Lucy smiled sweetly while sniffing back the snot in her nose. She caught sight of Zac and grinned.
“Want a wing?” she asked, holding one of the dripping offerings in the air.
Never one to turn down free food, Zac approached sheepishly. “You sure? I’d hate to take food from a pregnant woman.”
“Absolutely. I ordered the party platter because I thought he’d help me a little.” She pointed at Jon with a chicken bone so clean you’d think it’d been run through a dishwasher.
“I would have if you hadn’t smothered them in hot sauce that would set the devil’s anus on fire.”
She blew out a long breath and picked up another. Speckles of sweat dotted her temples. Her valiant efforts to hide the burn of the wings made Zac chuckle. “He’s being a baby. They’re not even that hot now that I’ve had so many.”
The closer Zac got to the couple, the more his eyes began to tingle. He wafted a hand in the air and took a step back. Trying not to cough, he said, “Damn, woman. I can feel that at the back of my throat from here. Kendrick’s really upped his hot wing game.”
“She brought her own sauce into The Rooftop and begged him to use it for her order. I guess they had to air the kitchen out for a few minutes because the line cook’s eyes wouldn’t stop watering. I keep telling her this can’t be good for the babies, but does she listen?”
“Pfft. Dr. Snyder says it can’t hurt,” Lucy grumbled as she sucked up the last of her drink and held her thermos out to her husband. He eyed the sloppy reusable container and grasped the only clean spot before returning to the kitchenette for the refill.
Eyes starting to acclimate, Zac walked closer. He leaned both elbows on the countertop and leveled a sympathetic look on the snotty, sweat-drenched woman. “Done being pregnant?”
“Un-der-state-ment of the damned year.” Her ever-present smile dipped a little. “My back hurts all the time. I barely sleep in my bed at night but pass out everywhere else the rest of the day. My ankles are tree trunks—not that they were ever dainty to begin with. But mostly,” she continued, grinning with glistening eyes, “I wanna meet them.”
Zac’s heart swelled a bit. Out of everything his buddy had been through over the years, so much loss and tragedy, the best thing to come out of all of it was the woman standing across the counter, blazing wing sauce smeared on her cheeks and all. Jon was the best man Zac knew and he was beyond happy that this little brunette powerhouse had fallen into his lap. Or rather booked a backpacking excursion a few years back.
Something foreign poked at his heart through the adoration. Something that Zac might almost interpret as envy, if he’d ever wanted to settle down of course.
Zac was a lone wolf. He wasn’t meant to have the same kind of life as his friend who’d been spouting off dad jokes since high school. Jonathan was built for monogamy and had found the perfect woman to share his life with. The two were the fairy-tale couple—both so full of warmth and acceptance.
And forgiveness.
Jonathan returned with his wife’s refilled thermos and a stack of papers.
“Do you think I could get your opinion on these resumés, or are you too busy pretending those wings aren’t liquefying your organs?” Jonathan asked Lucy after planting a quick peck on her forehead.
“Resumés?” Zac scooted closer to Jon and tried to scoop up the file, to which his friend laid a heavy hand on the top. “Who’s leaving?”
“We are,” Jonathan stated before catching the wide-eyed alarm that overtook Zac’s face. He then quickly added, “Temporarily. Parental leave, remember?”
“Right. Right.” Zac knew it was coming, but he kept forgetting they would both take time off once the babies came. Though there being two babies would probably be exhausting. “I can help out.”
“Thanks, man”—why did that sound like a scoff?—“but I want to take a full three months off.”
“That’s fine. I can handle it,” Zac assured.
“He can handle what?” the office manager, Janet, asked as she sauntered into the room. The gray-haired woman coughed loudly. “Christ on a cracker, girl. You’re still working on those things? I know you’re pregnant and all, but those wings are going to melt my eyebrows off.”
“Sorry,” Lucy croaked sheepishly, tossing another polished chicken bone onto the heap and then wiping her hands. “I think I’m done anyways.” She closed the container and pointed to the file folder. “Can we bring those home with us? I need to put my feet up.”
“Of course, sunshine. Janet, would you mind keeping an eye on things until closing? There’re only two more guides out, but they should be back within the hour.”
“Yes. Take your wife home and get her off her feet so she can finish incubating those precious little chicks.” She settled at her desk and took a pull from herlife’s a beachnovelty mug.
“Wait, I can handle closing,” Zac cut in. He’d worked for Off the Beaten Adventures since he and Jon had been in high school. And spent most of his time hanging out there after school and on the weekends before that. He knew the place inside and out, backwards and forwards, top to bottom.
“Oh you can, can you?” Janet asked with overt condescension. She rose with creaky knees and brought a large stack of paperwork over to Zac. “Here.”
Zac took the files thrust into his arms and peered at them suspiciously. “Isn’t this why we have you?”
“And why is that exactly?” Janet tested as she settled back at her desk.
