But an hour or so later, I'd be ready to rip his head off because I didn't need him checking in on me every day like I was helpless or stupid.
It was especially scary because I'd never been the head-ripping type. I'd always been more of the sneaky vengeance type. I'd set things up so that my brothers would tell on themselves, or so they would get caught doing things they weren't supposed to.
Like the time Robert snuck out to go to a party and get drunk. Normally, I would never have done anything to get him caught, but he'd stepped on the pretty tea party I'd set up for my Barbies and told me to buzz off when I got upset.
So, I took one of Scott's motion-sensor toys that blared a siren anytime you walked by it and put it right outside the door of Robert's room. He didn't notice it when he stumbled in, drunk and probably high, and set it off at three in the morning.
My parents were light sleepers after having five kids, so my dad came out to check on the noise and found Robert reeking of alcohol, weed, and wearing his shirt inside out.
Needless to say, he'd been grounded for the better part of that semester.
I still laughed any time I thought about it.
But I'd never been a violent person unless I was pushed too far. Pushing from the Prescott boys was completely different from J.J.'s perfectly acceptable messages and calls to ask me how I was doing that day and if the morning sickness was getting any better.
There was no reason for me to want to reach through the phone and smack him.
I was pretty sure that Cam and Sierra noticed my moodiness, too. Usually, when I got too quiet at work, which I was prone to do, they would cut up and bicker in an effort to make me laugh.
Now, they just worked in silence right alongside me.
At least I hoped it was my moodiness that caused the change and not the fact that they were thinking of getting rid of me now that I was pregnant.
God, see what I mean? My thoughts, my moods, my body. Every part of me felt like it was going all over the place and there was no hope.
My last day at the shop for the week was Friday. Cam always tried to give me at least one full weekend off a month. I didn't expect it or even ask for it, but she made the effort, which I appreciated.
This weekend was the one and I was so looking forward to it. I fully intended to sleep most of the day tomorrow and spend Sunday doing nothing but puttering in my garden and cleaning my own house.
"Don't forget about Sunday," Cam said to me as I gathered my things to leave.
I shot her a blank glance. "Sunday? Do you need me to work?"
She smiled at me. "No, Sunday dinner at my parents, remember?" Her smile faded. "Unless you changed your mind."
I hadn't changed my mind. I'd forgotten completely, which was utterly unlike me.
"No, no. I'm going to be there." I swung my purse over my shoulder and grabbed my lunch bag. Since the nausea was kicking my tail, I tended to bring food that I knew wouldn't bother me to work. Plus, I was trying to save every spare nickel and dime, so there would be no more eating out for me for a long while.
"You didn't tell your parents that I'm..." I let the rest of the question hang in the air, unspoken.
Cam shook her head. "No. You told me that you wanted it to stay between us for now and that's what will happen. And I don't blame you."
"Thanks, Cam."
"Don't thank me for that. Thank me for not beating up my brother. That was the most difficult task."
I shouldn't laugh, but I did. "I told you not to blame him. We're both adults and we did everything we were supposed to do but this still happened."
"Everything you were supposed to do?" Cam scoffed. "The only thing he was supposed to do was keep his hands off the best employee I've ever had!"
"Seriously, Cameron. Stop blaming him," I said. "You should be mad at me for hooking up with your brother the night of your wedding!"
She sighed. "No, I shouldn't. I've never heard you mention dating someone since you started working here, yet you take my brother home that night. That sounds like he convinced you, not the other way around."
"It was a mutual convincing," I stated. After a short pause, I confessed, "I always had a crush on him when I was younger. He'd come over to hang with Scott and he was so handsome and so much nicer to me than any of my brothers' other friends." I shrugged. "So it wasn't as if he took advantage of me. I made a choice with my eyes wide open."
"And something else wide open considering your current condition."
