Chapter One
“Where are the balls?” Josie shouted as she and Laura entered Jeddy’s. The warlock waitress was missing, and the joint was empty, so it wasn’t hiding behind some crowd of rowdy college students.
As she craned her head around to see if it had been moved, she was disappointed to find no trace of the cardboard monstrosity anywhere.
“Gone,” Madge croaked, eyeing Laura’s enormous belly. “You got triplets in there?” she asked, poking her tummy with a stylus. Laura wore a lovely pink cotton tent that used more fabric than a king-size duvet. Josie felt sorry for her these days, with cankles and sciatica and a belly that stretched so far she could use it as a sail after the birth.
It had been Laura’s idea to come and eat lunch at Jeddy’s, and against Josie’s better judgment she’d said yes. The place held a few too many memories for her, but for Laura it was all about the food. And when a hungry, overdue pregnant woman suggests the place that serves her favorite comfort food, you don’t argue.
“No, but I’ll happily eat for three,” Laura answered, making Madge’s face crack into a grin. No, really—it cracked in half and she looked like a Muppet for a second. How a dried-up old prune like that could smile and make it look almost human was beyond Josie.
“You threw the warlock away?” she asked Madge as they chose their favorite booth and Madge slapped the menus down on the scarred tabletop.
“No. My granddaughter asked us to donate it to some fancy autism charity ball auction.”
“Rich people want to buy a cardboard cutout that’s been fondled thousands of times?” Josie asked as she slid into the booth. Laura turned sideways and tried to tuck her belly under the table. Nope. Stuck. Madge watched, head cocked, as she struggled to get in.
“How’s that different from Paris Hilton?” Madge challenged, shaking her head as she observed Laura’s pathetic attempt. Josie felt a pang of compassion and stood, offering Laura a hand to unwedge herself.
“Touché.”
“You need a table,” Madge said, moving the menus over to a four-top.
“I need a crowbar,” Laura groaned. Josie smiled sympathetically and patted her hand. Two days overdue and Laura acted like the world was ending. The only part of her that seemed to function properly these days was her appetite.
“Let’s get you started with some fried green tomatoes,” Madge said, scribbling on her electronic tablet. “And you like the Peanut Butter Hulk Smash….” she mumbled, ignoring them.
“Coconut shrimp!” Josie interjected.
“With a side of Pitocin,” Laura begged.
Settled at their table, the two women leaned toward each other, Laura struggling with her girth but finally managing to make it a foot or so as Josie whispered, “So, have you decided what to do?”
Laura nodded. “We want you to be the only one who knows.”
Josie pulled back as if slapped. “What? Me? That’s crazy. Why? Why me?”
Laura inhaled deeply and slowly through her nose, her hands sliding across the table, fingers splayed in an effort to control her breath. Josie respected that. She imagined that right now Laura’s lungs were the size of quarters, shoved up into her collarbone by the baby.
“Because you’re the person that all three of us trust.”
“That’s not a good reason to pick me,” Josie protested. “I don’t want to be the only person to know that kind of information.”
Laura narrowed her eyes. “You’re clearly the only person who should know. It’s not exactly going to be my dead mom or Dylan’s judgmental parents, right?”
Josie swallowed hard. Loathe as she was to admit it, Laura was making sense. This issue of paternity had been her issue. Laura had slept with two men and found herself pregnant under extraordinary circumstances, and now living with both men under even more extraordinary circumstances. Dylan and Mike had no desire to know which of them was the father, choosing instead to live with a kind of loving ambiguity that Josie absolutely did not understand, but had grudgingly come to respect.
Laura bought into it. That’s what surprised Josie. If you were a baby’s mom, wouldn’t you want to know who the dad was? Lately, though, Laura, Dylan, and Mike had become this incredible threesome that exuded love and support and understanding.
Gag.
Josie wasn’t about to try to put fissures in that, knowing full well that there was a way out—and it was through her.
“How do you want me to do this?” she asked Laura skeptically as Madge flew by and threw glasses of water on the table. Being the only person who would know who the baby’s biological father was seemed like an outrageous responsibility to carry. Doing it for Laura was part of being a good friend, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.
“We figure that the baby will be born, and we’ll get the paternity tests done, and then only you will see the results. You can come in and put the father’s name on the birth certificate and I’ll never know as long as you cover that part when I sign. Neither will the guys.”
Laura blinked rapidly and Josie could see that she was barely holding it together, knowing damn well that that was about the stupidest plan ever. Of course Laura would see the name on the birth certificate. She’d have to pull it out a million times over the course of the child’s life for everything from getting a Social Security card to a passport to flying with her.
Treading carefully, Josie said as much in kinder words. “Laura, you’ll have to see it at some point.”
“Well…I’ll…I’ll just—”
Madge interrupted them with a plate of hot coconut shrimp and one of fried green tomatoes.
Laura scanned the table and looked at Madge with pleading eyes. “Where’s the cake?”
Josie laughed and grabbed two coconut shrimp and put them on her little plate, careful to use the pads of her fingers. She’d just done her nails in a pink glitter in honor of the pending baby. If she didn’t take her share, Laura would just plow through it and she’d never get any.
Madge shot Laura a derisive look and said, “It’s coming. Cool your jets. You’ve got more than enough here.” She looked at Laura’s belly, looked back at Laura, looked at Josie and saw how Josie had cupped her hands around the little plate of her two coconut shrimp and said, “Ah, all right. I gotcha. Hang on, I’ll get the cake out here. You need a side of ice cream with that?”