Page 95 of Floored

I pulled out my phone and sent two messages. The first asking for a phone number. The second asking for some time.

27

LIA

With a very dramatic arm movement, I whipped back the dressing room curtain.

I turned to the side, then the other. "Well?"

Claire grimaced.

"Oh, come on," I groaned. "That bad?"

"You just look a little bit like ... like Nana's old kitchen wallpaper puked all over you."

I glanced down at the dress. The purple and blue flowers on a cream background had seemed so cute on the hanger, and then she had to go and say something like that.

"Shit."

She winced. "Sorry."

"I'm so sick of trying on dresses, Claire," I whined. The comfy chair in the corner of the dressing room held my weight when I sank back into it, sticking my legs out to rest on the poufy ottoman in front of it. Maternity dressing rooms were the shit.

"Hey, we can stop. You'll just have to show up to your shower naked."

I rolled my eyes.

She started ticking off options on her judgy little, non-pregnant fingers. "The blue option was cute. It was comfortable, the color looked really good on you, and most importantly, it was machine washable."

"Only you would list that as the most important feature."

"How happy are you going to be when you stain it and have to bring your pregnant ass to the dry cleaner?"

"Wellllll, since I'll probably only wear this dress once ..."

"What about the next time you're pregnant?"

My gaze zipped to hers. "Holy shit, I never even thought about that. I might have another kid someday."

"People do it all the time," she answered gravely.

"And my kids might be like, ten years apart for all I know."

"They might be."

My eyes widened. "And I have to keep stuff for those ten years, don't I?"

Claire held her hands out in a magnanimous gesture. "You are welcome."

"I thought I was doing so good at thinking ahead too."

She walked into the dressing room and lifted my feet so she could sit on the ottoman, then lowered my feet into her lap. "You are. You looked at that apartment for a second time last week. That's really good, Lee."

"I liked it," I told her. "It had so much light, and the bedrooms were big. Only ten minutes from Logan and Paige's too."

Claire smiled. "So why the hesitation? You said that Little Cabbage was moving like crazy while you were in there."

"Is it so weird that all I can imagine is a Cabbage Patch Doll now?"

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