“Have fun,” Jay added. “If you need a pickup, let me know.”
“Thanks.” She wanted to lean in and kiss his cheek, but that would probably be weird, even if she was carrying his child. “See ya.”
“I brought Jonathan,” Phoebe said when they reached her car.
“Girl, you look radiant as always,” he said as Blue slid into the back seat.
“He wants a free facial,” Phoebe said, maneuvering out of the driveway.
“So, I’ll start,” Jonathan said.
“Start what?” Blue turned to look at him.
“You’re kidding, right?” he said, rolling his eyes. “You’re pregnant with Hottie Haddon’s baby, and now you’re living with him, and there has been radio silence for days about the entire thing. You owe us.”
“He’s not wrong,” Phoebe said shooting her a look in the rearview mirror. “You were there when I needed you most in New York, Blue. How come you didn’t tell me?”
She heard the hurt, and that had not been her intention. Blue had just been in survival mode. “I’m sorry.”
“So we need to start at the beginning, but not until we’re with the others because they will want to know,” Jonathan advised.
“Birdie has been like a vault, and so has Sawyer,” Phoebe said. “I pumped them yesterday for information, and while Sawyer looked like he was in pain, he didn’t crack, and Birdie just kept humming and making stuff in the kitchen.”
She’d known it had to come out, so today was clearly going to be that day.
“What surprises me is that the entire town doesn’t know,” Blue said. “I mean Bart, Dr. Hannah, and Mrs. C. called by to see Jay the other day, and I answered the door, and they acted like it was entirely natural to see me there.”
Jonathan shot Phoebe a look.
“What?” Blue demanded.
“Apparently there was a discussion about it in the Do Si Do the other day, and Dan was there. He told everyone to keep their mouths shut until you and Jay were ready to talk about it. If he heard anyone tried to pump you for information, he was arresting them,” Jonathan said. “Caleb was there, and he said it was tense.”
“Tell me that’s not true.” Blue moaned.
“Dr. Hannah apparently said she should approach you, as you need a checkup, but Dan said you’d get to that when you were ready,” Phoebe added.
“This town.” Blue sighed.
“Wonderful, weird, with a side of crazy, but the absolute best,” Jonathan said.
“That,” Blue agreed.
They pulled into the Gnat, which was a long, low building that JD Hopper, Zoe’s husband, had made into a one-stop beautifying shop, plus tattoo parlor, which was his specialty.
When they walked into the building, she found Zoe, Libby, Birdie, Leah, Cill, who was a masseuse here and someone Blue had grown up with, Nina, and Jessie, the hair stylist. JD sat at reception, looking like he’d rather be anywhere but here. On the desk before him was Deidre, the cat. She was staring at him like he had the last piece of catnip in the world. JD loved animals.
“Well, finally,” Zoe said, getting to her feet. “Would you look at those brows.” She pointed at Blue’s face. “You say I let myself go, but you’ll need a hedge trimmer to work a miracle with those.”
“I only found out twenty minutes ago this was happening, so cut me some slack,” Blue protested. “And there is nothing wrong with my brows.”
“I hope your tweezers are sharp. It’s going to be an effort to get all those suckers out,” Zoe added.
Blue put a hand over her eyes as everyone stared at her. “I’ve had other stuff on my mind.”
Leah, Dan Duke’s partner, hugged her first. “It’s going to be okay,” she said, then whispered into Blue’s ear, “We got you girl.”
The others followed, all saying something similar, with Birdie going last. The sisters held onto each other for a minute longer.
