“Dad…” Courtney stared at the bubbles in her not-coffee seltzer. “Let’s not do that.”
“How can we support you?” Mom asked, always knowing just the right thing to say.
“Just… you know, don’t make a big thing about it.” Courtney needed to find the new normal. She couldn’t do that with hovering or awkward family moments. “And don’t fry bacon around me in the morning.” That would be the biggest help of all.
Linx strode to the pan of bacon, grabbed it with a pot holder, strode to the back door, and tossed the whole shebang outside. “Done.”
Uh. That wasn’t exactly what she meant. Just because the kid didn’t like the scent of bacon didn’t mean they should waste it. At the end of the day, it was still bacon.
“I was going to eat that.” Dad crossed his arms. Pre-pregnant Courtney could relate—what just happened was sacrilege.
“Not if it’s making Courtney sick.” Linx frowned and fiddled with the pressure cooker. Then he met her gaze straight on, the worry clear. “Oatmeal okay, sis?”
Oatmeal was fabulous. She loved her brother. Gah, he was fantastic. Her kid was going to have the best uncle in the world, and that choked her up.
“Oatmeal is great.” Courtney tried not to let the tears fall, but her body sort of did what it wanted right now, so she had to work to blink back the wet. “Can we change the subject?”
To something that wouldn’t make her feel like she’d just watched a Folgers’ commercial.
“Becca.” Dad turned his attention to Linx’s girlfriend, since she’d just been inaugurated into the family chaos. “What do you do for work?”
Becca nibbled at her bottom lip. “I’m a therapist.”
Oh, well, wasn’t that a great turn of events? Talk about luck.
“I think that skill set might just come in handy today,” Mom muttered, filling up a cup of coffee for herself.
Wasn’t that just the truth?
Becca took in a deep breath. Then she let it out.
“Uh-huh,” she said with a rueful smile.
That was the first morning that her family knew about her addition. The first morning that she got to spend time with Linx’s new girlfriend. All wrapped up in a blanket of opportunity.
* * *
The opportunitiesfor growth didn’t end there. No, no, they didn’t. Because that would make things rather comfy. Courtney’s life was not about comfy, but rather growth and enrichment and staving off murdering the band manager.
“Seriously, how did you already know this?” Courtney asked, staring at Hans. Hard.
Well, she more interrogated him versus asked. But he and his otherworldly knowledge of everything Dimefront deserved this interrogation.
That was why they were having a mocktail at Brek’s Bar. Brek was the former manager of Dimefront, who actually left the business when he got married to the love of his life and started a family in Denver. He retired and bought a bar. Apparently, this had been a dream of his, though Courtney never would’ve guessed. When Brek retired, he left Dimefront in Hans’s very capable hands.
So, yeah, uh-huh, Hans was in Denver. Linx had found some new bandmates—guys that Courtney had met and seriously dug—and Hans was triaging the situation. Meaning, he was there to ensure that Linx and Dimefront did not fall apart because Linx had found new guys to make music with.
That was the first reason that Hans was in Denver.
The second?
Hans knew about the baby.
“It’s my job to know things,” Hans said, like this was not new knowledge.
While this was not brand-spanking-new knowledge, HIPAA covered this type of thing. While she often thought Hans must have an in with the medical professionals of the world—because he always knew everything—she didn’t really believe it. This time though…
“You’re one of the people I take care of.” Then he paused, waiting for her to say something more.
