“And you called me the romantic.” Hue sat heavy on his couch.
“After Thanksgiving, I’m going to have Tess set you up with one of her friends.” Hue held his breath. Amanda? She was one of Tess’s single friends.
“Who?” He tried not to sound excited.
“I can’t remember her name. She works at the bank. Tall and pretty. Just like you like them.” He could see Math racking his brain for the name. Something Math wasn’t very good with: remembering people.
“Maybe,” he said noncommittally. That was his type until Amanda came to town. Now he was more into the shorter, pretty ones. Or just the one.
“Definitely going to do that,” Math said before he hung up the phone.
Leaning back on the couch, he closed his eyes. He didn’t want to date someone from the bank. All he wanted was to go back to before the phone call and kiss the woman across the hallway. Finally kiss her.
CHAPTER8
Amanda checkedher phone for the second time, and the Vikings were still not playing this Thanksgiving. But she wanted to wear the jersey again. Badly. She had worn it to work on Wednesday, and it had been comfortable, and it fit without her having to check the mirror all the time to see if she looked fat. And two of her patients had noticed and relaxed into talking about sports before telling her why they were there.
Looking down at the white sweater she was wearing, she knew it made her look fat, but everything did today. Because she was fat. Her middle was finally bigger than her hips, not really a great accomplishment. But an achievement just the same. The one plus side of getting fat was that her breasts no longer fit into her bra. They were huge. Sadly, nobody was enjoying them, though Amanda looked at them every once in a while.
Fat. Of course, she knew she wasn’t fat. But when she miscarried the baby, she would be left with the fat the pregnancy had brought. So, calling it fat now would help her later.
Taking off the nice sweater, she slid on a Landstad Tigers sweatshirt—not so bad in the bulky sweatshirt. And it had a tummy pocket to put her phone in. Adding orange leggings to match, she decided she was ready. No effort this year for the holiday, it looked like. Her mom would comment.
It was close to 10:00 a.m. when she pulled into her parents’ yard. Like every year, she had needed to get to the dinner early to help her mom. Walking into the house, it already smelled of the meal ahead. Following voices to the back of the house, she found her mom and two sisters already mixing ingredients.
“Hello,” she said to everyone in the room.
“Mandy is here,” Her little sister Kit said unnecessarily.
Everyone had turned to see her already.
“Mandyishere,” Amanda emphasized the is.
“I thought you would be here a little later.” Her mom, Dolly, rushed over to her and kissed her cheek. “I figured you and Hue would ride together since you live right there.”
“I didn’t know Hue was coming.” Amanda had no idea. Actually, she had been hoping for a reprieve from her thoughts about what-ever-happened the other night when she had thought he was going to kiss her. She could have sworn he was going to kiss her. But she knew better, she was Amanda.
“His mom went to Jill’s again this year, so I had Math invite him,” her mom said, rushing back to the pot she had been stirring.
“Well, that’s good. Being alone on a holiday is awful,” Amanda said, and her sisters agreed. But it had been exactly how she had wanted to spend this one. Alone.
“Mandy, Mom doesn’t need us all. Come sit down,” Kit said from the table she was sitting at.
Her sister was right, there were too many cooks in the kitchen, and it was hot in there already. Sitting by her sister, she asked, “How is it going?”
A year ago, they had been close, but now they barely spoke. Mostly because Amanda had moved away from the town they both had lived in. And partly because she wasn’t talking to many people these days.
“Good.” Her sister smiled a little too wide. It had been a long time since her sister had been good. Her first husband had died when their three boys were little in a car accident—Kit had been barely twenty. Then her second husband had turned into a jerk and left her for another woman when Kit was a few months pregnant and was in her final year of college. So, she was a single mother with five kids in total at thirty.
“Any particular reason things are good?” Amanda smiled at her. She knew the signs that Kit was in love.
“Just kind of met someone. Maybe this could work out,” Kit whispered, so their mother didn’t hear. Their mother was always overly interested in her kids’ love lives.
“Congrats. I won’t ask too much. But now I want to.” Amanda glanced at their mom, who was suddenly looking their way. Like she knew the sisters were sharing a secret.
Kit let out a laugh. Her little sister was definitely happy. Maybe at Christmas, she would bring the mystery man around. That would leave just her without a significant other for the holiday.
Of course, the thought of Christmas stopped Amanda. By Christmas, she would no longer be pregnant. By Christmas, her life would be back to normal, or at least a new normal.