"All right, but I don't think I can hit the ball a million times. "
Harper skirted the car to get to Hayley's side. His hair curled damply from under his ball cap, and his shirt showed stains from grass and dirt. "Need some help?"
She couldn't get her feet back in her shoes. They felt hot and swollen and no longer hers. Cranky tears flooded her throat. "I'm pregnant," she snapped, "not handicapped. "
She left her shoes on the mat as she struggled out. Before she could stop herself, she slapped at Harper's offered hand. "Just leave me be, will you?"
"Sorry. " He stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"I can't breathe with everybody hovering around me night and day. " She marched toward the house, trying hard not to waddle.
"She's just tired, Harper. " Whether it was hovering or not, Stella watched Hayley until she'd gotten inside. "Tired and out of sorts. It's just being pregnant. "
"Maybe she shouldn't be working right now. "
"If I suggested that, she'd explode. Working keeps her mind busy. We're all keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't overdo, which is part of the problem. She feels a little surrounded, I imagine. "
"Mom!"
She held up a hand to her impatient boys. "She'd have snapped at anybody who offered her a hand just then. It wasn't personal. "
"Sure. Well, I've got to go clean up. " He turned back to the boys, who were already squabbling over the plastic bat. "Later. And next time I'm taking you both down. "
* * *
The afternoon was sultry, a sly hint of the summer that waited just around the corner. Even with the air-conditioning, Stella sweltered in her little office. As a surrender to the weather, she wore a tank top and thin cotton pants. She'd given up on her hair and had bundled it as best she could on top of her head.
She'd just finished outlining the next week's work schedule and was about to update one of her spreadsheets when someone knocked on her door.
"Come in. " Automatically, she reached for the thermos of iced coffee she'd begun to make every morning. And her heart gave a little jolt when Logan stepped in. "Hi. I thought you were on the Fields job today. "
"Got rained out. "
"Oh?" She swiveled around to her tiny window, saw the sheets of rain. "I didn't realize. "
"All those numbers and columns can be pretty absorbing. "
'To some of us. "
"It's a good day to play hookey. Why don't you come out and play in the rain, Red?"
"Can't. " She spread her arms to encompass her desk. "Work. "
He sat on the corner of it. "Been a busy spring so far. I don't figure Roz would blink if you took a couple hours off on a rainy afternoon. "
"Probably not. But I would. "
"Figured that, too. " He picked up an oddly shaped and obviously child-made pencil holder, examined it. "Gavin or Luke?"
"Gavin, age seven. "
"You avoiding me, Stella?"
"No. A little," she admitted. "But not entirely. We've been swamped, here and at home. Hayley's only got three weeks to go, and I like to stick close. "
"Do you think you could manage a couple of hours away, say, Friday night? Take in a movie?"
"Well, Friday nights I usually try to take the kids out. "