The Best Man's Baby (9 page)

Chapter Seven

Claire held Ella while Holly wrestled a shopping cart free of the lineup.

“Ella-Bella,” Claire whispered in a singsong voice, smiling as Ella laughed and squirmed. Holly took Ella and secured her into the top seat of the shopping cart, handing the toddler a large cookie and a sippy cup

“Okay, so I want details.
All the details
. Starting with the night of the wedding,” Holly said as the automatic doors to the grocery store swooshed opened. Claire’s stomach clenched. When Holly and Ella had descended on her in her shop this afternoon like a great mama hawk and her little bird, demanding Claire come along with them, Claire felt she had no choice. Holly knew her store was closed on Monday, so she really had no way of getting out of it. And she owed Holly an explanation and an apology. She’d been so wrapped up in her own drama she hadn’t even thought of what her best friend would think about her spectacle. And after her doctor’s appointment this morning, followed by lunch with her mother, she could really use the company of someone supportive. A part of her missed the old Holly and Claire, when they would sit around and chat and gossip. Before life had become complicated. She did owe her best friend an explanation, but
details
, while they strolled through the aisles of the produce section with a two-year-old in tow, wasn’t exactly what she’d envisioned.

“Oh, come on, you owe me,” Holly said, dropping a few mangoes into a plastic bag and then looking up at her. Ella stopped eating her cookie and watched her too. Claire started pushing the cart. She needed them to get through the produce section or Holly would never finish the interrogation. “I mean, first you stab Jake’s burger with a pregnancy test, then I almost break my neck tripping over dinner rolls on the floor of your store today. Obviously, you are having some issues.”

Claire groaned inwardly. She should have picked up those buns. “I had lunch with my mother,” she said in a low voice.

“Oh.
Oh, no.
”

“Let’s just say there were lots of carbs involved and me walking out after announcing I’m pregnant.”

“Are you okay, sweetie?”

Claire nodded. “I don’t know why I was even surprised. Nothing’s changed. She’s the same woman. It doesn’t matter, anyway.”

“Well, you never know, sometimes when there’s a baby in the picture, people change. Give her time, she might realize everything she’s going to lose if she doesn’t come around,” she said, adding some oranges to the cart.

Claire didn’t think so, but she kept her mouth shut.

“I highly doubt it.”

“Hey, never say never,” Holly said with a gentle smile. It was that same smile her friend had for her in high school whenever she’d been humiliated.

“Sure. Thanks. I’ve got to tell you, I’m so sorry about the other night. I know I ruined your barbecue. It was so rude and so selfish.”

“Uh, I know what came over you—anger! I’d be angry too. No apology necessary. Are you kidding? Jake deserved it!”

“Thanks,” Claire said, darting her eyes around the store. Holly had a tendency to speak very loud when she was animated.

“You know, Jake came by our house the morning after the burger-stabbing.”

“Can we just refer to it as the barbecue?” Claire winced.

Holly nodded vehemently. “Of course, of course.”

“So what did he say?”

“He was a wreck,” her friend said with a theatrical sigh, putting bananas into the cart.

Claire frowned. She couldn’t picture Jake being a wreck over anything.

“Uncle Zake. Big Trouble,” Ella said, nodding.

“Ella, you know everything, don’t you?”

“We have to watch everything we say,” Holly said with a laugh. “Seriously, though, he knows he hurt you.”

Claire felt her stomach turn over. She averted her eyes and looked at the display of apples, thinking of Jake the other night at her house and then this morning at the doctor’s. He wasn’t what she thought. She looked over at Holly again. Ella nodded.

“I know he feels guilty.”

“He said he proposed and you refused,” Holly whispered as a produce clerk started unloading peppers beside them. Had Jake actually told her that? “Now, call me crazy, Claire, but isn’t that what you’ve wanted your entire life?”

She swallowed hard and looked away from Holly and focused on the pineapple display in the distance. “Yes, but not like this. How would you feel if you thought Quinn was just with you out of duty? Jake feels guilty because my dad is a minister. He doesn’t love me, Holly. We haven’t even had a decent conversation since all of this happened.”

“Have you given him a chance? Or have you just been so mad at him? I mean this is
Jake
, and he’s asked you to
marry
him. Couldn’t you at least try?”

Claire shook her head and looked away from her friend into Ella’s big eyes. “I’m not shutting him out. He’s going to be a part of our child’s life. But I’ve come a long way—you know that better than anyone. It’s taken me a long time to really feel like I’m worth something, and I deserve more than to be just this woman Jake is forced to marry. You know what it was like growing up with my parents always arguing. That’s what it would be if I just bowed to the pressure.”

“I know what you’re saying, but I also know Jake. And I remember the expression on his face when he came to our house.”

“Hey, whose side are you on?”

“
Yours
, always yours,” her friend said with a fierce frown. “That is why I want to make sure you’re not going to ruin your life because you don’t give Jake a chance. And personally I think you’re self-sabotaging.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. You refuse to believe Jake could love you. You’ve got it in your head you’re still the girl that—”

“Don’t say it. Not true. I just told you I’m not marrying him because I have too much respect for the person I’ve become,” Claire said, shaking her head vehemently.

“You may project this confident woman on the outside, but I know you. I know why there haven’t been any men—it’s more than just an infatuation with Jake. And I know for a fact that Amanda groping him at the barbecue brought out all those insecurities. But what if you’re all wrong about him? What if he wants more than just the baby? What if he really wants to try to have a relationship with you? You’re not even going to give him a chance?”

Claire thought of Jake’s hand on her leg today at the doctor’s, his genuine concern for her. Claire ruffled Ella’s hair. “I am giving him a chance. We are on speaking terms now. He even came to my doctor’s appointment this morning.”

Holly lifted her brows. “Really?”

“Yup. And Dr. Hopkins mentioned the whole eating thing in front of him, just to make my life even more absurd.”

“Oh, sweetie.”

Ella patted her hand and tried to mimic her mother’s expression.

Claire took a deep breath. “And after the appointment Jake demanded I tell him everything.”

“Did you?” Holly let out an exasperated noise as another shopping cart bumped into them as people tried weaving in and out of the aisle. She shuffled the cart over to the side, butting up to a display of cantaloupes.

“No. We were standing in the street and then his cell phone rang…,” Claire said, her voice trailing off.

“Just tell him the truth. I’ve gotten to know Jake and he’s not what I expected. He’s not as superficial and indifferent as I thought he was,” Holly said.

Claire met her eyes. “I know. I can see that. I can feel it,” she whispered. That was what scared her the most.

“You’ve got to try, Claire, especially for the baby.”

She nodded. “I’m going to,” she said, trying to convince herself as well as her friend.

“So, the night of our wedding, eh?” Holly said with a mischievous laugh and completely removing the seriousness of their conversation.

Claire couldn’t help but join in. “I’m never drinking whiskey again.”

“You know I think everything happens for a reason. All of this was meant to be. You and Jake were meant to be together. And this baby was meant to be. With all this drama, I haven’t even said
congratulations
!” Holly said, throwing her arms around her. Claire felt the comfort in her friend’s hug. “Are you happy?”

Claire smiled, looking from Holly to Ella. “I don’t even think I stopped long enough to think about being happy. I just found out last week and then this week has been crazy.”

“Auntie Care, baby!” Ella yelled.

“Shhh,” Holly said to Ella. Ella grinned and held her finger to her lips.

“You are going to be a great mother,” Holly said, ruffling the soft hair on Ella’s head. “There is nothing better,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she turned from Ella to look at Claire, and then over Claire’s shoulder. Her eyes grew wide.

Claire turned around slowly to follow her gaze.

Amanda. Why was that woman always around?

“Do you think she remembers me?” Claire asked, unable to think of Amanda without thinking of humiliation.

“Honey, you stabbed a pregnancy test through Jake’s hamburger. Yeah, I think she remembers you.”

Claire gave her an irritated frown. “No, I mean, do you think she remembers me from high school?”

Holly touched her arm gently. Claire had been surprised when she’d returned from college that so many people hadn’t recognized her. Sure, she’d lost weight, but the fact that they didn’t even know who she was had been disconcerting. It had taken her a while to figure out that to many people she’d been invisible, and to others…they remembered her as the laughingstock. But when she’d come back from school, she’d exuded confidence and maturity, and many people didn’t even associate her with that girl in high school.

“No, let’s just walk away slowly. She probably won’t even see us,” Holly whispered.

She nodded but didn’t budge. “Do you think she’s changed?” Since she owned a popular store, she ended up having a lot of old high school peers purchase something at one time or another. Most had grown into nice, respectable adults, and when they realized who she was, looked embarrassed when they remembered their behavior in high school.

Holly shook her head. “No, she hasn’t changed at all.”

“You didn’t tell Jake anything about Amanda, did you?”

“Of course not! You know I would never say anything. I
may
have
questioned
him about why she was attached to him like a leech. And he seemed to catch onto something about the way I said her name or something or other.”

“Holly,” Claire moaned, clenching her hands around the shopping cart handle.

“No, no, don’t worry. I totally got out of it.”

Claire felt like a frozen ice sculpture as she watched Amanda pick up a bunch of celery. “It’s stupid, right? It’s stupid to even be affected by things that happened so long ago. I’m sure if she knew who I was, she’d be the one mortified for everything that happened in high school.”

Holly mumbled something under her breath that didn’t really sound too favorable. “Well, it was a long time ago. I get what it feels like to have a hard time burying the past, but you have to. As for Amanda, I’d still like the chance to stuff an éclair down her throat. Or maybe we could roll over her with our shopping cart.”

Claire broke out into a smile and looked at her friend. Both of them burst out laughing. “Figures she’d be buying celery. Keep walking, we’re almost at the bakery section. There’s no way she’d be headed there,” Holly said with a giggle.

Apparently Ella didn’t get the memo on being inconspicuous because she managed to wrestle a cantaloupe free of the pile, which consequently sent the entire mountain tumbling.

“Uh-oh,” Ella said. Holly’s head had dropped to her chest.

“Just move away from the pile slowly. Don’t make eye contact with anyone,” Holly whispered as Claire tried to laugh silently.

“Oh, you’re going to love being a mother,” Holly said under her breath.

…

Jake paused for a moment, his fingers gripping the cool iron door handle as he watched Claire from outside the store. He tried to picture her as a teenager, but since he was six years older he had a hard time remembering any specific details about her. They hadn’t even been in high school at the same time. He’d been caught up in his own problems at that time and Reverend Holbrook’s daughter wasn’t much on his radar. Sure, Claire and Holly had been amusing when they’d followed him and Quinn around, but that hadn’t lasted long. He’d stopped hanging around his brothers after a while, and the places he went, the trouble he got into, was way beyond anything Claire would know about. She was a perfect daughter in a perfect family. It wasn’t until she was in her twenties, and his life was back on track, that she entered his line of vision. Obviously there was more to her than he’d ever known.

It was five o’clock and her day off, but he had a feeling he’d find her here. She was behind the counter, her laptop open, and from the looks of things, was deep in concentration.

He took a deep breath, swung open the door, and walked in. At least she hadn’t locked it yet. He almost tripped over a bun.

“What the?” He looked down and noticed buns everywhere.

“Don’t trip on the rolls,” Claire called out, not looking away from her computer screen. He could see the makeup smudges from where he was standing, and he spotted the box of tissues. He had the strongest urge to protect her. He wanted to find out why she was crying, who had made her cry, and how he could find said person. Hopefully, he wasn’t the cause of her tears.

“Everything okay?” he asked, tentatively walking toward the counter, careful not to trip on a bun. He wanted to know what made Claire tick.

She didn’t look up from her computer. “Of course. Listen, I’ve been rethinking this whole thing—”

“No. No way. You can’t get rid of me,” he said, trying not to sound like a jerk. But when she raised her eyes to his, those glorious brown eyes weren’t accusing or angry. They were filled with something else and he wondered how he could have walked away from her that night. Because right now, there wasn’t anything in the world that could make him leave.

He closed the distance between them in two strides, not caring whether or not she was going to push him away. He took her hand and gently tugged her into his arms, feeling her resistance until he cradled the back of her head and she melted into him. Claire was right where she should be. He wrapped his other arm around her, feeling her softness, her warmth, and trying his best to absorb her pain.