Page 31 of Summer With You

11

Those Crazy Pregnancy Hormones

Amber

The lights flickered, once, twice, and then on the third time, they didn’t turn back on. Initially, the kids ran around and screamed, causing both Celine and me to immediately get stressed out. The men were supposed to be here already, but of course, they weren’t. One night and two days had turned into a lot more.

They just couldn’t be kept from work. I didn’t understand it.

It took us a few minutes to find candles and then a lighter. Once we put them out, the kids calmed, especially my little Nicky who was still afraid of the dark. He clung to me like a little baby monkey, wrapping his tiny arms around my neck and burying his head in the small gap as he wept big, crocodile tears.

“Scared, Mommy,” he whispered every time I gently ran my hand down the short length of his sweaty back.

“It’s okay, baby. I’m here. Nothing is going to happen to you.” I kissed his warm head, my heart clenching with worry.

Where in the hell was Ryan?

“Daddy?” he asked, nuzzling my neck with his wet face.

“Coming, baby,” I assured him, though I was assuring myself just as much. “Daddy’s coming home to us.”

I had spoken to Ryan an hour ago on the phone. He and Ace were still two hours out at that time. Hopefully, they hadn’t hit traffic and would be here sooner.

Celine paced the living room, a hand on her belly as she watched her two kids and my twins play a game of Uno near the candlelight. Thank God her mother loved board games. Otherwise, we would be doomed.

“Do you think that I was too harsh on him, Ames?” She wondered out loud, stopping to look at me from across the room where I was nestled in one of the big armchairs that overlooked the lake. “I mean, shit, what if something happens to him?”

I understood how Celine was feeling. She and Ace had been trapped in a hurricane together years ago. She had almost drowned, not to mention the months of recovery she’d gone through after having to have surgery on her legs.

She needed Ace here, and he’d broken his word to her.

I felt Nicky’s small body go limp against mine as he fell asleep, his deep, even breaths hitting my neck. Gently moving him into a more comfortable position, I looked up at my best friend. She had been cold to Ace on the phone earlier . . . downright pissed. She had said some pretty ugly things to Ace, but she was a woman scorned, and Ace knew better, but I knew if something did happen to him, she would never forgive herself.

“Don’t think like that, especially in front of them.” I glanced at the kids, who hadn’t picked up on Celine’s tension yet. “They’ll drive through some of the outer bands, that’s for sure, but Ace will make it home to you,” I soothed. “He always has.”

She walked over to the other armchair next to me and sank into it with a deep sigh. “I told him that I hated him for picking work over us, and he might have a car accident trying to get to us now.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her head on her knees. “What have I done?” She whispered, her eyes unfocused.

I knew she wouldn’t feel better until Ace was holding her in his arms again, but I would do everything I could to help ease her anxiety.

“He hurt you, Cece. Nothing is going to happen,” I assured her. “He’ll be here in an hour, and then, you two can sort out your differences.”

“Ames, you aren’t getting it.” She lifted her head to look at me with a pained expression, and I frowned. “What if he doesn’t make it home, and I lose him over a silly fight about him working to provide this life for us?” She asked me, spreading her arms wide. “Sometimes, I’m just so selfish.” Celine could never be selfish. I knew that, and I knew Ace did, too. “I don’t know what overcame me when I said I hated him when I actually love him more than my next breath. I don’t want to live without him. I don’t want any of it without him,” she whispered, completely sincere.

“And if something does happen, what are you going to do?” I asked her. She shook her head, tears pooling in her big, blue eyes.

“I might as well die because the thought is too unbearable,” she whispered, her voice breaking. My heart broke for her.

“You need to be strong for the kids,” I reminded her. “You can’t show them this fear. Not now, when they are just as frightened as you are.” She nodded, shifting her gaze to the window. The rain was pelting against the pool and the lake, and the wind rustled the big trees, their branches swaying from the force.

“I won’t ever forgive myself,” she eventually whispered after a few minutes followed by a loud shout from the kids as their game ended.

“Play another round, and then, I’ll pull something else out from the toy chest,” I told them softly, shifting Nicky from one arm to the other as I felt it going numb. He was a small kid, but jeez, he was heavy.

The next hour passed slowly and when there was still no car in the driveway or knock on the front door, Celine went back to pacing. She had tried to call both Ace and Ryan’s phones, but they only went to voicemail, which increased my own anxiety, though I was doing my best to hold myself together for the kids and for Celine.

The kids had grown tired of Uno and now wanted food, so I gently placed a still sleeping Nicky on the couch and went to make sandwiches. I had to get my mind off of the problem. Like Celine, the thought of Ryan not walking through that fucking door gutted me.

I couldn’t do any of this without him.

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