I sigh, resolving myself to the fact that they’re going to bug me about this forever.
“Oh, shoot.” Nova jumps up from her seat, nearly knocking over her nearly empty coffee. “I have to go to work. I’m going to be late. I’ll see you guys Saturday.” She grabs her purse and then bends to hug us both before running out the door of the shop.
“Are you going to ditch me too?” I raise a brow at Rae.
She laughs and shakes her head. “Nope, you’re stuck with me.”
“Oh, good.” I breathe out a sigh of relief. “I’m going to get a cupcake,” I tell her, and hop up to go order.
It’s liable to make me sick, but a cupcake is worth the risk.
I order my blueberry cupcake with lemon frosting and head back to the table. Lately, I’ve been craving lemons—of all the crazy things. I asked Xander to go out and buy me whole lemons the other night and then I proceeded to eat them like an orange. He looked at me like I was crazy the whole time, but I’m growing a human so I’m allowed to be insane.
I remove the wrapper from my cupcake and take a bite.
“Oh, my God, that’s is so good,” I mumble around my mouthful of cupcake. “Best damn cupcake I’ve ever eaten.” I groan. “Text me to remind me I have to put a quarter in the Swear Jar when I get home.”
Rae immediately picks up her phone to do just that. My phone chimes a second later with the reminder text.
Xander and I should be embarrassed by how full the jar already is. Well, I should be, because the majority of it is my quarters. He’s maybe had three slips, while I’ve had dozens.
I can’t be expected to change overnight.
Sometimes habits die hard.
And, apparently, this one doesn’t want to die at all.
I finish my cupcake, and since it seems to be staying down I decide to order another one for later. Rae looks at me like I’m crazy, but, again, I’m growing a human.
Armed with my cupcake box and a refill of lemonade, Rae and I head outside in the summer sun. It’s the third week of August, and I can’t believe how fast the summer is passing. I’m glad that I’m not going to be hugely pregnant until the winter, though. I don’t think I could stand the summer heat at nine months pregnant.
“Let’s run in there.” Rae points to a shop that’s full of stationary.
I shrug. “Lead the way.”
I follow her inside the store, and I’m immediately overwhelmed by the smell of paper. I throw down my stuff and slap a hand over my mouth, running back outside.
I manage to make it around the corner and to a bush before I empty my stomach.
Goodbye, cupcake. You were good while you lasted.
“Thea? Thea? Are you okay?” Rae calls, her steps thudding on the concrete behind me. She reaches me and touches her hand to my back. I wipe the back of my hand over my mouth and straighten.
“I’m okay,” I tell her, my voice slightly shaky. “It was just the smell of the paper. It was too much.”
“I’m so sorry. I should’ve thought.”
I shake my head. “You never know what will trigger the sickness. Don’t feel bad. If it’s okay with you, I just want to head home now.”
She nods sadly. “Yeah, okay. I’ll walk you to your car. Let me go back in and get your stuff.”
I nod, smiling gratefully at her.
She returns a minute later with my stuff and we then walk side by side to my car.
“You need a new car,” she tells me.
I laugh, placing my purse and cupcake on the passenger seat before turning around to face her. “That’s what Xander says.”