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Fixing her with a wry look, Tori reached up to tighten her ponytail. “Tick’s been here for work several times the last year or so without you.”
“We have two children.” Caitlin slid a glance over the menu board hanging above the counter. What posed the least risk to her suddenly queasy stomach? “There’s an expectation one of us is in residence with them.”
“So formal.” With a cheeky grin, Tori let the topic pass, and Caitlin’s next breath became a relieved sigh. She adored his sister, but the last few months had been difficult. She didn’t want to delve into his disconnect and the loss they’d suffered. She simply wanted to be glad he was hers once more.
The hostess led the way to a corner table. Within a few minutes, a server appeared to take their order, and while they chatted about anything but hot spot topics, their food arrived, fresh and delicious. With the nausea, Caitlin’s usual hunger had fled, and she managed only a few bites, moving food around her plate with aimless movements.
Tori nudged her under the table. “So am I going to see you more often now you two have worked things out?”
Darting a quick glance at her sister-in-law, she reached for her water. “Tori, I’m not sure what—”
“I know him, Cait.” Tori spread butter over a slice of cornbread, her face pensive. “He was not okay after Grandma died, and I could see the effect of that on the two of you.”
“We’re fine.” Caitlin speared a cucumber slice with her fork. “We have been for a while. He’s cut back on his travel. This week was unavoidable.”
“What changed, with the travel, I mean?”
Caitlin creased her napkin into a neat rectangle and laid it beside her plate. “He’s delegated more of it to one of his agents.”
Relief brightened Tori’s face. “He seems more like himself.”
“He is.” She stated the reassurance as much for herself as for Tori.
“I’m glad he has you. There’s a reason you’re my favorite sister-in-law.” Tori straightened, her smile lighting her face. “And okay, I’m excited about this baby. Too bad Woodfield doesn’t have cheerleading. He’d be a fantastic cheer dad.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” Caitlin held her glass aloft with a winsome smile. He was an awesome dad, period, involved in dance as well as the girls’ sports. That wouldn’t change if they had a boy. She made a mental note to tell him no football. He’d have to pick a different sport.
Tori leaned forward, eyes glowing with glee. “When exactly are you due?”
“January fifth.”
“Another New Year’s baby! Oh, that’s fun.” She vibrated with energy, her joy spilling over in typical Tori fashion. “So, I want to be in on hosting your baby shower. I hate you guys don’t live here. Deanne could tell you about doctors and what hospital to use . . . I’m rambling, aren’t I?”
“You are, but it’s fine.” Tori’s happiness loosened the small knot of nausea holding her throat hostage.
“It’s too early for a sonogram, right?” Tori forked up a bite of macaroni.
“No, I actually have a sonogram photo.” She twisted to pull the picture from her tote and passed it to her sister-in-law.
“Oh.” Tori melted into her chair, smiling. “He’s real.”
“He is.” More and more real each day, and with the terror and anxiety receding some, Caitlin could almost see the point where she might get to experience more of the anticipation glowing on Tori’s face. “Or she.”
“What are you going to call him? I realize he’ll be Lamar Eugene III, but having more than one Lamar at a time is confusing and please don’t let Tick call him Eugene after Grandaddy.” Tori rolled her eyes. “Or Tres or Trey, which as I said are so cliched.”
A soft laugh tickled Caitlin’s throat. “We haven’t made it that far, but Tick likes Emilia for a girl.”
“Oh, that’s pretty. I can’t wait for him or her to be here.” Tori stared at the black-and-white sonogram again. “I bet Tick is thrilled.”
“He is.” Caitlin knew it, even if his joy was muted by the stress and uncertainty surrounding Vontressa. She’d felt that joy in the way he’d curved his palm over her the night before. She’d felt his joy in them, too, in the early morning dark in Houston, as she’d wrapped herself around him while he made love to her.
Tori held the photo aloft. “This is better than a puppy.”
A rueful grin curved Caitlin’s mouth. The memory of his speechless reaction to Zeb as a puppy rose, the sheer excitement in his gaze. “He has not gone that far.”
“Everything okay, ladies?” Gail, the proprietor, paused at their table. Her avid gaze swept over the sonogram photo. Caitlin suppressed a cringe.
She hoped Tick had relented and told his mother she was pregnant — because as one of the county’s biggest gossips, Gail could put two and two together and have it all over Chandler County before either of them made it back to the house.
