Just Around the Corner

And still she was nervous.

It was Wednesday night. What would Cassie be doing? Or Tory? Or Becca? They’d all be with their husbands; that was a given. Except maybe Cassie. Her friend could be staying late at the clinic. It didn’t happen very often anymore, but occasionally it did.

She dialed the veterinary clinic by heart, too. And listened to the answering machine pick up after the fourth ring. Damn. Cassie was the person she needed. She was the only one Phyllis could talk to about the strange emotions consuming her. Cassie was still the only one who knew that Phyllis was pregnant.

Other than Matt, of course.

There was no way Phyllis was going to call Cassie at home during dinnertime. She’d be sitting at the table with Sam and Mariah and her in-laws, too. They’d all watch her leave the room to answer the phone. Wait for her return. Ask who she’d been talking to…

The Valley Diner downtown was always an option. The food was great. At this time of night there’d be lots of people, friendly conversation, diversion.

Wednesday was chicken enchilada night. Phyllis’s mouth was watering already. She’d just put the mail on her desk in the corner of the living room, grab her keys and go.

And if, after dinner, she was still at loose ends, she’d stop by and see Tory and Ben. Alex would still be up, so it wouldn’t be as though Phyllis was really interrupting—

Her doorbell rang.

Who could that be? Becca maybe? Dropping something by for another of her committees? Phyllis was one of Becca’s best volunteers, with no family making demands on her spare time.

Hurrying to the door before Becca assumed she wasn’t home and left, Phyllis decided to tell her friend about the baby. Becca would understand. Hell, when the two women had first met the summer before, Becca had been in the last trimester of a very trying pregnancy herself. Her first baby at forty-two.

They’d become fast friends. Remembering the weeks they’d spent so much time together, weeks when Becca had been separated from the love of her life—her husband, Will, Phyllis’s boss—Phyllis knew that Becca was just the person she needed tonight.

Her smile went from overbright to nervous when she saw who was on her step.

“I can’t believe you came all the way over here,” she said to Matt, standing on the other side of the closed screen door.

“You called.”

“I told you I was fine.”

“You of all people wouldn’t have called if you were fine.”

He had her there.

“I was just…having a moment,” she said, trying for a careless grin. She didn’t think she’d entirely pulled it off. She could feel her bottom lip trembling. “I’m fine now.”

She had to get out of there. Get downtown, where she’d be surrounded by people before she had a full-blown panic attack over nothing.

Standing there with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, Matt could have been posing for a cigarette commercial. Or, more in keeping with the times, a commercial for a rugged off-road vehicle.

“Since I drove all the way over here, why don’t you come on out for a second and tell me about this moment you were having?”

She’d opened the door before she’d considered the question. There was no reason to tell him. Nothing to be gained by sharing her ups and downs with him.

But it was so sweet of him to have driven all this way when she knew he really wanted nothing to do with her or the baby.

She sat on the top step, irrationally glad when Matt sat down beside her. Sure beats the Valley Diner. But only because she was still too shaky to be keeping up appearances with so many people at once.

Here at home, there was only one person to fool.

And here at home, she was close to her bathroom. Just in case.

“I bled a little bit more today.” Phyllis was shocked to hear the words. She knew better than to get close to Matt Sheffield.

But he was the only person who knew about the other day. He’d been at the hospital with her, experienced the entire ordeal. Telling him seemed so natural.

Elbows on his knees, head facing the ground, Matt gave her a sideways glance. “I take it, since we’re sitting here, that you’re okay?”