I grinned. “They kept it a secret throughout the entire pregnancy. It was definitely something everyone wanted to know. I think they were more excited to hear the name than the sex when we did the gender reveal.”
“You’re keeping me in suspense here.” She sat forward on her seat. “What’s the name?”
I smiled.
“The baby boy came out with his daddy into the waiting room about two hours after Mom had him. He announced him as Carter Folsom Mackenzie,” I said. “I actually did the cake for his birth, too. It was a really cool musical note.”
Memphis grinned wickedly.
“I love it.” She sighed. “I just love babies all around—which was why I started this business—but there’s just something about their story, with all those names and history, that makes me absolutely giddy.” She paused. “Back to the gender reveal cakes…I was thinking about adding an option to our packaging…and this was something I’d been thinking about for a while so don’t get all flustered, but how would you feel about doing a gender reveal party type thing? I would put together all the things they would need—like the balloon with the colors for the boy or the girl in it, and you would do the cake with the colors in it, and that be a package we can offer so they don’t have to have someone in the know?”
I grinned. “I would love that…but how do you know my cakes are any good? I mean, they could be trash. You don’t know.”
Memphis gave me a droll look.
“My son has been talking about you for six months…though at the time, we didn’t know it was you. We even got a cake from you through his friend a couple of months back, for my youngest daughter’s graduation. It was amazing,” she said.
I blinked in surprise.
“Oh, wow,” I said. “I didn’t know that.”
She smiled sweetly. “He really has been talking about you a lot. More so in the last few days. When he came over last night, you were all he could speak about.”
I felt my face go hot.
She started to laugh, then looked up just in time for the door to her place to open.
She smiled at the pregnant young woman that came through.
“You must be Marylee.” Memphis stood up, then turned to me. “Can you help get the room prepped and ready? Sheets are in the dresser that the television is sitting on.”
I immediately did what she asked, setting out a new sheet over the table and then went back out just to turn right around when Memphis gestured for me to stay.
“Marylee, this is Saylor Spada. She’s likely going to be the one to do your thirty-week appointment with you. Are you ready to see your baby?” Memphis asked.
Marylee smiled at me excitedly. “Oh yes! I’ve had a Dr. Pepper, and I can feel him moving around like crazy. I’m so ready!”
So for the next thirty minutes, I sat on the couch and watched as Memphis performed Marylee’s ultrasound. I smiled when the baby did a couple of flips and rolls and knew that I was going to love this job.
Memphis had no idea whatsoever what she’d just done for me.
She’d given me my dream.
And so had her son.
***
“What did you think?” Memphis asked as we watched Marylee walk out of the office thirty minutes later.
“I loved it,” I admitted. “I loved every second. This was why I got into school to begin with…to do this job right here.”
She walked to the desk in the front, then handed me a stack of paperwork.
“Get this filled out,” she said. “Bring it back with you tomorrow. You can start tomorrow, right?”
I nodded.
“I can, yes.”
“Wonderful.” She beamed. “I…”
The door opened and Lock walked through, two pizzas in his hand as well as a drink carrier full of drinks.
Memphis walked to him and divested him of the pizzas.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, looking at him suspiciously.
He gestured to the pizza.
“Eating, hopefully.” His eyes turned to me. “And I wanted to make sure she actually showed up.”
He let his eyes sweep the length of my body, and I felt my face flush.
“Bummer,” he rumbled.
Memphis snorted.
“You just wanted to see her, didn’t you?” she teased.
“Maybe.” He didn’t bother lying. “But I brought you your favorite pizza…so that counts for something, right?”
“I suppose so,” she said as she led the way to the break room.
Lock came up to me, seeing the paperwork in my hand.
“You’re joining the team?” he asked hopefully.
I smiled and grabbed a pen off the desk.
“I’m totally joining the team.”Chapter 7Some days I wake up and think ‘I got this.’ Other days I wake up and think, ‘Fuck my life.’
-Lock’s secret thoughts
Lock
The storm clouds seemed to come out of nowhere.
One second, I was running at the track, pushing through my fourth mile, and the next I looked up and the black clouds were rolling in so fast that it’d completely covered the track between one lap and the next.