Page 131 of Until I Find You

She snorts. “Yeah, let me use my master’s in marine biology to make coffee.”

“You wouldn’t be the first,” I say. “Besides, I meant we could find you a job on the back end. The business end.”

Abigail sighs. “There’s a reason I didn’t go to business school, Camilla.”

Abigail is only a year or two younger than me, but we are worlds apart in life experience. She’s been in school for years now. I’ve been in the job force. Not to mention, my priorities are totally different with the baby coming in three months.

Three months. How did time move so fast?

She takes a bite of her sugary fried dough. “Anyways, I just want to get through my hooding ceremony and–” She’s distracted by something behind me. “Here comes your man.”

I turn around to find Jack walking toward us. I smile. And he doesn’t.

Something’s wrong.

“Hey,” I say as he approaches.

“Sorry, Abigail, I need her,” Jack says and doesn’t wait for a response, just grabs my hand and leads me back toward the bar.

“Is something wrong with the equipment? Did someone quit? Are we out of coffee?” Each of my questions almost interrupting the one before it.

Jack shakes his head. “No, it’s–everything is fine with the shop.”

We duck into the back room behind the bar for the employees. Jack shuts the door behind us and grabs me by the shoulders.

“Jack, you’re scaring me.”

He swallows and says nothing.

“If this is a weird like…quickie thing…” I go on, trying to smile.

“No, Camilla, I’m–” He exhales and closes his eyes. “I’m just trying to figure out the right way to say this.”

I place my hands on my stomach. Our baby is flitting around like crazy. They’ve started responding to my emotions. When I’m feeling out of sorts, so are they. “Jack, just tell me.”

“Okay, okay.” He takes a moment, then locks eyes with me. “Your mom is here.”

I furrow my brow. “They just went back to the–”

“Yourbirthmom.”

I don’t move a muscle for a long time. Don’t even know what thought to think. “What?”

“She’s in the manager’s office.”

“Jack,what?Did you–”

“No, she just showed up, Camilla. I don’t know how she–”

Jack stops to rub my arms. “She just walked up and asked about you and–” A smile breaks out across his face. “You look just like her.”

I step back from him. I need space to figure out how to process this. “Oh my god.”

“Baby girl, breathe.”

I press my hand to my chest and rub it, trying to steady my racing heart. “She’s here? In the office?”

“That’s where I put her in case you wanted to talk to her.”

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