Page 2 of Dear Ripley

She giggled. “Well, something’s dropping, but it’s not an album.”

I scrunched my nose in distaste. “That’s how you’re referring to your child and birthing them?”

She laughed again. “Hey, I’ve waited a long time for this. Now that it’s happening, I can refer to it however I want.”

I sucked in a deep breath. She really had, and it hadn’t been an easy road. “You’re sure this one’s…” I trailed off, not knowing how to ask. I didn’t want to even think it, but after the last few, it was a reality she’d lived too many times and one I knew haunted every one of her attempts.

She took a steadying breath. “Yeah. Fourteen weeks along, everything’s looking good and safe. Baby’s growing correctly, they’re in a good position, being all healthy and everything.”

Tears streamed down my face. I’d never been so happy for anyone before. Of course, my best friend had never been pregnant after multiple miscarriages and confident this one was going to be okay before. “Oh my god, Harlow. You did it. You’re going to have a baby. You’re going to be amom. I’m so, so unbelievably happy for you.”

I heard her crack, tears of joy mixed with the sadness of her many losses, all the ways she was already a mom without any of the parts people expected from mothers.Life-changingdidn’t even begin to describe this moment.

“I did it, Alicia,” she whispered. “I actually did it. I’m having a baby.”

Something about her tone told me that, despite having had quite a few weeks to get used to the news, it really hadn’t sunk in, she hadn’t allowed herself to truly hope this was the time it stuck, the time she really was going to come home with a baby—an innocent, precious child who would one day call her ‘Mommy’. And I couldn’t blame her. I’d held onto hope for her, even with each time she showed up on my doorstep, needing to be away from her house, away from her life, away from the horrid reality of having lost another child, but here she was, really doing it.

“You really did.” Tears were streaming down my face in earnest. Honestly, you’d think I was the one who’d just found out she was becoming a parent, but that was love, wasn’t it? When you loved someone so completely—no matter what kind of love it was—you felt every part of life with them. You cheered the loudest when they were down, and cried the hardest when all of their dreams were finally coming true. Twenty years of friendship had solidified Harlow as the kind of friend who was family, and whom I loved with all my heart.

We took a moment to simply be there, reveling in the moment and crying together, before Harlow cleared her throat and sniffled. I could see her righting herself in my mind. “Which brings us to my next bit of news and an important ask.”

I wiped my face, doing my best to swallow the well of emotion. “Ah. Yes?” I asked, with no idea what other important news she could have today.

For a minute, she hummed and shifted around, inducing more and more concern, the longer it went on. Finally, she said, “I’m moving back to Jackson Point. And I need you to come with me.”

My mind went blank. “Harlow, I love you and I’m ecstatic for you, but I’m not moving…”

She laughed. “No, not permanently. I just need help moving back and having a baby shower.”

Well, that was a little better. Still, I really didn’t go back there…

She gulped a breath. “I know you don’t—that you haven’t—” She cleared her throat awkwardly. “You know, since… Well, you know.”

“Yes, I do know,” I said, stiffer than before.

“But this is for me and your future nibling and it’s just a little visit. And, you know, it’s good to practice now, because are you really never going to visit us? I don’t think so.”

“Do I need to visit you when you’re constantly showing up at my apartment unannounced?” I asked, shorter than I intended to be, but I couldn’t fight the way every muscle in my body was pushing back against the notion that I’d go back to Jackson Point. I’d gotten out of there and specifically promised myself I was never going back.

“Alicia,” she pleaded. “That’s different. That’s now, before I have a baby. I’m not going to be able to do that with a kid. And I want you to see them growing up. I need you to be part of both our lives. Please?”

I groaned, sinking down in my seat, unbothered by anyone seeing me going from crying to petulant. I usually avoided shows of emotion like this in public, but I wasn’t going to see any of them ever again. What did it matter if they saw me having a minor meltdown in an airport?

There was no way to refuse. I wanted to be there for her. She was my best friend. I wanted to be there for the baby. I wanted to be a good aunt to them. There was no way to do that while staying away from their home.

Why was she going back there? As if I didn’t know. And that just made it worse. I knew exactly why she was going back, why she needed to go back. I wasn’t going to be the jerk messing that up for her.

“Fine,” I sighed heavily. “I’m in.”

She squealed excitedly again. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. You’re not going to regret this.”

“Oh, I guarantee I am.”

Harlow simply laughed at me. “Okay, well, I’m going to start planning when I can move then. I’ll send you all the details. I love you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” And she was gone.

I’d complain about the fact that she was just assuming I’d take time off on her schedule to help her move, but we both knew I’d do that whether she asked or assumed. If she’d gotten me to agree to go back to Jackson Point, there wasn’t really anything I wouldn’t do for her. And she knew it.

I jumped out of my skin as Gabe, the one person I did know in this terminal, dropped into the seat beside me and asked, “You okay there?”

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