Page 57 of This Memory
Gavin pointed to Aurora. “And to think you were my favorite in this little group.”
“Excuse me?” Harper and I both said at the same time.
“Wait,” Cadie said. “What’s Bingley’s Bitch?”
“It’s nothing,” Gavin said quickly, before anyone could explain.
Aurora leaned over the table and said, “I’ll tell you later.”
Gavin sighed and shook his head. “We need to just keep doing what we’re doing. If someone asks if you’re pregnant, just give them a smile.”
“That’s it, just smile?” I asked.
“That’s a great idea,” Cadie said. “Silence will just make it awkward, and they won’t ask again.”
Aurora added, “Unless it’s your aunt Judith. That woman is vile. Sorry, Bry.”
I held up my hands. “Don’t apologize to me. Even my mother thinks her sister is vile.”
Aurora frowned. “The way she treats Hope really bothers me.”
“HowisHope?” Gavin asked.
Aurora’s mouth turned down. “I haven’t been by in a couple weeks. I think maybe I was spending too much time with Winnie, trying to help out, and it started botheringHope. She sort of…went off on me the other day. The last thing Ieverwant to do is upset her, with everything she’s going through.”
“What did she say?”
Aurora’s cheeks turned red. “It was time for Winnie’s bath, and I’d just stopped by with some food my mother had made for them. I offered to bathe her…and Hope snapped at me and said I needed to remember which one of us was Winnie’s mother. I apologized, and I haven’t been back since.”
I reached for her hand and squeezed it. “I’m sure she didn’t mean it, Aurora. Maybe Hope was just tired.”
She nodded. “But now I don’t know how she’s doing. I could stop by The Muddled Moose and ask Liam, but he’s so busy when he gets a few hours to go there, he doesn’t have time to chat.”
“When I spoke with Nathan, he told me they were going to be taking a bit of a longer break between her treatments. To give her a break, I guess.”
“Really?” Harper asked. “Can you do that? Stop the treatment?”
Gavin shrugged. “I think they’re just delaying the next round. Nathan said they’ll be doing scans soon, and depending on what they see, go from there. Hopefully the treatments have been working.”
Aurora leaned forward, looking around me at Gavin. “When did he tell you this?”
“Just a little bit ago. I saw him at the Moose Village Café, when I met Evelyn and Denny for lunch.”
Sitting back in her chair, Aurora smiled. “Well, that’s good news, at least.”
“It is,” Cadie and Harper said at the same time.
Turning to Gavin, I asked, “Did you stop by just to tell me about your talk with Evelyn and Denny?”
“I did, and you mentioned wanting to go shopping for maternity stuff at Sugar and Spice Boutique. I thought I’d tag along, in case you wanted to go anywhere else. Figured I could drive.”
I smiled and had to fight the urge to kiss him.
Harper laughed. “Um, as sweet as that is, and I love the new friendship thing you two have going on, but don’t you think the two of you buying maternity clothes together would spark even more rumors?”
Gavin and I exchanged a look. “She’s right.”
He exhaled. “Well, we could drive to Lake Placid if you want.”
