“Oh.” Cat glowered at her. “Then I guess I’ll need to find a new hair salon.”
“What?” Jennifer yelped from the back. She glared at Dana before yelling at Cat, “Don’t listen to her. She’s just my receptionist.”
“Then you might want to think about getting a new receptionist,” Cat offered. “I know more than a handful of women who don’t come in here, Jen, because they don’t want to deal with Dana. They all go to Essex instead.”
“That’s true,” I added. “I go to Essex.”
Jennifer’s jaw clenched as her eyes narrowed on her receptionist.
Dana looked ready to kill us.
And I took that as our cue to leave.
We did so quietly and with dignity, and I waited until we were out of sight before I asked, “Did we take that too far?”
Cat burst into raucous laughter. “Oh my God, no. It was the best thing ever! You’re my new hero!”
I looked at Jess who grinned at me.
“I felt kind of mean.”
“That’s because you’re a good person.” She squeezed my hand.
“Don’t feel mean,” Cat huffed. “Neither of you have lived here all your life, so let me tell you a little something about Dana Kellerman: that egg thing that happened to you in high school? Take that and times it by a million when it comes to the shit she pulled on girls in high school. She tortured kids. When Cooper told me he was dating her, I tried to warn him. He told me she’d grown up a lot since then.” Cat snorted. “Uh, yeah, no. She’s still pulling that crap.”
“Well, your brother learned that the hard way,” Jess defended him gently.
“Yeah. But my point is”—Cat turned to me—“don’t feel guilty about embarrassing her in there, making her feel small, because she has lived her life getting off on other people’s misery. If she loses her job, great. Maybe she’ll fuck off and go torture another town with her selfish, catty, nasty, downright-mean attitude. They say people have a reason for being the way they are, and I believe that. I do. But some people are just born selfish to the core, and Dana Kellerman is one of them. Don’t feel bad. Feel proud that you stood up for yourself and for Jack.”
A little stunned by Cat’s passionate speech, I exhaled slowly and nodded at her. “Okay. I will.”
“Good. And next time you want to stand up for yourself, please invite me. That was the classiest put down I’ve ever witnessed.”
We shared a warm smile and my unease faded a little in light of my newfound friendship with Cat Lawson.
32
Jack
With a very deliberate hand on Emery’s lower back, Jack walked at her side as they moved through the corridors of the medical building next to Hartwell County General in Essex. He’d picked her up thirty minutes ago for their first prenatal appointment at the OB/GYN offices there. Em and Jess had decided it would be better that Em saw the same doctor throughout her entire pregnancy, and Jess wasn’t available to be that doctor because she’d be on maternity leave soon.
Every day it all got a little more real that Jack was going to be a father, and he was scared, excited, and a whole load of emotions in between. But it was also surreal. Like it hadn’t sunk in as reality yet.
Emery was a little stiff beneath his touch at first. He thought about letting her go but then she seemed to relax. Jack was glad. He was afraid if he didn’t try to create familiarity between them, Em wouldn’t ever take down that wall she’d erected to keep him out.
“Here.” She gestured to the reception desk. The older woman behind the desk was on the phone. She held up a finger for them to wait.
Emery sucked in a shaky breath and Jack increased the pressure of his touch on her lower back as he leaned in to ask softly, “You okay?”
He inhaled that singular scent of hers—like a wave of flowers in the ocean—as she turned to look at him with her spectacular eyes. “I’m fine.”
“No nausea?”
“It seems to have abated pretty quickly for me.” She lifted her crossed fingers and gave him a stiff smile. “We’ll see.”
The stiff smile bothered him. He knew she was trying. But it was shit that what was once so easy between them seemed a little forced now.
“Can I help you?” the nurse asked as she hung up the phone.
“We have an appointment,” Emery said, and Jack took encouragement from the “we” part. “Emery Saunders.”
The nurse checked her computer. “Okay, just take a seat. Dr. Britt will see you soon.”
As they seated themselves in the waiting area, Jack had to let go of Em.
She turned to speak to him and Jack bent his head toward her. Her lashes fluttered rapidly at their proximity and he took heart from it. “Did you schedule plenty of time off work? Jess said the first prenatal visit is usually the longest.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Nodding, Em looked away. Jack studied her as she nibbled on her lower lip. At the same time her fingers twisted together on her lap. Today she wore a long, pale-pink dress with full sleeves and a loose silhouette. Despite its looseness, when the breeze blew it back against her waist as they’d walked across the parking lot outside, it revealed that her stomach was still flat.
Jack was looking forward to the bump.
“Hey,” he said softly as he reached for her hands. He peeled them apart by curling his fingers through one of them. He squeezed her hand tight. “Are you nervous?”
She stared at their clasped hands for a second and he waited, his heart picking up speed while she decided whether to pull away. He held his breath as she proceeded without letting him go. He sighed inwardly in relief. Her gaze met his. “A little.”
“No need.” He flashed her a grin and took encouragement from the way her cheeks flushed. She liked his smile. That was obvious. He intended to use it against her. “Any woman who can stand up to Dana Kellerman can handle her first prenatal visit.”
Emery blushed even harder, but she returned his smile.
“You know how proud I am, right?”
“You said as much.”
He had. Word had reached him at the hotel about Emery’s salon standoff with Dana. He’d called her to get her version of events and had grinned so hard through her retelling, his cheeks hurt.
The best thing was people had started coming back in for their coffee at Em’s now that she’d set the record straight. Shit, Jack would’ve loved to have seen Dana’s face when Em threatened her with a slander lawsuit.
“Emery Saunders.”
They both looked up to find a woman around Em’s age in a white doctor’s coat, waiting patiently for them.
“I’m Doctor Madeline Britt. I’ll be your obstetrician throughout your pregnancy.”
Jack felt a pull on his hand as Emery tried to drop his. He tightened his grip and gently pulled her to her feet. He let go so they could shake the doc’s hand and introduce themselves, but he reached for Em’s hand again right after.
“Jack, I don’t need you to hold my hand,” she complained under her breath as they followed Dr. Britt.
“Yeah, but I need you to hold mine,” he teased, throwing her a boyish smile.
She rolled her eyes but that pretty pink stained her cheeks again as she did it.
The doctor led them to a private hospital room. She aimed her gaze at Em. “I’m going to do a breast and pelvic exam. Some women prefer to get those over with first and have their partner”—she gave Jack a benign smile—“wait outside.”
Jack looked down at his girl. She squeezed his hand.
“Can you wait outside?”
“Of course.” He kissed her temple and backed out of the room.
As soon as he was out of there, Jack sensed he would not be asked back in. Emery didn’t want him there, and she’d use this as an excuse to keep him at a distance. He didn’t blame her but he felt useless outside. All he could offer right now was support as she went through this experience. Jack wished she’d lean on him.
It surp
rised the hell out of him then when Dr. Britt stuck her head outside the door and told him to come back inside.
It was encouraging.
Maybe Em just wanted to include him … or maybe she did need him.
Jack hoped it was both.
He smiled as he came to stand by her side at the bed. She was back in her dress and sitting up. He took her hand and this time, she let him without a word.
“Okay.” Dr. Britt smiled at Jack. “Keeping Dad up to date, the breast and pelvic examinations are done. We’ll get the results on the Pap test soon.”
He knew he looked stunned. And it was because no one had called him Dad yet.
Fuck.
It felt really good.
It felt amazing.
Emery seemed to sense the reason for his expression and gave him a tender, understanding smile. Christ, she was the sweetest woman on the planet. Even when she was disappointed in him, she still found a way to be kind.
“Right, as I explained before you came in, Jack, I’m going to ask Emery questions about her medical history.”
“Okay.”
The doc asked Em if she had any medical or psychosocial problems or had ever had any. That was a no. She took her blood pressure, her height, and her weight, which he was glad to see she had no problem with him knowing. It made him laugh inwardly that she could blush at his mere smile and yet discuss her last menstrual period in front of him without turning even a hint of pink.
“Birth control?”
“Well, clearly none,” Em huffed.
Jack swallowed a snort.
Dr. Britt’s lips twitched. “I meant in the past. The Pill or otherwise?”
“Oh. Just condoms.”
Which reminded Jack that he did and did not really want to know who Emery had been with before him. If she hadn’t been on the Pill, then that suggested she’d never been in a long-term relationship.
“Any hospitalizations?”
“When I was seventeen. Car accident. I broke a few ribs.”
Jack’s chin jerked back in surprise. He hadn’t known about any car accident.
“Have you had any pain or problems with your ribs since?”
“No. Is it an issue?”
“No. But sometimes there can be stress on the ribs during pregnancy and I just want to make sure there are no underlying issues we need to know about.”
“Okay.” Em bit her lip.
Dr. Britt placed a reassuring hand on her arm. “It’s nothing to be concerned about.”
Jack tightened his grip on Em’s hand and she seemed to relax.
“Are you taking any medications?”
“Does copious amounts of caffeine count?” she joked, making Jack chuckle.
The doctor raised an eyebrow. “Yes. You’ll need to cut the caffeine intake. One cup a day at the very most.”
“I was joking. I knew that.” Em looked up at him solemnly. “I knew about the caffeine thing. I’ve been cutting back.”
Smiling and trying not to laugh at the same time, Jack wrapped an arm around her and pulled him into his chest. His tone was filled with humor. “I believe you, sunrise.”
“Any allergies to medication?”
“None that I know of.”
Dr. Britt asked a few more questions about Em’s family medical history. Whether she’d been experiencing any bleeding or cramping, which thankfully was a no.
“I see from the records your doctor sent over that you’ve already had all the tests for sexually transmitted infections done, so we’ll just take a blood sample and do some screens. I’ll explain what they’re all for as we go along.”
The reminder that Emery had Jess run STI tests was an unwelcome one. They needed to have a real conversation about that. But obviously now wasn’t the right moment.
Just as Em was beginning to look a little pale and tired, the real discussion started about … well, it felt like everything. They talked about what medications Em could take, things like prenatal vitamins and supplements, as well as exercise and expected weight gain. Emery asked questions about her diet, about who she should call if she had questions, what she should do if she did experience bleeding or cramping, what did the doc consider an emergency, what miscarriage precautions she could take, how the doctor felt about natural childbirth, what was the doctor’s policy on labor induction …
It went on and on, and Jack realized that for all his worries, Emery was carrying about a million more.
He was woefully un-fucking-prepared.
And he needed to do better.
Listening intently, attempting to retain every bit of information the doc gave them, Jack realized he had a lot of reading to do.
He didn’t want Emery shouldering the burden of these worries alone.
“I should buy some books,” he said after five very long minutes of silence as they walked out of the building.
“What?” She frowned in confusion.
“Books. I realized in there that I have no fucking clue about any of this. I need to do some reading.”
“I have books,” Em offered. “You can borrow those.”
“That would be great.” He studied her carefully as they stopped at his truck. “You doing okay?”
“Tired,” she admitted. “It was a lot of information. And I’m hungry. I only had a rice cracker this morning.”
“Antonio’s,” he said, opening the door for her and giving her a hand up.
“Antonio’s?” she queried once he was in the driver’s seat.
“I’m taking you there. Now. For something to eat.”
“You don’t have to. I can just go home and make a sandwich.”
“You could.”
She let out an exasperated laugh. “I’ll take that to mean we’re going to Antonio’s.”
“Good food, and you can relax there.” Iris wouldn’t let anyone bother or gossip about them in her establishment. Emery was like a second daughter to her. He knew because she’d been glowering in his direction ever since she found out he’d gotten Emery pregnant. In fact, he was a little surprised she hadn’t yet searched him out just to annihilate him. Jack was bracing. He was pretty sure a “talk” from Iris Green was in his future.
Antonio’s was busy despite it being that awkward point in the day between lunch and dinner. It was August, so there were still plenty of tourists kicking around Hartwell, taking advantage of good Italian food right on the boardwalk. As Jack held the door open for Em, he saw her attention laser focus somewhere beyond him. He turned to look and saw Ivy Green sitting at a table for two with none other than their good sheriff Jeff King. Jeff was in uniform, but his body language, the way he leaned over on his arms so his head was bent toward Ivy’s, suggested this was more than just a casual meeting.
“Table for two?” the hostess asked.
“Please.”
She grabbed a couple of menus and led them into the noisy chatter of the restaurant. Ivy and Jeff looked over. Emery waved at Ivy who returned her smile while Jack and Jeff shared a subtle lift of the chin in greeting. It was afterward that Jack became aware of the locals in the restaurant. They seemed like they didn’t know who to gawk at—Ivy and Jeff, or Em and Jack.
He knew by the stiff way Em held her shoulders that she’d noticed too.
Oh, they’d all be gossiping about the four of them and what the two couplings meant. There was no getting around that.
“You don’t want to say hi?” Jack asked Em as they took their seats, trying to distract her from the folks who were staring.
She shook her head. “No.”
Jack eyed Ivy and Jeff again and watched the way Ivy responded to Jeff with a flirtatious smirk. Then she reached out and ran the tips of her fingers over his knuckles as she talked.
Okay, then. “Since when did they become a thing?” Jack asked.
Em looked unsure for some reason.
Then he realized she wasn’t sure she could trust him to share about her friend’s relationship.
“Never min
d.” He looked down at his menu, feeling fucking exhausted all of a sudden. “What do you feel like eating?”
“They’re taking it slow.”
Jack looked up at her.
“Jeff and Ivy. They’re taking things slow. It’s not public knowledge.” Em shot them a wry look. “Though they’re not exactly being discreet at the moment.” She turned back to Jack. “But they are a thing.”
Relieved she’d trusted him with that, Jack nodded. “I hope it works out. Jeff deserves a good woman.”
“He does. And Ivy deserves a good guy.”
“Well, well, well.” Iris appeared at their table as if out of nowhere. She eyeballed him. “Jack Devlin.”
He grinned at her. “Iris Green.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t think you can flash me that boyish smile of yours, Jack Devlin, and get away with … stuff.”
“Stuff?” he teased.
“Stuff.” She gestured to Emery.
“I don’t think Emery appreciates being referred to as stuff.”
“I’m trying not to be indelicate.”
“You’re doing a fine job.”
Emery snorted, and Jack struggled to keep a straight face.
“Don’t be a smart-ass with me, Jack. All I’m going to say.” She dipped her face to his and lowered her voice, “You better take care of my girl and this kid, or I will hunt you down, flatten you, and bring you here to give the very large pizza oven in my kitchen back there a new purpose in life.”
Seeing Emery cover her mouth and choke on her laughter, Jack’s eyes twinkled into Iris’s. “You’ve given this some very graphic thought.”
“Don’t think you can charm your way out of this. You need to take responsibility for your actions.”
That dispelled Jack’s humor. “Iris, I know Emery means something to you so I’m not going to tell you to mind your own business, even though that’s really what I want to say. Instead, I’ll assure you that there is nothing more important to me than Emery and our kid.”
She harrumphed but straightened. “Okay, then. What do you want to eat?”
After they’d ordered and Iris had left the table, Em sighed as she glanced around the restaurant. “I know she means well, but she just made them all stare again.”
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