Dan set his laptop on the table in the conference room and took his seat. “At ease,” he murmured to Jack, who promptly sprawled out. “Lazy.” But he reached down and scratched the German shepherd between his ears.
From across the table came the tinny sounds of snorts and then mini-explosions followed by cheers mixed in with a chorus of “Ow-ow-ow!” The sequence finished with squeals and snorted laughter that gave Dan an unexpected craving for bacon.
“Nick, what are you playing now? It sounds like talking cockroaches.”
The sounds abruptly cut off. “Sorry. It’s a game APP. I’m hurling birds at pigs.”
Dan opened his mouth but nothing came out as he tried to make sense of what his friend had just said. Finally, he had to ask the obvious question. “Why?”
“Ahh… eye-hand coordination, reflexes, honing trajectory skills?” Nick laughed. “Ashley got me hooked on it.”
“Ashley!” That… was a surprise. “She hates video games.”
Nick’s suggestive chuckle filled the air. “Yeah… exactly. She gets in this zone when she’s working on one of her art projects… and nothing cracks that bubble. Not even the suggestion of a little afternoon delight.”
Now, that Dan understood and he laughed softly. “Trish does the same thing. It’s like she goes off into a world where no one and nothing else exists. Sorry, but I’m convinced that’s all part of being married, son.”
His friend snickered. “I’m way too much of a newlywed and a dog to accept that.” He shuffled some papers and coughed slightly. “So I started playing this stupid bird game one day and found the one thing that cracks the bubble and pulls her out of the zone.”
“What? Snorting pigs?”
“Pretty much.” Nick blew out a satisfied sigh. “The sounds bothers her and I dare her to make me turn it off, and from there it gets physical. You should try— Sorry, man.”
He should be used to people freaking out over an inadvertent faux pas of suggesting that he should “see” something or in this case try something that would require sight. What he was used to was smoothing over the uncomfortable pauses. So Dan grinned before the sudden silence could turn awkward.
“No worries. I have my own way of getting Trish out of that particular place. And my way starts with the physical and ends with the more physical. You’ve never made love to a woman until you’ve done it in total blackness. Everything is enhanced. Try a blindfold sometime.”
Nick sputtered and coughed twice. He must have been drinking from his perpetual bottle of water.
His friend didn't have a chance for any sort of comeback. Hushed rubber-soled footsteps whispered briskly over the tile floor and the aroma of ranch dressing tickled Dan’s nose.
“Hey, Lucy.”
His secretary gasped. “H-how did you know it’s me?”
Dan smiled and shrugged. “Lucky guess.” It was too much fun making everyone wonder — he’d never admit his awareness of Lucy’s tendency to bring along a salad smothered with ranch dressing to finish before their weekly stats and strats meetings.
“Am I interrupting something?” asked Lucy.
“Nothing we can’t finish on the way home,” said Nick smoothly. “Is Colonel Jenkins running this meeting?”
Dan tried to maintain a level tone. “That’s what the memo said.” At least he hoped it would be Jenkins and not Edgerton, given the history Nick shared with the latter. Aw, crap, I should’ve warned him. Maybe it’s not too late. “You know Colonel Edgerton’s on base, right?”
The sharply indrawn breath from across the table told Dan his friend hadn’t been aware.
“I guess it’s too late to put in for extended leave,” mumbled Nick.
The shuffle of footsteps and the rustle of clothing announced the mass entrance of other attendees. Dan hated these meetings more than he hated trying to figure out his pregnant wife’s mood swings.
His old mantra echoed through his head. Nothing to it but to do it.
The door at the back of the room closed with a click. In a flurry of soft clacks and whooshes, the blinds lining the windows were closed. The hum of a white noise machine began. A frown pinched Dan’s forehead. This wasn’t going to be a typical statistics and strategies meeting. A chill ran from his neck to the base of his spine, where its icy fingers grabbed and squeezed.
“Thank you for coming,” began Colonel Jenkins in his typical gravelly style.
Right. As if they had a choice of attending one of Uncle Sam’s meetings.
****
“Is that a foot?” Ashley nearly shouted. “It is! I see a foot!” Her grip on Trish’s hand tightened as if she sought to anchor her dancing feet to the floor.
Trish giggled. “It went by so fast I think I counted five toes.”
With a chuckle, the ultrasound technician — a girl named Jennifer, who looked barely old enough to be skipping high school — dragged the wand back through the goo coating Trish’s baby belly. The foot reappeared on the screen, froze for a second and there they were… five toes.
Ashley sighed. “Aww, look at that.”
Trish rolled her head to take in Ashley’s enraptured face. “Maybe one day soon you and Nick will be making an announcement.”
“Maybe… I guess you never know. Though we’re kind of enjoying the newlywed phase a bit too much to work at it.”
“What?” Trish blinked. “You realize that’s an oxymoron, right? I mean ‘enjoying the newlywed phase’ kind of is working at it… at least if memory serves.”
Ashley grinned. “Let’s just say we get lots of practice at working at it and we’ll see what happens.”
The baby stretched. Trish’s stomach formed a pointed tent. “Oh, I know what tends to happen,” she said, laughing.
“Let’s see… you had a CVS, so do you already know the sex?” asked Jennifer.
“It’s a boy,” whispered Trish.
“Oops! Yes, it certainly is! See the turtle sign?”
Ashley snickered. “Is that the code word these days— Holy guacamole! That’s — that’s um, not very babyish.”
Gales of laughter burst from Trish’s lips and after a moment Jennifer joined in. “Think of the ultrasound like a funhouse mirror — size is often distorted.”
She rolled the wand again and located the heart. Then, holding it in place, she tapped something on the keyboard and turned a dial. Instantly, a hyper-fast whooshp-whooshp-whooshp murmured from the speakers next to her computer.
“Oh, Trish,” breathed Ashley. “That’s beautiful.”
“Yeah.” Trish sighed. “I forgot about that. Dan could have heard the heartbeat today. The first time we heard it — with this little hand gizmo the doctor had — Danny’s face just lit up.” She sighed again, knowing she’d messed up.
“Too bad you can’t take this home with you,” murmured Ashley, giving another squeeze of her hand.
“Are you talking about a Doppler monitor?” Jennifer fiddled with the keyboard and moved the wand, then hit something on the keyboard again.
“That’s probably what it was.”
“You know you can buy one, right? Gold Mart has a pretty nice one for under a hundred dollars.” Jennifer held the wand in place and tapped on the keyboard again.
Trish barely noticed anything through the rest of the exam. Her mind was already racing ahead, planning the side trip she would beg Ashley to make to the big discount store.
****
“Four weeks,” moaned Trish. “Four weeks of taking it easy? Was he serious?”
“If you’re talking about Dr. Peroli, I’d say he was pretty serious.” Ashley turned the car into the busy Gold Mart parking lot. “We shouldn’t have come at the end of the month. People must be shopping for the Fourth. Don’t they know it’s almost a week away?”
“Sorry.” Trish lifted a shoulder. “But I really want to get this for Dan, and if I’m going to be taking it easy for four weeks, this’ll be my only chance.”
Ashley sighed. “Well, if you won’t wait in the car, you’ll have to ride one of those scooters.”
Trish clamped her lips shut and glared at her friend, who only returned the glare, not in the least intimidated.
“Fine.” With a lot more grunting than she was happy with, Trish hauled herself to her feet and headed for the store, well aware that her indignant stomp was more of a swaybacked waddle.
“And at least he said ‘take it easy’ and not go on complete bed rest,” said Ashley when she caught up. “I’ve had friends that had to have strict bed rest. Dr. Peroli said you could walk around and sit with your feet up. You don’t have to stay in bed.”
“How am I going to cook breakfast and dinner for the bed and breakfast guests?” Trish slowed her steps, panting lightly, as they walked through the automatic doors. “It’s the height of the season. I don’t want to cancel everyone’s reservations, but it’s going to be hard to be a bed and breakfast for up to eight guests not to mention cook for my family and clean all the rooms, and…” She sighed and lifted her hands helplessly.
“Ack! You’re exhausting me just talking about it.” Ashley directed her attention to the gold-jacketed greeter. “We need a scooter.”
“Of course. The first one’s just had the battery charged,” said the smiling elderly gentleman with the shock of salt and pepper hair falling across his forehead. “The instructions are on the basket. Just let me know if you need any help.”
Trish settled herself on the padded vinyl seat and read the black lettering printed on safety yellow. “Pull the lever on the right back to move forward, release it to stop. Roll the handle on the left toward the rider to move backward, release it to stop moving.” She shrugged. “Seems simple enough.”
“Where do you think the monitor will be?” asked Ashley, motioning toward the in door. “Pharmacy or baby stuff?”
“I don’t know. But the pharmacy is closer to the front of the store.” Trish depressed the lever and the scooter moved forward at the frustrating pace of a box turtle. “Man, even pregnant I can walk faster than this.”
“Did you ever think that might be your problem? You move too fast, don’t take time to just slow down and spot the roses in the distance, let alone smell them.”
Trish released the lever and the scooter came to a near-instant halt in front of a display of vitamins. The brown bottles lined up on the shelves, yellow labels bearing an alphabet full of daily supplements, all supposed to make a person healthier and more vigorous. If only. With a sigh, she thought of the prenatal vitamins on the kitchen counter that she routinely avoided since they made her more nauseous than the morning sickness had. She probably should have tried harder to take them. Especially since the doctor was now concerned about anemia.
“I don’t know how you thought you were going to do it all.” Ashley picked up a bottle of ginkgo biloba and made a face. “I wonder if any of this actually works.”
“I guess I shouldn’t have taken on guests for the summer. At the time I thought it would be no big deal. I thought maybe I’d take on a high school student to help with the cleaning and I’d be able to handle the cooking.” Trish blew out a breath. “I didn't count on being told to slow down.”
“I can help a little. I’m great at cleaning.” Ashley picked up a bottle of vitamin C and examined the label. “But you know I’m a total loss with cooking.” She replaced the bottle on the shelf. Then her face lit up. “Hey! I know someone who’s a wizard at cooking… and looking for something to do this summer!”
It was too easy. Suspicion edged its way into Trish’s voice. “Who?”
Ashley’s answer was instant and triumphant. “Jay Harris.” She smiled. “He cooks like a dream and he lives alone since his fiancée is stationed in Germany until the end of her tour. As neat as he keeps his classroom, I’m pretty sure he knows how to clean.” She slipped her hand into her jeans pocket and pulled out her cell phone. “Should I call him?”
“Ahh… umm…” Should she? It would be weird having a man working in the B and B… especially since she’d pictured a high school girl. “I thought he liked to travel while school’s out. He takes pictures. Won’t he want to go to Germany to see Lisa?”
“Yes, he takes great pictures.” Ashley nodded. She slid her phone open. “But this summer he’s taking the pictures close to home. They’re saving for their wedding. So? What about it?”
“I guess you could ask.” And if he accepted the job, hopefully she’d be able to clean out the refrigerator before he saw the disorganized disaster.