‘It’s going to happen,’ I tell her. ‘And you’re going to be great. The kids will love you. Look how good you were with Darren and Janelle.’
Janelle, the girl Mia found crying in the bathroom, took a pregnancy test later that day and found out she wasn’t pregnant. She called Mia and told her, then wanted to talk about other stuff. Mia’s easy to talk to so I can see why teens open up to her. As for Darren, Mia talked to his father and got him to agree to let Darren take an auto repair course through the community college as long as he kept working for his dad on the farm. I helped him enroll for the class as part of a dual enrollmentprogram for high school students. Darren’s loving it and getting good grades. Even his grades in his high school classes got better. He just needed something to motivate him and he found it, thanks to Mia.
When we get to my parents’ house, I stop before going in. I look down at Milo in my arms. ‘You ready for this?’
Mia laughs. ‘He’ll be fine. He’s getting used to it.’
‘Okay, here we go.’ I open the door.
‘The baby!’ Mom squeals as we come into the house. She races up to me and takes Milo.
‘Nice to see you too, Mom.’
She laughs. ‘Sorry, honey. He’s just so adorable, he takes my attention away from everything else.’ She smiles at Mia. ‘Your parents are here. Your mom’s in the kitchen and your dad’s outside with Carl.’
Mia laughs. ‘Dad’s favorite place. It’s either that or the barn.’
Walter’s always outside with my dad or Nick, asking about the orchard. He wants to know all about how the trees are grown and the different varieties of apples. My dad and Nick could talk about that stuff all day so it works out well.
‘Milo’s here!’ Lyndsay races up to Mom and the baby.
‘I think we’re invisible,’ I say to Mia.
‘Oh. Hi!’ Lyndsay gives us a quick wave before looking back at Milo. ‘Aww, look at his tiny little hands.’
The door opens and Brody walks in with Kate.
‘Milo’s here!’ Kate squeals, running up to him.
It’s like this every time we’re here. Mom, Kate, and Lyndsay can’t stop gushing over the baby. Gina likes seeing him too, but she’s not as baby-crazy as the other girls, maybebecause she grew up playing sports instead of playing with dolls.
‘I’m going to the kitchen,’ Brody tells Kate. She doesn’t hear him. She’s too busy looking at Milo and listening to Mia tell her whatever cute thing Milo did this morning.
‘I’ll go with you,’ I tell Brody.
We pass Harriott on our way to the kitchen.
‘He’s in the living room,’ I tell her, knowing she was about to ask where Milo was.
‘It’s like I don’t exist anymore,’ I say to Brody as he goes to the fridge.
‘And you’re surprised by this?’ He laughs. ‘You saw how Mom was with Nash’s kid. Now she’s got her own grandkid, and it’s her first.’ He closes the fridge and takes a brownie from the plate of them that Mom left out. ‘At least with the baby distracting her she’s not in here yelling at me not to eat before dinner.’
‘Even if she was in here, she wouldn’t notice what you were doing if Milo was around.’
‘I still can’t believe you’re married with a kid. A few months ago, you didn’t think it would ever happen.’
‘Yeah, I know. Sometimes I can’t believe it either.’
‘You going to stay in the Carson house or find something else?’
‘We’d like to stay there for now, if Mom and Dad are okay with it.’
‘Why wouldn’t they be? No one else wants it.’ He takes another brownie. ‘Does it ever bother you being that close to Mom and Dad?’
‘No. It’s been great. Mia likes having Mom close by in caseshe has questions about Milo. And of course Mom loves helping her out.’
Sawyer walks in with Gina.
