year’s Eve.”
“Uh, Riley, neither one of us has someone to go out with on New Year’s Eve.”
“This will be like thinking positive, putting it out there in the universe that we want someone to celebrate with. And if no one comes, we’ll still go out. I’m not going to start the New Year feeling like an abysmal love failure.”
“No one would ever call you that,” Noel insisted.
Riley began furiously sorting through the dresses. She pulled out a black one with a sweetheart neckline, trimmed with fake pearls and gold beads and held it against her. “What do you think?”
“That Sean blew it.”
Riley’s lower lip wobbled and a tear slipped out of the corner of one eye. She dashed it away. “I can’t become pitiful,” she said in a low voice.
