“Oh.” That explains why Isaac hasn’t been in to get drinks for him and Stone. “That sounds like fun. You didn’t want to go?”
Allie shakes her head. “I’ll be honest”—she gives me an almost embarrassed look—“I needed a day off, too.”
I chuckle. “Why do you think I’m never going to have kids?”
“I thought that, too and”—she shrugs—“look what happened.”
Point taken.
Allie certainly never planned to get pregnant with Dan’s baby.
Or anything that came after it.
His unhinged assault on the condo that almost killed Atlas and Astrid cemented his fate—and further brought Satriano into our lives.
She isn’t referring to that last part, but it’s impossible for me to separate the idea of having children from all the turmoil that has followed the ones born to the Hawkes.
When Kennedy and Jack approach with their mugs, sliding into the two remaining seats at the table, Kennedy grins at us. “What are we discussing? What’s the hot gossip?”
Allie sighs, rolling her eyes dramatically. “Nothing. Bishop’s distracted with”—she does air quotes—“‘work’ and is being boring.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Kennedy narrows her eyes on me. By far the shrewdest of the Hawke women of this generation, she knows what it means when I’m “distracted by work” and is the least likely to let Allie’s comment go. “What do you have to be worried about? The opening went off without a hitch.”
I give her a look that tells her to drop it because getting into the status of everything Gabe, Dad, Luca, and I have been doing to try to hunt down Satriano and this Michael McDonald person would ruin what should be a nice, relaxing morning for all of us.
She purses her bright red lips together with an exaggerated huff, then brings her coffee to them and takes a sip. Which offers me the perfect opportunity to segue to another topic of conversation.
One far safer—I hope.
I turn my attention to Jack, who hasn’t been out much since her release from the hospital—due to her morning sickness and Isaac’s incessant worry about her. He would keep her locked away in their house until the day that baby is born, if he could.
God knows he might have tried if Jack weren’t so formidable herself.
“How’re you feeling?”
She gives me a tight smile and motions toward her mug. “Well, I’m drinking decaf tea instead of my usual triple shot latte.”
I offer a sympathetic look. “I don’t think I could survive without caffeine.”
With my lack of sleep getting worse and worse as the days continue to drag on with no resolution to any of our problems, copious amounts of caffeine seems to be the only thing keeping me going.
Jack sighs and takes a sip of whatever Angelina made for her. “I mean, it’s not bad, but I could really use the caffeine most days. It’s hard enough chasing Vivi and Gio now that he’s trying to walk without dealing with morning sickness on top of it.”
I can only imagine…
My own stomach turns just thinking about it, and I take a sip of my tea as Astrid hustles in through the door and beelines straight for us.
“Hey!” She snags a chair from one of the other tables and drags it over. “Sorry I’m a little late.”
Kennedy zeroes in on her. “Where were you?”
Astrid’s back stiffens. “Um…” She glances away, waving to Ang behind the counter for her drink. “Just preparing for a tutoring session later.”
When she looks back at the table, it’s clear she’s lying.
Astrid has never been very good at covering her emotions, and the way she squirms confirms all our assessments. She forces a smile. “What’re we talking about?”
