“Damn it. Well, who do we call? Kilyn?”
Laughing, I rolled my eyes. “So we can get her stuck up here?”
“She’s seven months pregnant, I don’t think she would climb up here.”
“And you’re five months pregnant. I didn’t think you would climb up here either, but here you are.”
With a frown, she mumbled, “Touché.”
“Don’t worry, girls, I called for help.”
Charity and I both froze. “Holy shit. Who would she have called?” I asked.
Pressing her hands together, Charity started praying. “Please don’t have called 9–1-1. Lord, please.”
I glanced back down. “Oh, that wasn’t necessary, Mrs. Hawk. You can call them back. We’re perfectly fine.”
She looked up with a sweet smile. “Katerina said she knew what to do.”
My stomach dropped.
Dear Lord above, please no. No. No. No. No.
CHARITY GASPED. “DID she say she called . . . oh . . . my . . . God . . . please tell me she didn’t say what I think she said.”
Covering my mouth, I tried to keep the bile I instantly felt down.
She called Katerina. How does she even know her?
My hand dropped to my side as I called down, “What did you tell her, Mrs. Hawk?”
“That you and Charity were both stuck on the roof and couldn’t get down.”
Charity crawled on her hands and feet to the middle of the roof and sat down. Her arms were wrapped around her legs and she had her eyes closed. “This is bad. This is so very bad. Go to a happy place. Go to your happy place, Charity!”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “Who’s in the fetal position now?”
She stuck her hand up and shot me the middle finger. “Fuck you, Gabi. Fuck. You.”
I turned back to Mrs. Hawk. “You can call her back and tell her we’re fine. We’re about to come down.”
Staring up at me, she shook her head. “Sweetheart, if you could get down, you’d be down by now. Katerina is bringing Dimitris, he’ll help.”
“How do you know Katerina?” I asked.
Laughing, she said, “We met when Nic moved in. Such a nice woman.”
My shoulders dropped and I made my way over to Charity. Dropping down next to her, I put my head on her shoulder and looked out to the mountains.
“It’s a pretty view, isn’t it?”
Charity sighed. “Yeah. It’s beautiful.”
I wasn’t sure how long we sat there staring out to the west before we heard Katerina’s voice calling up at us.
Dropping onto my back, I let out a long groan. “I’m never going to live this down. Ever.”
Suddenly, a loaf of bread was thrown up on the roof. Turning our heads, we stared at it.
Charity turned back to me and asked, “How the fuck long does she think we’ve been up here?”
Laughing, I got up and walked over to the edge, but not too close.
“Oh. No.”
“How many people are with her?”
I glanced back over my shoulder to Charity. “There are at least three Maria’s, Aunt Agnes, cousin Angie, and Phoebe. With the baby!”
She covered her mouth to hide her laugh. “It’s not funny!” I stated as I giggled myself.
“So much for keeping this from Nic,” she chuckled.
“Eat the bread! It will give you energy!” Katerina called up.
Focusing back on the group, I said, “Katerina, we’ve only been up here for a little bit. I think we’re good in the food department.”
“Charity needs to eat! For the baby!”
“Oh, dear God she’s screaming out my name for the whole world to know!”
My breath caught in my throat when I saw Dimitris and Thad pull up. Jumping out of the car, Thad looked up and started laughing. I shot him a dirty look and walked back over to Charity.
“The whole family is showing up.”
Her eyes about popped out of her head. “What do you mean?”
“I mean Thad just showed up with Dimitris. Nic and Cole have to know by now.”
As if on cue, both of our phones rang.
“I’m not answering it!” Charity cried out.
“Oh, stop being a baby. Answer it because if you don’t, Cole will be here next.”
We both answered at the same time and said the same exact thing.
“Hey, babe. What’s up?”
I covered my mouth to hide my laugh as Charity rolled her eyes but smiled.
“I don’t know. You tell me what’s up?”
Shrugging, as if he could see me, I replied, “Not much. I’m sitting here chatting with Charity.”
“Uh-huh. That’s it?”
Thad popped his head up over the ladder and grinned like a silly fool.
“Hey, girls.”
Lifting my hand, I answered, “Hey, Thad.”
“I see my brother made it up to you guys.”
With a sigh, I responded, “Is nothing kept a secret in this family?”
Thad lost it laughing as did Nic.
“Put Thad on, baby.”
I handed Thad the phone. He winked and started talking to Nic.
“Yeah. Right. I know. I will. Okay. Well, things were looking okay until the news showed up.”
“The news!” I practically screamed.
Thad chuckled. “I’m kidding. They’re not here. Yet.”