The Chance (Thunder Point #4)(51)

“We do,” Carrie and Lou said in unison, making everyone laugh again.

Laine reached over and gave Sarah’s hand a pat. “How are you feeling?”

“All right,” she said. “I’m not sure where I’m going to put two more months of little girl.”

“A girl, then?” she asked.

Sarah smiled a little sentimentally. “Exactly what I ordered. We have Landon—he’s graduating in June. And Cooper has Austin. A girl should fit in just right. I asked Cooper to give me a girl and he got right on it.” Then she grinned.

“Is the house going to be done in time?” Laine asked.

Cooper appeared in the doorway. “The way she’s riding the contractors, they’re afraid for their lives. They’ll make it. Something to drink, Laine?” he asked.

“Whatever the big girls are drinking, I’ll have one.”

He ran a hand over Sarah’s shoulder. “Honey?”

“Water?” she asked, looking up at him sweetly.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead and all the women said, “Awwww” at the same time.

Sarah looked over her shoulder, following Cooper’s departure back into the bar. Then she leaned close to the women to share. “Have you heard of those pregnant women who just crave sex all the time?” she asked in a lowered tone. They all leaned forward expectantly. “I’m not one of them,” she said.

And they came apart in laughter yet again.

“How about the baby daddy?” Lou asked.

“He hasn’t changed,” Sarah said. “You think he’d be intimidated by this big mound, but no.”

“We have to talk about the shower,” Gina said. “We haven’t had a really good party since their wedding.”

“What kind of shower?” Sarah asked.

They all looked at her very strangely. Cooper chose that moment to bring her a water and Laine a glass of wine. “Baby, Sarah,” he said. “Baby shower. You’re pregnant.”

“I mean, just for girls? Or for men, too.”

“Aw, please,” Cooper said, pathetically. “For girls. Please.”

“But sweetheart, I want you to be involved, to be able to play all the baby games!” she said.

“Oh, God,” he said, turning away. “Can’t you just shoot me?” he was heard to mutter inside the bar.

When he was gone the women were laughing again. “You have no idea the strain Cooper is under,” Sarah said. “He’s trying to do everything he can to make me happy, to help me, and a couples shower might put him over the edge. Right now he’d give anything to trade places with me. For one pass on a baby shower, he’d be willing to carry her and push her out.”

An hour later Laine and Devon were walking back across the beach together. Lou was dropping off Gina at home, Carrie was hanging around the beach a little while to talk to Rawley about his deli orders for the rest of the week, Ray Anne was off in her fancy little car to get a little work done.

“Do you have to go back to work?” Laine asked her.

“Scott’s holding down the fort. I’ll at least check appointments, messages and ask him if anything’s going on before I head out for the day. Spencer is coaching track and field till the end of term so he won’t be done early and I have kids to pick up in an hour. How about you? Done for the day?”

“Except to check the computer to see if I have any emails. Not urgent. A night like tonight deserves something on the grill. I think I’ll run by the station and see what Eric is in the mood for.”

“Tell him I said hi.”

They parted in the street. Laine took her car from the front of the diner while Devon went into the clinic. She drove the short distance to the garage, but parked in front of the big doors and not at the pump. She went inside to find that Eric was leaning into an engine and the long legs sticking out from under the car must have belonged to Al. Eric ducked out from under the hood and looked at her. He grabbed a rag from the back pocket of his coverall. His eyes sparkled and he smiled as he wiped his hands.

She had found him in January, moved him in with her in February. It was the middle of April and he still looked at her as if she were brand-new. It hadn’t been that long, really, but still... There was something about that look, that twinkle, that smile that promised he would see her that way forever.

She had not known she could have this kind of life.

* * *

The next day Eric had errands in Bandon—he was in search of some new tires for a customer and a haircut for himself. He stopped at a small market on the edge of town—his assignment from Laine had been baby blond potatoes, Vidalia onions, two large carrots, frozen peas, sour cream and Dijon mustard. He had no idea what this would become, something that was going to combine with chicken, but his mouth watered just the same. She was so right about him—it turned him on to see her cook. What a throwback to an earlier time he was. Also on his list was a box of tampons. He figured that was some kind of test, like a husband test. He laughed at himself. He should bring home a boat and rod and reel instead, like the old joke—guy goes into a store for tampons and comes home with a bunch of sporting equipment because the salesman convinced him, Well, you might as well go fishing....

He didn’t even have the first item in the basket when he saw Justin. He was alone, pushing a cart away from Eric.