“Horrible, right?”I asked.
“No.Nothorrible,” Salem said with a shake of her head.“Can I finish this?”
Hadley nodded.“I’ll make myself another.”
Salem held out the plate to Poet who reached for it with grabby hands.
“I’m surrounded by lunatics.”I took a sour cream donut, gave a small piece to Mildred, and watched my three pregnant friends devour the weirdest combination of foods I’d ever seen.
“So, next time you want me to come for a visit,” I said.“You can just ask, you know?No need to be so dramatic, what with the health scare and all.”
“Me?Dramatic?”Hadley shook her head.“Never.Salem’s the dramatic one.”
“That’s usually true.”Salem turned her attention to me.“You’re pretty dramatic yourself, though.Did you tell them how you quit?”
“I told Poet when she picked me up,” I said.“I haven’t told Hadley yet.”
“Tell her now,” Salem said, feeding Tempest a tiny bit of the blueberry buttermilk donut.Fig lifted her head.Salem tossed her beagle mix a piece of donut.
“I was folding towels when Mr.Carrington came into the laundry room.He stripped out of his ski pants and just stood there in his boxers,” I said.
Hadley grimaced.“Uh oh.”
“Yep.And then he made a move on me.I smacked him in his crotch and while he was writhing around in pain, his wife came in.She wasn’t surprised, sadly.Apparently, I’m not the first nanny he’s put the moves on.She offered me severance and a reference if I kept my mouth shut about it.I took Mildred instead.Packed my bag and got to the airport in record time.”
“He sucks,” Salem said.“But I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too!”Poet piped up.
“Well, that goes without saying,” Hadley said, a soft smile on her face.She placed a hand on her swollen belly and leaned back against the couch cushion.“You can help me figure out how the hell I’m supposed to fit baby furniture in here.I swear the cabin gets smaller the bigger I get.”
“How long until the house is done?”I asked.
“Early spring.I hope.”
Salem tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.“And then Cas and I can move in here.Whileourhouse is being built.”
“Musical nursery, huh?”I asked with a laugh.
“Exactly,” Salem agreed.
“I don’t know what you guys are complaining about,” Poet said.“My apartment is smaller than this cabin.And I share it with a pig and a really big cowboy.”
“You know we’re going to look back at this time in our lives with rose-colored glasses, right?”Hadley said.
Poet’s sigh was dreamy.
My three best friends were in love and having babies.
I’d never felt like more of an outsider.
Salem shot me a look.Her brows were raised as if she knew what I was thinking.
I cleared my throat.“So, what’s there to do here in winter?”
“Chocolate fondue at Sweet Teeth,” Hadley said.“You have to buy tickets for seating, which I already did.Ice skating, sledding, skiing, Christmas tree chopping ...”
“Yeah?”I smiled.“You guys chop down your own Christmas trees?”
