Crossing Paths (19 page)

“Not unless you can tell me why guys say one thing and then do another.”

“Oh, June. I’m so sorry. Guys are brainless sometimes. This guy is foolish if he doesn’t want to hang on to you.”

I grab our take-out off the counter and bring it into the living room. I feel like such a hypocrite. We eat our food while listening to some funky indie music that doesn’t help her mood, and then we decide to go to bed.

“Oh, hey, I forgot to ask you,” June calls out from her bathroom. “Do you think you could go with me to a baby shower at my parents’ house tomorrow?”

“I don’t have any plans, so I don’t see why not.”

“Thanks. We need to leave around one fifteen or so. It’s supposed to start at two.”

“Sounds good. See you in the morning.”

My head hits the pillow, and the relief of sleep coming soon washes over my tired mind. Then, like a freight train, it suddenly dawns on me.
I don’t have any plans with Liam.
I haven’t talked to him since Wednesday night. Since hearing about June’s connection with my brother on Wednesday, I’ve neglected to call or text him. I wonder what he’s doing tonight or who he might be with.
Damn it.
I roll over, closing my eyes, as I pull the covers over my head. I wish my life didn’t have to be so complicated.
Weren’t things more simple just a couple weeks ago?

Saturday

Caroline and I both wake up late on Saturday morning. We’re not usually early morning risers on the weekends, but eleven thirty is pushing it a little bit. I stumble into the kitchen to the sound of Caroline groaning as she looks in the refrigerator, no doubt finding very little to eat.

“I’m glad we’re going to this baby shower today. I hope they have some real food at your parents’ house.”

“I’m sure my mom will feed you until your stomach bursts, but I can’t wait until two o’clock to eat. Is there anything edible?”

Caroline pulls out a plastic container with what appears to be unidentifiable leftover meat.
Yum.

“No, thanks. I’ll just do coffee and some of these peanut butter crackers. We can head over there early if you want.”

“Sounds good to me.”

I make coffee while Caroline opens the blinds to let in some light. She sits at the bar and opens a magazine, waiting for her coffee to be served.

Last night, I felt like Caroline was avoiding something. Every time I attempted to talk about her job or recent love interest, she would turn the conversation back around to my problems. At first, I thought she was trying to be nice because of everything going on with me right now, but now that I think about it, she didn’t give me any details about her life the entire night. Being the nosy person that I am, I can’t stand not knowing what’s going on with her.

“So, Caroline, is everything okay with your mom?”

“Yup,” she says, not looking up.

“How about the rest of your family?”

“Fine. Why do you ask?” This time, her eyes break free from the celebrity gossip, and she appears to be concerned.

“No reason. I just remembered you were worried about your mom last weekend.”

“Oh, well, I think things are okay. No one has said anything.”

“Okay.” I pour our coffee and add just the right amount of cream and sugar for both our tastes. “How about things with that guy from work? Is all that still going well?”

“No offense, but I really don’t want to talk about it. I haven’t talked to him in a few days.” Her shoulders tense as she closes the magazine, and when she picks up her coffee mug, she grips the handle tightly. Then, she walks to her room and shuts the door.

Okay, I guess I pushed some buttons there. Note to self: Don’t ask Caroline any more personal questions for the rest of the month.
At least, I figured out the likely culprit of her bad attitude.

I take my coffee to my room and get dressed. When I’m done, I find Caroline ready to go. She’s sitting on the couch, staring out the window. Something is seriously wrong with her, but I guess I won’t get any serious details until she’s ready to talk.

We get to my parents’ house around one o’clock. The front yard looks like a pink elephant threw up all her babies. Alternating pink elephants and yellow baby bottles line the sidewalk leading to the front door. A large wreath made of pink, yellow, and purple ribbons with small baby animals interspersed between bows hides the entire front door. I look over to Caroline, smiling, but I realize her normal snide self is still missing.

“You know, we don’t have to go in. We could go see a movie or go back home.”

“No, it’s alright. I’m fine. I’m sure we’ll have fun,” she says, giving me a less than halfhearted smile.

“We should at least get some good laughs.”

Opening the front door is like entering a zoo. Stuffed baby animals are lying around everywhere. A large table with a pink tablecloth sits at the back of the living room, which is already full of baby gifts. A giraffe, almost double the height of my mother, towers in the corner behind the gift table. Thankfully, no children are coming today. The giraffe alone would have scared me to tears when I was young.

I reach into my purse, feeling like a complete loser, and I place my greeting card complete with a twenty-dollar gift card on the edge of the table. I plan to announce that the gift card will be useful toward diapers and other necessities, so no one blames me for being lazy since I didn’t purchase a real gift.

“June, Caroline, you’re early.”

“We are. We thought we would sneak in and grab a bite to eat before the guests arrived.”

“How perfect. We just put out all the sandwich fixings on the kitchen island. Go help yourself.” She gives us both a quick hug, and then she and Addison begin to flitter around the living room as they fluff stuffed animals.

Caroline and I make a sandwich, and then we devour them in a matter of minutes.

Pretty soon after, people start to arrive for the shower, and we join the crowd sitting on the couches and chairs in the living room. The guest of honor, Mary, is having a baby girl in about two months, and she looks like she might be a little bloated instead of seven months along. I’m positive that every woman in the house is jealous of her genetic predisposition to perfection when it comes to carrying a baby.

All the guests ooh and aah over each item as they make Mary hold up every single piece of clothing, baby bedding, pacifier, and so on for pictures. I can only imagine how her cheeks must be burning from all the smiling, but she genuinely looks happy.

When all is said and done, the guests continue to mingle as they eat cupcakes and drink punch. I’m enjoying a red velvet cupcake when my mom stops me.

“June, can you girls come to the kitchen with me?”

“Uh, sure,” I say. I look over to Caroline and shrug my shoulders.

I begin to walk toward the kitchen, and Caroline follows suit. We enter to find Addison and Mom hugging tightly.

“Hey, Mom. Everything okay?”

“Yes. Addison has something to tell you, and I didn’t want to be rude to our guests.”

“Okay. What’s—”

Interrupting me, Addison shouts with excitement, “We’re pregnant! Noah and I are going to have a baby!”

She runs across the kitchen and embraces me in a hug so tight that I feel my spine pop under the pressure. I hug her back, of course, but I have to admit that I have mixed emotions. Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for Addison.

She and Noah have always wanted to have babies, multiple babies. I think Noah would like to own a sports team one day, and he would be happy if he could have enough boys to stock the entire team. I know Addison will be a good mother, and with our mom’s help, this child will not suffer from lack of attention.

The honest truth is that I’m dreading the nine months of nagging I’ll get from my mother.
When will you find someone to marry? Have you found your Mr. Right? Maybe you should join a club, like a bowling league.
That’s not my idea of enjoyable conversation.

“I’m so happy for you, Addie. How excited is Noah? How far along are you?” I ask, giving her a genuine smile.

“Oh, he is beyond excited. I’m only seven weeks along. He couldn’t wait to tell his family though, so we decided to tell family only. We’ll tell everyone else after twelve weeks.”

“We’ll keep your secret. Won’t we, Caroline?” I say, squeezing Addison’s hand.

“Uh-huh,” Caroline states with little enthusiasm in her voice.

When I give her a stern stare, she adds, “I’m really excited for you, Addison. You’ll be a great mom.”

“Eeeee!” Addison squeals, hugging me again. “Okay, enough about me. We better get back out there, or Mary will wonder where we all ran off to.”

Mom and Addison head back into the living room, giggling with excitement.

“That’s pretty exciting, huh?” I ask Caroline, hoping she’ll at least cheer up about a baby.

“It sure is. Do you think you’ll be ready to go soon?”

“Whenever you are. I think they’re done with everything.”

“Alright.”

Caroline walks out, and I’m left in the kitchen by myself.
Alone.
The happiness that began my week has quickly faded into something I wasn’t expecting. I haven’t heard from Cohen. My best friend is acting like she’s upset about something, but she won’t talk about it. And my sister is moving ahead with her perfect life.

Watching Addison’s excitement along with all the happiness surrounding Mary and her baby makes me realize something.
I don’t want a struggle.
The past week with Cohen was amazing, but the fact that he hasn’t contacted me is frustrating. I need to put everything that happened between us
behind me and move on.
If he calls, I’ll be all business. Besides, I don’t need anything distracting me from my work.

After saying what feels like 200 good-byes, Caroline and I head back to the apartment. She is quiet the entire way home, and I don’t push her to talk. Once we’re home, she changes into her workout clothes and then heads out the door without a word.

Saturday

With my earbuds in, I run my legs off on the treadmill. I know I’m being a complete bitch to June, but I don’t know how to deal with everything that’s going on. I haven’t seen or talked to Liam since Wednesday. I know I could call him, but I feel like he should show some interest in me. Not to mention, it’s the weekend, and he hasn’t tried to make any plans with me. I was originally planning to go to the family dinner tomorrow with June, but now, I’m wondering if my fragile brain can handle being around both June and Liam for an extended period of time.