Falling For Sarah (Sarah Series Book 3)

by Julieann Dove

  Liz blinked a few times and stared blankly at the wall above my head. “Sure. I guess. You know, I felt pretty crappy for the last couple of weeks. Rick picked up one of those tests at the grocery store, brought it home, waited till I peed, and had a flippin’ margarita party when the little buzzer ma-bob went off. I think I came to sometime after that.”

  She still had very little color. I was worried. “Well, so then he’s happy?”

  She directed her look at me. That was good—she could focus now. “Are you serious? He wanted to marry me this weekend. Luckily we were coming here, so we couldn’t.”

  “Well, I’m happy to oblige. I mean, this little soiree got Maggie out of meeting future in-laws, you out of matrimony…”

  Maggie hit my arm. “Bite your tongue. I’m not marrying Howard.”

  “What about my house?” Liz began to babble before I could address Maggie’s issues with Howard. “My black book? I thought I’d move back in, dust off the cobwebs and begin calling my guys, telling them my vacation from reality is over with.”

  I stroked her hair like I did when Rose called me in from having a terrible dream. “Honey, you’ll sell your house. I know your reasons for not doing so before now, but you’ll probably be wanting to really settle in with Rick. Heck, he practically does everything for you now. Just look at your car. I’ve never been able to ride in the passenger seat before now. He gets it cleaned for you bi-weekly. And it’ll be easier if you continue living with each other. You know, so both of you will be able to raise your baby together.”

  She curled over the sink, grasping the sides until I saw white knuckles.

  Maggie put her hand on her back. “Sweetie, you okay? Are you going to be sick?”

  Liz nodded her head. “Oh, I’m gonna be sick all right.”

  Maggie and I looked at each other. “Is Rick aware of your…your inability to come to terms with this?”

  She nodded. “He busted down the door when he heard the blood-curdling scream from the bathroom. You know, I was having the usual afterthoughts of what just happened. The two lines, the pink line, and whatever else one I could buy when I went back out and bought the other five tests for real results. I guess he thought I’d hurt myself.”

  “Well, that’s good news. He’s a very concerned guy. Doesn’t want you to lay bleeding in a bathroom. Why, I think you’ve picked yourself a winner to be the father of your child.”

  I shrugged at Maggie, not knowing what else I could possibly say to make Liz any less nauseated from the fact she was creating life in a body that knew mostly about creating pleasure.

  “Sure, Rick’s the nicest guy I know. Did you know when we were little, he was in charge of carrying the guys’ books home who played on the football team? They’d get hurt during practice and Rick would see they didn’t strain themselves anymore before the big game.”

  “Maggie, he was bullied into carrying those backpacks. They said they’d break his legs if he didn’t carry their stuff home after practice.”

  Maggie grimaced. “Well, then he’s smart. The smartest guy I know. Not only does he avoid bodily harm, but he can make electricity from baking potatoes. You remember the science fair, Sarah? Mr. Moyer was so proud of Rick’s project. And he even wore goggles the whole night. He had that mark they make on your face for days.”

  “That’s because someone painted the rims before he put them on.” I rolled my eyes, hoping she’d stop trying to make Liz feel better. At this rate, she’d stay holed up in here, screaming bloody murder. Her offspring might turn out to lead the geek squad.

  “Oh great, I’m having a nerd baby. Thanks, Maggie. You do realize nerd status perpetuates through generations.”

  I shoved Maggie before I rubbed Liz’s arm. “You’re not having a nerd baby, sweetie.”

  “Yes I am.” She began to ugly cry. “It’ll come out with horn-rimmed glasses, buck teeth, and wearing suspenders.”

  “No, it won’t.” I tried not to laugh. It was so easy to imagine.

  Maggie rubbed her shoulder while I messed with her hair.

  “I can’t have a baby. I don’t know what to do with a baby.” She snorted and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. “And it’ll ruin my figure. They don’t make any sexy maternity clothes. I’ll look like a potato sack. You know how I poke fun at pregnant women, Sarah? This is karma. I’ll be fat and ugly and pretty girls will point and laugh at me.”

  “Yes, and this is karma’s way of shaming you into elastic, honey.” Maggie snuck in a grin.

  We soothed her about her situation until there was a knock on the door. “Yes?”

  “Sarah?”

  It was Alex. I’d recognize that Enrique Iglesias voice anywhere. Through doors, down pipelines… “Darling, I drew the short straw to come and check on you girls. Is everything okay?”

  Darling? I got a darling! Albeit it’s outside of a bathroom door. In which I’m sharing with two other ladies. How embarrassing. What were we, in middle school? “Yes, we’ll be right out.”

  I smiled at my friends. “He called me darling.”

  “I know, I heard.” Liz sneered, wiping the underlid of her eye. “And he’s hot, too.”

  “Right? He’s like magazine-cover hot. And you heard his accent, right?”

  “Yeah.” Liz was like a bear who’d just been poked during hibernation. “Can you believe my life? I get to fall for Steve Urkel and you get Ricky Martin. Figures.”

  “I don’t ‘have’ him. He’s got major baggage that comes with that package. A wife.”

  Maggie’s eyes popped. “Sarah! He’s married?”

  “Well, technically. But she’s in California and I don’t think she’s returning any time soon. He alluded to a divorce when he talked to me about her.”

  “Don’t mention the D word.” Maggie’s head drooped down.

  “I’m sorry, honey.” I tried to paint some brighter color on her situation. “Howard seems so into you. I noticed him putting beans on your plate. That’s a good sign, no?”

  “Howard’s moving too fast.”

  “Maybe slow down on trying to feed you?”

  “It’s just that he wants to introduce me to his parents. And the other day, I heard him tell a salesgirl his ‘girlfriend’ needed help in the coat section.”

  “You are his girlfriend, aren’t you? You’ve been going out for four months, haven’t you?”

  “Sarah, I’m married. How can I possibly be a girlfriend and a wife?”

  “Okay.” I said it slowly. As if I didn’t understand why she was splitting hairs. Michael was living in Denver with his brother. They had custody worked out, and the last time I checked on him, he was going out on a blind date his coworker had set him up on. I was truly happy for him. Only an ounce of me was slightly envious…an ounce. Michael was a catch. Just not swimming in my waters to catch.

  “We better get out there. Who knows what they’re up to without female supervision. Mitzy might be doing a striptease for all we know.” I opened the door and led the way to the dining room. Well, Mitzy wasn’t dancing, but she seemed to be doing all right in entertaining the guys. Alex was intrigued with something she was explaining. I walked to the kitchen to grab some bowls for the pumpkin custard I’d made. Carter was helping Rose open a candy bar.

  “Rose Keller.” I put my hand on my hips.

  “What? She said it was all right. And she did eat all her beans—I made sure of it.” Carter was quick to come to her defense.

  Rose held the bar until I gave my blessing.

  “Okay, but no sneaking Tic Tacs later. This is it, little lady.”

  She grinned and dashed off to her room with the bar half out of the wrapping.

  “Thanks for scraping the plates.” I looked at the stack of dishes by the sink.

  “You’re welcome. It’s the least I could do. You outdid yourself with the roast. It was fork tender. I think you have some type of magical spices in this place.”

  I giggled. “Not hardly, though it did turn o
ut well, didn’t it?”

  I pulled the ice cream from the freezer for Maggie. She hated custard.

  “You didn’t tell me how amazingly talented your neighbor friend was.” He grabbed a napkin that had floated off the counter and on to the floor.

  “Talented?”

  “He was telling everyone about a guy’s life he saved. A surgeon, huh?”

  “Alex is a super nice guy. I’m sure he wasn’t boasting.”

  “How could he not? The story speaks for itself. ‘Saved his life’ I believe were the words he used. Or maybe it was something else. Who could be sure with that accent? Where exactly is he from?”

  I sensed it got under his skin. I laid it on with rolling my eyes in the most dreamiest fashion. “Who knows? And who cares?”

  He fumbled in the drawer for the spoons as I dished the custard. “Yeah, well, he’s not like the guys you usually date.”

  “Usually date? Carter, I don’t date usually. So any guy would be a first.” I spooned out the first bowl. “Oh, you meant the guys you and Liz fix me up with? The guy who was allergic to the outdoors, but you thought he’d be great at camping? And let me see, what about the other one?”

  “Okay, okay. Well, they were more your type.”

  “No, tall, dark, and handsome with a great sense of humor and a propensity of wanting to get to know me better is my type. At this point, I’d settle for a beating heart.”

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  “And for the record, I can see why you’ve kept who you’ve been seeing a secret.”

  “A secret? I haven’t kept Mitzy a secret. What are you talking about?”

  “Oh really? How long has it been? Months? No, don’t tell me—years? And you just messed around with me to keep me off the trail? Come to think of it, when we were in that meeting, maybe you thought you were texting Mitzy. She was winking at you the whole time.”

  He took hold of my arm and stared me in the eyes. “I knew exactly who I was texting. And for your information, it was you who—”

  “Hey, did you need any help in here?” Alex walked toward me, studying my expression.

  “Sure.” I looked at Carter and grabbed a few bowls I’d already scooped. “Help me hand these out, will you?”

  Carter dropped his head and stepped back.

  I just wanted this awkward phase to end.

  Dessert was almost finished when Liz made the announcement. Turns out there was something big to be told at tonight’s party after all. Howard made the comment about being her future pediatrician and I thought she would lose her cookies in the empty custard bowl. Rick had the maternal glow she was missing and said he’d take him up on the offer. Maggie sat stoically, staring at the china cabinet. Who knows what was running through her mind. Alex congratulated them both, along with Mitzy. I caught Carter watching me after she’d made the announcement. Something seemed to be on his mind. He made a funny comment and kissed her on the cheek. Shortly after taking his and Mitzy’s dishes to the kitchen, he said good-bye to everyone and ducked out.

  Everyone else followed suit until it was just me and Alex. He helped clean up the kitchen. “So, what did you think of everyone?” I asked, wiping the counter.

  “Very interesting. Liz was friendly.”

  I laughed. “Yes, she is indeed.”

  “I could be wrong, but I thought she was staring at me. I thought food was on my face or something.”

  “No, that would be her checking you out.”

  “But I thought she just said she was pregnant.”

  “And?”

  “And you’re usually invested with someone when you’re having a baby with them.”

  “She is. She truly is. She’s just scared to death to commit. Her condo is still there waiting, just in case this doesn’t work out.”

  “Wow. Poor guy.”

  “He’s patient. Rick knows what Liz is about. She loves him and in her own time she’ll act like it.”

  “Maggie is a sweet lady. She likes to have fun, I see.”

  “Not typically. She’s going through a divorce so she’s been edgy lately. Howard is a little more serious than she can be now, so she’s pushing him away as much as she can.”

  “Divorce is intimidating. Especially if you have children. You don’t want to slip up and do the wrong thing where they’re involved.”

  Hmmm…this was telling. He’s conscientious and wary to be done with his wife. I don’t know whether I was disappointed or pleased with his maturity. I guess a little bit of both.

  “She has a little boy, so I’m sure all of this weighs on her.”

  He pulled his phone from his pocket and checked it. “It seems June has arrived back home.”

  I folded the cloth and set it by the sink. “Okay.”

  He shuffled toward the back door. I watched and waited to see how smooth his getaway would be tonight. He held the knob and turned to look at me. “Thanks, Sarah. It was an amazing dinner.”

  “You’re welcome, Alex. I appreciate you coming.”

  “Well, I guess I’ll see you later. Tell Rose I said bye.”

  I nodded. Then he pulled the door and left. I went and flipped off the kitchen light and reflected on what a day this was—definitely one to remember. Never did I think Liz would ever give the news she delivered tonight. Or that Maggie would be with anyone other than Michael, sitting at my table having dinner. Carter had it all wrong with Mitzy. But she was obviously into him. Unlike Paige ever was. And maybe that was a good thing. Time would tell. And for me? I was happy to have a neighbor like Alex. I could see some fun times ahead. At the very least, it bugged Carter I showed any interest in the guy.

  Tuesday night. I’d made it through another day. Liz was beginning to act normal again, Carter was pretending not to see me standing within feet of him, and Maggie hadn’t called in a few days. I guessed Howard was behaving and not asking her to meet any distant relatives. I had just curled up on my couch to guilty watch some reality show. People amazed me at how lavishly they could live while there were people starving in the world. I didn’t do it often, but tonight I didn’t want to have to think about anything except what outfit Carly Johnson was going to wear to the beach party her friends were throwing.

  Just as the narration of the show began, there was a knock on my back door. I looked around to see whether it’s truly what I heard. Rose was in her room playing Barbies, and I wasn’t expecting anyone.

  I looked through the curtain to see Alex, before opening the door. “Hey, what’s up?”

  He stomped in, raking his hair and mumbling something in Spanish. In four more words, it turned to English. “June is driving me crazy!” He was wearing ruts in my linoleum floor. “Talk about teenage hormones!” He stopped briefly to take me by the arms and speak to me face-to-face. “You’ve got to come help me, Sarah. She’s out of control.”

  “Okay, okay. What’s going on?” I wiggled out of his father-bear death grip and rubbed his upper arms. “I’ll help any way I can.”

  “She’s…she’s got it in her mind she’s going to some dance.” He paused and waited for my shock. “With a guy! Some puberty-stricken, raging hormonal guy is under the assumption he’s taking my Juney bug out of my sight. By himself. No group of friends, just him and her!” He raked his hair again and began speed walking to the cabinet and back again. “And don’t I know his type. Yeah, he thinks he’s going to get lucky. You know, dance is code word for backseat. Then I’ll be beating him senseless when my June is taking prenatal classes at some hospital where the nuns want to sell the baby.”

  “Alex, get a hold of yourself!” I stopped him and took him by the arms. “It’s a dance, not her entire future. What or who scared you? This isn’t the 50s. If she has a baby, she can keep it.” Okay, so wrong thing to say.

  “A baby? I’m still washing her clothes and cooking her food. What could she know what to do with a baby? She’s practically one herself.”

  “She’s sixteen, Alex. And there is no baby! It’s a da
nce. It’s Saturday night, and all the kids are looking forward to it. Our homecoming game is Friday. It’s a tradition. Completely legit. Didn’t they have them in New York? Did you ever let June out of your sight? I think I remember her being with a friend when you came over to dinner. She came back, didn’t she? She didn’t join a cult. It’ll be fine.”

  He turned to me, his wily eyes darting back and forth. “That was with friends. Keyword friends. A group of them. Where there is protection. This kid wants to come and pick her up!” He mumbled a few more things in Spanish. “I was always the one who grilled her friends, fingerprinted the parents who she stayed over with and did spot checks to make sure she was really there. Sasha never winced when it came to things like this. And homecoming? What’s that for?”

  “It’s just a football game that they have a king’s court and the class nominates a queen, and I think a few princesses. I’m not sure. I don’t usually go. And I certainly only went once when I was a senior in high school. Trust me, it’s completely normal. There is no conspiracy theory going on. Teachers chaperone it. She’ll be fine.”

  He paused and studied the floor, maybe letting it all sink in what I was telling him. “What else goes on at a homecoming? I don’t remember any of this from when I was younger. My parents didn’t allow me to go to things. My mom said I’d get into trouble and then my dad would take me to the movies or something.” He hit his head. “What am I thinking? I’ll just tell June she can’t go. It didn’t kill me. I’m still here. And I think there’s a good movie playing.”

  “But it might be fun for her to go. And being new, it might introduce her to people. I don’t see what it would hurt, Alex. Just lay down some ground rules, like times to be home, who will be driving, things like that.”

  He grimaced the way you do when you have stomach cramping. “This girl will be the death of me! Can you help?”

  “Me?”

  “Yeah, she’s really upset with me now. After she told me, I yelled some things I’m pretty sure she didn’t understand and I came over here.”

  “Okay, but what can I do?”

  “You can ask who she’s going with. Tell me if they’re a no-good, lying gigolo, or a nice, mild-mannered bookworm. I’m okay with bookworms. They barely look up enough to tell you the time of day. And they seem to always make it to college. I’m pretty sure backseats scare them to death.”