Colette had turned up this morning, practically begging to take Shanti to her house for the day. Apparently, none of her grandkids would watch Trolls with her after she’d fallen in love with the movie and the soundtrack and played them one too many times, but my niece had an equal amount of love for both, so she was Colette’s ‘kindred spirit.’ I hadn’t even had to ask Shanti because as soon as she heard Colette’s voice and the word ‘Trolls,’ she had her shoes in her hand and was demanding I help her put them on.
I’d been abandoned. Then again, I had peace for the first time in a week. It didn’t feel right that I wasn’t at work if Shanti wasn’t at home, so after spending five minutes on the couch, I mentally prepared myself for a day at P.V.P.D.
I was just moving on to the part of the preparation that’d include me getting up off the couch when there was a knock at the door.
“Please don’t let it be any more fish tanks.”
Shanti had been showing Carter one called a Bi-Orb that she swore would look “killer” in her room, and I’d been freaking out over the prospect of another tank and more fish ever since.
The dragons I’d ordered for the backyard had arrived, as had the Japanese maple trees, and Carter had spent a couple of hours planting and positioning them with Shanti’s guidance. He’d ended up ordering a fort but wouldn’t be putting it together until her arm was fixed in case she fell and hurt it even more.
So, really, there was nothing I was expecting. But wasn’t that the joy of internet shopping—the item you forgot you’d purchased suddenly arriving?
Except, when I swung the door open, it wasn’t a delivery man with a big box waiting for me.
“Hey,” Ebru Townsend greeted, juggling a big white—hopefully cake—box in her hand. “We thought we’d come over.”
Stepping back, I held the door open as she, Jose, Maya Townsend, Ebru’s sister-in-law, Heidi, and Jacinda filed in.
“You look how I feel,” Jacinda muttered, stopping to pat me on the head, “exhausted. Come in tomorrow, and I’ll do your hair. Sometimes just having a bit of pampering recharges the batteries.”
Then, not giving me a chance to reply, she sauntered off and gracefully sank down onto the couch. To be fair, I wouldn’t have argued with her over it. Carter may have accepted the insanity of my hair, but someone else taming it for me? Hell, yes!
“I’ll go put the coffee on,” Heidi, my best friend, said, moving quickly into the kitchen and leaving me still holding the door open while I stared at my visitors.
“Put me down,” a voice screeched from the driveway, getting all of our attention. The ladies all leaned to the side so they could see through the open door, and I turned just as my boss carried his pink haired wife up to me.
“Oh, my God. Do you see these things?” She stiffened her legs, holding them out. “They’re fully capable of holding me up while I walk and drive.”
“Fireball, you’re so pregnant, I had to help you put those shoes on your feet. Then you lost your balance getting up from the couch, and you also cried because you couldn’t get close enough to the sink to spit toothpaste into it while you were brushing your teeth and got it on your belly instead.
“Let’s not forget about the fact you were going to drive over here using your damn toes because you couldn’t push the seat close enough to the pedals because your stomach was pressing the horn on the wheel, and you didn’t want to give someone a heart attack.” He sounded almost overly patient with her, which led me to believe this wasn’t the first time he’d had to do this. “There was also—”
“Okay,” she cried, throwing a hand in the air. “I get it, I’m fat—”
“You’re pregnant,” Dave growled. “Beautifully rounded with our baby inside you.”
“Aw,” the ladies behind me chorused, apart from one, “Hot damn!” which sounded like it came from Jacinda.
“Couldn’t you just have said you were going to drive me over here?” Tabby snapped, not put off from her rage by the other women's reactions.
“I did, and you told me to eat rocks. Now, when you’re done, I want you to call me. I’m not happy you’ve been getting cramps and hadn’t told me before I saw you holding your side this morning. What if it means the baby’s coming?”
“Then the baby comes. There’s no point in telling you I’ve got cramps when it could just be Braxton Hicks. Once I know I’m actually in labor—which means the baby’s definitely coming—then I’ll tell you.” Even to me, the tone of her voice said she’d only be doing that when the birth was imminent.