“Ugh,” Kelsey went on. “I always want to laugh at pathetic stuff like that. Like anyone could even think of being hotter than my husband.”
“Please, he’s my brother. Do not talk about his hotness to me.” She eyed the guys as they walked on past. Yeah, not a single one of them could dare to compete with Ian either. Suddenly, she missed him terribly. With his big, hard body next to her, she doubted any other man would dare risk his neck by checking her out.
Sighing, Gabby drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. Before long, she wouldn’t be able to sit in this position. The unrelenting wind continued to whip her hair into a humidity-frizzed mess. “I miss him,” she confessed.
“If you’re in love with the guy, just go for it.”
“I don’t know about love. I think it’s even scarier to go for it knowing I’m pregnant. There’s a child involved now. If we can’t make it work, then I’m not the only one who’ll get hurt this time.”
“Yeah, but you can’t think negatively either. If you do make it work, that’ll be great for my little niece.”
“Oh, it’s a girl?”
Kelsey grinned. “I’m hoping. A little girl would be so sweet. Evan and I talk about trying again, but I don’t know yet.”
“It seems none of us in this family really have to try. It just happens to us.” As soon as it was out, she regretted saying it, since it also alluded to Brian. She hoped Kelsey would miss it, but with her budding lawyer’s mind, no such luck.
“Candace had better not drink the water,” she said. “She’s the only one left.”
Gabby bit her bottom lip and let a moment tick by. “Where are we going to eat tonight?”
“Fudpucker’s? Or the Back Porch?”
Crisis averted…for now. “Either. I so wish I could drink.” She wished she could swim too, but her new tattoo wouldn’t allow for it. What had she been thinking, coming here without the ability to drink or swim or eat her weight in shrimp?
“Sorry, girl. When I was at my biggest and most miserable, I told Evan all I could think about was being on the beach with a margarita in my hand. He told me he’d make it happen. As soon as Alex was old enough to leave with your mom for a few days, he brought me here. But you know, as much as I wanted to enjoy it, I missed Alex so much that I really couldn’t. All I could think about was getting back and holding him. Not that I’m not enjoying your company, but I feel that way now too. I don’t mean to scare you, but your life will truly never, ever be the same.”
“I know. I mean, I don’t really, but I believe you.”
“Enjoy this time. Hard as it seems, these next couple of months will be the last semi-normal ones of your life. Before you have to have help tying your own shoes and getting out of the bathtub. Before you sneeze and pee down both legs. And just wait until it feels like the baby punches you right in the cervix. And you wear shoes to work in the morning that you can’t wear home that evening because your feet are so swollen. There will also come the inevitable day when you lose sight of your nether regions.”
“Kelsey? Shut up.”
“Then the baby gets here, and the chaos really begins. It’s all worth it, though.”
“Funny how moms usually tack that on to the end of the list of miserable things they have to endure.”
“You’ll see.”
The storm moved closer, so they gathered their beach gear and headed indoors as the sun was finally obscured by the incoming clouds. The rain and lightning probably wouldn’t last long, but they went ahead and changed for dinner. Gabby stared out the patio doors as the foamy surf below pounded the graying sand while Kelsey finished getting ready.
She hadn’t spoken at length to Ian since the night they’d spent together. It wasn’t anything he’d said or done; it was simply her confusion, her terrible, terrible confusion.
When had she ever been one to let fear hold her back from doing anything? Why was she doing it now? So much was at stake. She’d felt responsible for human lives before, but not like this. Never like this.
“Are you okay?” Kelsey asked as she entered the room at Gabby’s back.
“Yeah. Just thinking.”
“You can think yourself silly.”
“As I’m finding out.”
“While I was in the shower just now, I came up with a question for you.”
“It’s weird that you think of me while you’re naked.”
“Right? Anyway. If everything could work out exactly like you wanted, what would happen?”
“Hmm. I’d be married to the father of my child, first off.”
Kelsey’s already big gray eyes rounded even farther. “You want to marry him?”
“I only meant the father of my child was always someone I envisioned being married to. Not someone I sleep with occasionally who will soon live three hours away.”
“You need to feel him out. If you want to commit and really give this thing a go, but he’s not willing to move back there—you’ll have your answer, won’t you? It’ll mean you and this baby aren’t important enough for him to make a few sacrifices.”
It made sense, didn’t it? If only she didn’t feel it was way too soon to expect that from him. In a few months, maybe. But now, when they were still getting to know each other?
“You already know you miss him,” Kelsey continued, falling onto the couch and putting her bare feet up. “So there’s that. Yet, you know you can see him in a couple of days. What if you knew you weren’t going to see him for, like, a month? How would you feel?”
Gabby chuckled. “I might be making an unplanned road trip in the middle of the night after about a week. If that long.”
She looked gravely at Kelsey, who blew out a low whistle. “Whew. I think you’ve got it bad, girl.”
“We decided to take things day by day. I guess that’s what I need to keep doing right now. I’m not putting pressure on him, and he isn’t putting any on me.”
“Hmm.” Kelsey began twirling a dark curl around her index finger, staring off into space. Gabby turned and contemplated the raging Gulf of Mexico again.
“Do you think you ever really know someone?” she asked.
“Sure. I know Evan.”
“I thought I knew Mark, though.”
“You knew him for a year or so. I knew Evan from the time I was twenty years old. I can guarantee I know him better than you or his family.”
“Really?” Gabby turned again. “Did you know when he was in high school, Mr. Prosecutor took eighty dollars out of Mom’s wallet and let Brian take the fall for it?”
Kelsey grinned. “Did you know that Brian offered to take the fall for it if Evan wrote a paper for him?”
Okay. Score one for knowing someone. Gabby shook her head. “Scoundrels. Mom fumed about that for weeks. What did he do with the money?”
“Bought a necklace for his girlfriend.”
“Trying to get laid. Of course.”
“Evan never had to try really hard,” Kelsey said wryly. “I remember the long line of his girlfriends I had to suffer through to end up with him.”
“You should’ve grabbed him by the collar and told him how it was gonna be from the start.”
“Oh yeah? Well, put your money where your mouth is,” Kelsey fired back good-naturedly.
Touché. “This trip wasn’t about me starting to hate you, you know.”
“If you drag this out, torture yourself and make yourself miserable over him, you’ll regret it for a long, long time, Gabby. Take it from me. But if you just give it a chance, you’ll know. If he turns out to be the love of your life, then you win. If not, then you’ll move on. I know you’re smart enough and a good enough judge of character not to make any stupid mistakes or stay somewhere that isn’t a good environment for you or my niece.”