The Rancher's Untamed Heart

We walked to the little cafe only a block away that served cheap sandwiches and cold drinks. Sarah was anxious and bounced the whole way.

"Calm down, " I said. "You have big news?"

"Oh, God," she said. "The biggest. There has not been news as big as mine in ages."

We went through the line quickly and met at our usual table.

"A salad?" I asked. "What happened to your ham sandwich."

She looked longingly at my roast beef.

"I can't have lunch meat right now," she said, poking at the greens on her plate.

"That bites," I said.

"No, it's awesome." she said, grinning at me. "I can't have them because I'm finally knocked up."

"Are you serious?" I squealed. "That is fantastic!"

We squealed and tapped our feet and giggled when the man at the next table glared at us over his newspaper.

"When did you find out?" I asked. "How far along are you? Do you want a baby shower at work? What does Neil think?"

"So many questions! First of all, I found out last night, I've been feeling kind of crappy and so I peed on a stick. It was positive, and I freaked out and peed on two more, and they were super clear. I am really, really pregnant," she said. “I was so excited that I ran out to tell Neil and forgot my jeans were around my ankles. I fell over. It caught his attention, at least. He about fell over too when I showed him the sticks.”

"I am so happy for you," I told her. "You've been trying for, what, a year now?"

"Almost," she said. She looked so happy and relieved, I couldn't wait to hug her when we finished our lunches. "I'm probably five or six weeks along, that's it, so if you spill the beans at work I'll never tell you anything again. Neil wants to keep it private until I'm, like, six months along."

We finished our lunch going over every detail of how she was feeling, and trying to decide whether she’d rather have a boy or a girl.

“-and she’s about six weeks along,” I said, cradling my cell phone between my shoulder and my ear.

“Cool,” Justin said. “Are you going to get her a present or something?”

I laughed.

“I’ll probably arrange the baby shower at work, and I’ll definitely get her something nice. Maybe a fancy rocking chair or a gift certificate to her favorite Chinese place. They deliver, and I know she won’t want to cook for a while,” I said.

“Right,” he said. “That sounds good. Do you want Chinese?”

“When?” I asked.

“Tonight,” he said. “I can swing by and pick you up.”

“I’d love to,” I said, and he interrupted me before I could finish the sentence.

“But,” he said. “But, you’re busy? But, you don’t really want to? There’s always a ‘but,’ isn’t there?”

“No,” I said. “I’m just tired. I’d love to go out, but I’m tired. Would you like to pick some up and come eat on the couch with me, have a lazy dinner?”

The silence that came through the phone spoke volumes.

“It’s fine,” I said, quickly. “Why don’t we go out another time? Or I’ll come out if you want me to, I just need to drink some coffee.”

“No, don’t worry about it,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to keep you from your lazy evening.”

He laughed cheerfully, but I wasn’t entirely convinced.