‘ Hell, yeah, I looked. But I didn’ t touch. And you know why?’
I rolled my eyes. ‘ Because you respect me.’
‘ No& because you were freaking me out. Kept licking my face. Pulling on the rattail, saying it was my source of power. That I was Samson and you were going to cut off my source of power in my sleep.’
‘ Oh.’
‘ I was afraid you’ d go after my other source of power. Pull a Lorena Bobbitt on me. I felt lucky to get out of there alive.’
‘ Sorry,’ I said, feeling sheepish.
He turned back to his driving, his face wounded. ‘ What do you have against the rattail, anyway?’
Chapter 22
I t’ s best that you found this out now,’ Susan said. ‘ You don’ t need to waste time on a man who’ s going to take forever to want kids.’
‘ August isn’ t exactly forever.’
‘ Don’ t make excuses for him,’ she said, pointing a plastic fork at me. ‘ That’ s how you wind up in these relationships that never go anywhere. You deserve better.’
It was Monday morning, and Susan had invited me out for breakfast. We ate egg sandwiches and fruit cups at the deli up the street from work while I filled her in on the details of the weekend. Most of them, anyway. I omitted the part about nearly date raping Martucci.
I’ d spent the rest of Sunday sleeping off my hangover and wishing things had gone differently with Troy. The idea of this list leading me to my true love-okay, it was corny, but I couldn’ t shake my disappointment. Troy had seemed like the sort of guy I could hang with, baby or not. It wasn’ t exactly effortless being with him-there was the matter of my feeling self-conscious over his sister-but I’ d hoped we could get past that.
‘ Maybe this baby is the best thing to ever happen to you,’ Susan said. ‘ It’ ll be a barometer. You’ ll know right away-a guy is either ready for a commitment or he’ s not. Period.’
‘ But Troy had seemed so& right,’ I moped.
‘ They’ re always perfect before you get to know them. But everybody has their flaws. I could sit here for days telling you what bugs me about Chase. But blowing you off because you’ re going to have a baby-I’ d assume that’ s a deal breaker.’
I blew out a breath. ‘ I’ d be feeling a whole lot more high and mighty if I hadn’ t forgotten the baby myself.’
‘ Oh, June. You didn’ t forget the baby. Leaving it on top of the car and driving away is forgetting the baby. Your mind was elsewhere for a while. It’ s allowed.’
‘ Did you ever?’
‘ C’ mon& pregnant with twins? I wished I could have thought of something else. Or slept, for that matter. But in your case, I can see how it would happen. It’ s not as if people are constantly coming up to you and feeling your belly.’ She chewed her lip. ‘ June, I hate to say this now. It’ s extremely bad timing. But I’ m going to say it anyway. No one-and I mean no one-would fault you if you were having second thoughts.’
‘ I’ m not having second thoughts.’
‘ Are you sure? Because if you wanted to back out, it would be fine.’
I steeled my shoulders. ‘ I’ m not backing out.’
‘ Good,’ she said, picking up her food tray and standing to leave. ‘ Because as we speak, there are thirty people gathered in my office with gifts for you. So if you’ re going to go through with it, you’ ll have a few nice things for the baby. If you might change your mind, don’ t remove any of the tags.’ We tipped our trays into the trash can. Susan added, ‘ Oh, and act surprised.’
MERYL STREEP can rest assured-her job is safe. I threw my hands to my face and squealed after they shouted, ‘ Surprise!’ but everybody figured out that Susan had clued me in.
No matter. I still scored plenty of loot.
At long last, after years of chipping in for everybody else’ s weddings and babies and buying Girl Scout cookies and magazine subscriptions by the truckload, I was getting mine.
I tore into the gifts excitedly. The biggest one was a stroller that the staff had pitched in on. And not any stroller, I was informed, but the Cadillac of strollers. I hoped it came with a driver’ s manual.
In addition to that, I got a swing, a bathtub, blankets, an ear thermometer, towels, and several tiny outfits cuter than anything I own. The gift that astounded me the most was a T-shirt with little cars and buses on it. It was so tiny. I kept holding it up, marveling that a human was going to fit in it.
Later, over cake, the questions came in a barrage. What was I naming the baby? (Um& I haven’ t decided.) Was I taking time off? (Definitely some, but how long I wasn’ t sure.) Was I going to be in the delivery room? (Probably.) Was I nervous about it? (Yes.) Would I be breast-feeding? (That was from Martucci. I didn’ t bother to reply.)
At one point, Mary Jo from the vanpool department said, ‘ This baby is being born in August, right?’
‘ Uh-huh.’
‘ This August?’
‘ Of course this August. Why would you ask that?’
‘ It’ s only that it’ s so soon, and you don’ t seem very prepared.’
‘ I’ m prepared,’ I said defensively, knowing full well she was right. I hadn’ t even given an inkling of thought to a name. Something was definitely wrong about that, but I pushed the worry away.
Eventually, people started wandering back to their offices. Susan had to rush off to a meeting. I was packing up the gifts when Phyllis showed up, apologizing that a meeting with Bigwood had gone longer than expected.
‘ This is for you.’ She thrust a wrapped box at me. ‘ I got the same thing for my grandbaby.’
I didn’ t miss the message behind her words. ‘ Your daughter got the letter,’ I said softly. ‘ You’ ve made up.’
‘ Well, we’ re not exactly sitting around holding hands and singing ‘ Kumbaya,’ but’ -her face shone as she talked-’ we’ ve been talking. Met the husband. And their kids are cute as hell. They got this wild curly hair-I don’ t know where it came from. Danny is three, and Jennifer just turned a year.’
‘ Those are pretty common names from a girl named Sunshine.’
‘ Sally,’ she corrected me. ‘ She goes by Sally now. But get this: Her husband rides a motorcycle-how’ s that for a kick in the pants? A little Honda piece of crap, but still. There’ s hope for that girl yet if she picked a husband who rides.’ Phyllis gestured to the gift. ‘ Anyway, open it.’
As I tore into the wrapping paper, Phyllis asked how the list was going.
‘ I’ m almost done. Two tasks left to go,’ I said, holding up a tiny Harley-Davidson leather jacket. ‘ Oh, Phyllis, this is so cute! Thank you.’
She nodded and then said, ‘ Which ones do you have left to do?’
‘ Find a guy named Buddy Fitch and make him pay-that’ s a tough one. I’ m stumped. I’ m spending every night on the Internet searching. The other is that I have to change someone’ s life.’
‘ That letter you wrote changed my life,’ Phyllis said. ‘ So go ahead and mark that one done.’
Shaking my head, I said, ‘ Thanks, but not a chance. I only threw words on paper. Getting back with your daughter& you did that on your own. Anyway, I’ m bringing the final adoption papers over to Deedee and her family this Saturday. I figure as soon as we sign them, it’ ll be official. Then I’ ll feel as if I can say I’ ve changed a life.’
My heart skittered as I said all that out loud.
Phyllis must have noticed because she said, ‘ There’ s nothing to be nervous about. You’ ll do a fine job.’
I sure hoped so. Little Whatever-her-name-was-going-to-be deserved the best mom possible.
DEEDEE PALED as she watched the woman writhe nude on the screen in front of us. Maybe this childbirth class was a mistake. The adoption lawyer had recommended it because it was especially for girls giving up their babies. I promised to take Deedee every Wednesday night until she went into labor. Unfortunately, seeing what she was in for in just over a month’ s time, Deedee looked more frightened than I’ ll bet I had when I’ d seen The Birds.