After one more long glance at the pool and Ryan, I follow my stepmom out of my dad’s office.
Sharon doesn’t bring up my slight fangirl behavior, or the fact I might as well have had drool dripping down my chin the way I was watching Ryan. We continue our day of shopping, manicures, and a quick trip to the spa. Sharon was able to take the day off work after all and immediately declared it a girls’ day. And who am I to say no to that? By the end of our pampering, I’m so relaxed, I almost fall asleep in the car.
Sharon shifts lanes and sends me a glance. “Are you still having dinner with your friend tonight?”
“Uh, yeah.” I roll my lips over each other to keep from smiling, my excitement almost impossible to contain over seeing Ryan again soon. Especially after that delicious glimpse of him at the pool earlier.
“And that’s the same friend you’ve met with several times since you got here?”
Sharon, the detective, is at work again. Not that I blame her. This is the first time I’ve been out to meet with people while I’m visiting.
“It is.”
“And that person is a secret?”
I snap my head in her direction and watch her for a moment while she keeps her eyes on the road. My heart beats wildly at her words. What does she know? She can’t know about Ryan, right? “Why do you think he’s a secret?”
The second the words are out of my mouth, I ball my hands into fists and curse in my head. She totally got me. I should have seen that trap from a mile away. Damn it, damn it, damn it.
Lifting one of her hands to her mouth, she does a piss-poor effort of hiding her shit-eating grin.
Leaning my head back against the headrest, I whine. “Shaaaaaron.”
This time, she laughs. Loudly. Obviously, she’s very proud of her sleaziness.
Usually, I’m so much better at avoiding her devious attempts, but I swear, this pregnancy has done something to my brain. It just doesn’t want to work properly anymore.
We come to a halt at the next light, and Sharon turns on the blinker. She’s stopped laughing, but the satisfied grin hasn’t gone anywhere. “What? I still don’t know any more than before really.”
I only groan in response.
“I’m just curious why you’re hiding whoever you’re meeting with. Does this have something to do with Ben?”
My eyes widen in both shock and disgust at hearing my ex-husband’s name. “Oh my gosh, no. I’d never ever get back together with him.”
Sharon scoffs. “Believe me, while I’m really glad to hear that, that’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean then?”
“More in regards to being more careful and seeing where things go first before you introduce someone new to us. That sort of thing. I still remember how scary it was to date again after my divorce. I was terrified of making the same mistake I made before, ending up in a similar predicament once more.”
“It’s so scary.”
“It is, sweetie, I totally get it.” Her mouth tilts up in a smile I know very well. “But then I met your dad, and I knew it would all work out. It felt so different than my failed marriage felt even at the very beginning, and I just knew I wouldn’t make the same mistakes with him. That was when I learned to listen to my gut and to do what feels right. In retrospect, I realized I’d ignored that gut feeling a lot before.”
I nod for what feels like five minutes straight, knowing exactly what she’s talking about. I had one of those “aha” moments after my separation. Well, at least once I got out of the dark hole I’d fallen into at first. It’s crazy how often we ignore our gut feeling and talk ourselves into things, even if they don’t feel right, because we think we’re supposed to be doing them. That was Ben for me. He looked good on paper, perfect even. In hindsight, a little too good.
“Thanks, Sharon. I needed that reminder.”
She reaches out with her hand and squeezes my arm. “Despite knowing it’s for the best, I’m sorry you had to go through it. At least you learned it early on like I did. It’s much easier to split up before kids are involved.”
Kids. Yeaaaaaah.
They are definitely involved now. At least one is.
And Sharon’s going to be a grandma.
A restless energy flutters in my stomach at that concept, and it’s the first time I feel this pressing excitement to tell someone about the pregnancy.