Page 46 of His Best Friend's Baby

“Yes. What about it?” The woman’s friendly smile turned guarded.

“Is Jesse okay?” Julia’s pulse seemed as if it would pound out of her skin. “I mean, the fight—is he all right?”

“Who are you?” Rachel asked. “Not to sound rude, but it’s a small town and I know just—”

“I’m Julia. Mitch Adams’s widow.” Julia swallowed and watched the woman’s eyes go wide with surprised speculation before her reserve fell off her like old skin.

“Oh, no,” she sighed, “I’m—I’m so sorry. Mitch—”

“It’s okay.” Julia managed a smile, something lukewarm that she intended to curtail any sympathetic stories Rachel might have and feel compelled to share.

“I’m Rachel, Jesse’s sister.” Rachel shifted a bag into her other arm and held out her hand to shake. He smile was bright and welcoming. “You actually met my daughter the other day.”

“Your daughter?” Julia hadn’t met a lot of kids. Ben tugged on her hand, impatient, reminding her that a few kids would come in handy for poor Ben, who’d been spending far too much time with adults.

“Amanda. She said she met you on the street in front of Jesse’s.”

“Amanda’s your daughter?” The woman in front of her hardly looked old enough to have a sixteen-year-old daughter.

“Yep. Well, by marriage. It’s a bit of a story.”

Julia laughed. “Isn’t everything?” Rachel laughed, too, and Julia felt that sudden pull of kinship.

Wow, I really need a friend. She felt like the new kid at school again, sitting down at a table in the lunchroom filled with girls she’d die to talk to.

I’m too old to be this pathetic.

A car honked and Julia realized they were standing in the middle of the laneway.

“Mama!” Ben hollered and dragged her toward the curb.

“Oops.” Rachel moved with them.

“About what Rita said…is Jesse okay?”

“He’s pretty banged up.” Julia could tell that Rachel was putting a brave face on things, but she wasn’t fooled. “I just don’t know what he was thinking last night. My husband found him in the parking lot of a bar getting the snot beat out of him and he wasn’t even trying to defend himself.” Rachel laughed incredulously. “Jesse was in Special Ops. Mike McGuire and his friends shouldn’t have had a chance.” Her sigh trembled and she looked down at her hands for a second as if she expected them to be able to do something. “I’m just worried about his state of mind. He’s—”

“I know,” Julia cut in, worried about the same thing. “He blames himself for the accident.”

“Do you?” Rachel asked.

“No!” Julia cried, appalled at the idea. “Not at all. It was an accident and a war and Mitch…” She shook her head. “There was no way anyone could blame Jesse for what happened.”

“Except Jesse,” Rachel sighed and her lips tightened. “We’ve been trying to hang back and be patient and wait for him, but my husband has decided enough is enough and that we should just treat him like family.”

“I don’t really know what that means,” Julia said, with a rueful laugh. “How does family treat each other?”

“I’m pretty rusty myself.” Rachel smiled. “But I think we’re going to get in his face a little bit more. Amanda’s been doing it for a week and she said it was working, that Jesse was even beginning to joke around with her.”

“Your daughter is a great kid.”

“Well, she couldn’t stop talking about you. She said, and I quote, ‘she’s totally cool.’”

“That’s the best compliment I’ve gotten in a long time.”

“Mama!” Ben pulled with all his weight against her hand and she leaned toward him.

“Amanda couldn’t stop talking about your son, either.” Rachel smiled and crouched down. “Hi, Ben,” she said.

He waved, shy suddenly.

“I’m Rachel.” Rachel held out her hand and Ben stared at it suspiciously until Julia nudged him with her leg.

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