She glares at me for a beat longer, then cracks a huge smile. “Relax, I’m just messing with you. I agree.” We both glance down at her baby bump. “I feel bigger. I really hope it’s extra fat and not all baby. Joe was big enough at nine pounds, nine. I don’t fancy giving birth to anything bigger than that.”
I wince in sympathy. “Fingers crossed.”
I leave to serve a couple of customers, and when I make my way back over, Joe has joined her.
“When’s Char coming back?” he asks, taking the stool beside his mum.
Hailey sighs. “Hopefully this weekend at the latest.”
Thank fuck for that.
“Good,” Joe mutters, and I smirk because we’re obviously on the same page with that.
“When are you seeing Sean again?” Hailey asks.
Joe perks up and sets his phone down, looking far too interested in my love life.
“Wednesday night.”
“That seems a long time to wait considering you’ve been in each other’s pockets this last week.”
It does.
“He’s got work all week and so do I if I want to get all my stuff finished before my two weeks off.” I shrug. “And I’ve got stuff to do here in the evenings.”
Hailey’s face falls. “Oh. I can see if I can hire someone to finish off the bedrooms. I don’t want to?—”
“No.” I shake my head when she goes to speak again. “I came up here to help you and Char. I’ll still see Sean when he calls in here after work, and it’s only another week before I’ll have more free time.”
Bored already, Joe goes back to his phone, and Hailey lowers her voice to almost a whisper. “And what happens when you go back home?”
I shrug again because that’s ages away. I think. I check the date on my phone. Today is the tenth. I’m going home on the twenty-eighth.
Eighteen days.
Like I said, ages.
She’s still looking at me like she’s expecting more of an answer.
“I don’t know. We’ve still got two and a half weeks before I need to think about that.” Anything can happen in that time. “We might have got sick of each other by then.”
She snorts. “Yeah. Right.”
Thankfully the pub is starting to get busier and I make my escape.
It stays busy for the rest of the night, and I’m so tired by the time I get back to the lodge that all I manage is a quick goodnight text to Sean and then I’m out like a light.
I’mup early Monday morning to take Hailey to see the midwife. After a slightly awkward moment where I try and explain that yes, I am the father, but not really, Hailey tells me to shut up. Apparently the midwife knows all about everything and I’m just making an arse of myself.
Wonderful.
I sit mute for the rest of the appointment.
But hearing the rapid heartbeat of Hailey’s baby is just as amazing as it was the first time around. I zone out as they talk about birthing plans but tune back in when the midwife says, “I don’t think you’ll go the full forty weeks, Hailey.”
“Wait, what?” I sit up straight, looking between them.
The midwife patiently repeats what she said, then makes another appointment in a week’s time. So at least she doesn’t think it’ll be that soon.
