Holly Banks Full of Angst (Village of Primm, #1)(13)

“Nothing’s the matter with me.”

They hadn’t been connecting lately. Maybe it was the stress of the move, Jack’s new job, and Ella starting kindergarten. Or maybe it was the stress of using their savings for a down payment on an eighteen-hundred-square-foot expanded cape with no storage and no place to unpack anything except onto another pile that sat on the floor.

“Oh, Jack,” Holly remembered, “there’s an envelope on the counter for you. Someone hand delivered it to the house yesterday.” She checked the expression on his face. “Sorry,” she added. “I forgot to tell you.”

He looked concerned. Walked immediately to the kitchen to retrieve the envelope.

“Okay. I think we’re in business.” Caleb pointed the remote, and the Hub network flashed onto the screen.

“Yay! Pinkie Piiiiie!” Ella rang out, taking her seat on the floor in front of the TV.

Holly grabbed Ella’s sports cup from the counter beside Jack. The moment she arrived beside him, he shoved the envelope into his pocket.

“Why’d you do that?” she asked, trying to read the look on his face.

“What? Oh, that.” He shrugged. “That’s nothing.” Tucked both hands in his pockets. “Work stuff.”

“Work stuff?” said Holly. “Seems pretty top secret to me.”

“Well, it’s not.” Jack averted his gaze, away from the inquisitive look on Holly’s face.

“Work shouldn’t be a secret.” Holly turned her back on Jack, returning to the family room to give Ella her sports cup. What are you hiding, Jack?

“She still drinks from a sippy cup?” Caleb asked.

Holly’s back stiffened. Who was this guy? “It’s not a sippy cup,” she pointed out. “It’s a sports cup.”

Caleb swung his gaze toward Jack. “I heard sippy cups cause tooth decay and speech delays.”

“Holly?” In Jack’s voice, Holly heard the sound of grave concern. “Did you know about this?”

“Speech delays? From a cup?” She waved them both off. “Give me a break.”

Jack was always saying Holly didn’t push Ella enough, that she didn’t “guide” her toward achieving milestones according to a set schedule. But she was a child, for crying out loud. Not a product scheduled for manufacture.

“What’s a speech delay?” Ella looked up at Holly.

“Nothing, sweetie.” Holly knelt down to give Ella a kiss on the lips. They were so thin, so sweet, and her breath still smelled like toothpaste. Holly was going to miss that little tooth when it fell out.

She handed Ella the sports cup as Ella reached up to squeeze Holly’s cheeks and get right up close to say, “Pinkie Pie keeps her pony friends smiling allllll day.”

Holly closed her eyes. Felt a little sting in her nose as she tried not to cry. Ella started kindergarten in a few days. Kindergarten.

“My sister’s a speech therapist and won’t let any of her kids drink with a sippy cup past the age of two,” Caleb told Jack. “And she has five kids.”

“Five kids? Wow.” Jack raised his eyebrows.

Holly could tell he was impressed with Caleb’s sister for having five kids. But Caleb’s sister could be a horrible mother—how would Jack know? He’d never met Caleb’s sister. And five kids didn’t make her the expert on their child. “Well, I only have one child, Caleb, but I’m not willing to ruin my carpets because someone else decides Ella should give up her sports cup.”

“Holly.” Jack was taken aback. “Why are you so defensive?”

“I’m not defensive.” Holly folded her arms across her chest. Both Jack and Caleb were staring at Holly, that odd look men got. “Fine.” She moved focus from Jack to Caleb. “Ella still sucks her thumb.”

“No, I don’t,” Ella said, which was a total fib.

“I think Caleb’s got a point.” Jack began wringing his hands together. That “Jack” thing Jack always did. “She probably has a loose tooth because she sucks her thumb and drinks from a sippy cup. We should eliminate both. Go cold turkey.”

“Her loose tooth started when she fell on the playground, Jack. The dentist never said anything about her thumb causing her teeth to fall out ahead of schedule.”

“I still think we should stop the sippy cup,” Jack said. But by we he meant her, Holly, because she was the one home with Ella all day while he was at work. “And the thumb,” he added, getting fidgety. “We need to stop that too.”

“But it’s not a sippy cup,” Holly insisted. “It’s a sports cup. Sippy cups are plastic and have butterflies and Elmo on them. Her sports cup is aluminum. It has a soccer ball on it.” Neither of them responded. “Soccer is for older kids. Soccer is a sport. So this is a sports cup. For older kids.” Right? And besides, they just moved. Less than a week ago. Force Ella to give up her thumb? Make her switch to drinking glasses in the middle of all of this chaos and moving debris? That was insane. Why would Holly take that on? “I’m kind of busy right now, Jack.”

“Doing what?”

“Excuse me? Look the flip around, Jack. We just moved everything we own across the country.”

“Well, don’t get mad at me.” He scowled. “I’m just worried about her speech delay.”