Page 45 of His Best Friend's Baby

“Mama.” Ben patted her leg and handed her his train and one slimy raisin as consolation. “’Ere you go.” He smiled as if he’d known all along what she’d been going through and she swooped him up in her arms.

“Thank you, buddy.” She pressed big wet kisses to his neck and he wiggled and squealed. “But you know what Mama really needs?”

He shook his head and shrugged with the beautiful exaggeration of a two-year-old.

“Mama needs chocolate, Benny boy. Lots and lots of chocolate.”

She put Ben down on the ground and he ran over to the black pad that controlled the automatic door. He jumped on it with both feet causing the door to open and clapped his hands at the small consistent miracles in his world. She followed her son, pushing the repaired stroller into the air-conditioned store.

It wasn’t just chocolate she needed. She needed the heavy-duty, the sugar and fat equivalent to being hugged by her mother. She needed a brownie with walnuts and about an inch of chocolate frosting.

“This way, bud,” she called out to her son, who’d been distracted by the cereal display, and they took off for the bakery counter.

She got a brownie for her and a small peanut butter cookie for her son, just so he wouldn’t beg for bites of her treat, and joined the express line.

A pretty brunette stood in front of her, buying milk and a big bag of oranges.

“Hi, Rita,” she said to the cashier with a merry smile.

“Good morning, Rachel.”

“What’s new?”

“No, Ben,” Julia said, stopping her son from putting all the candy bars in the display on the floor, while Rita told Rachel all about her niece’s third birthday.

“How are things at the high school?” Rita asked.

“Busy.” Rachel smiled. “I thought I was run ragged working for the county, but being a guidance counselor is keeping me on my toes.”

Julia knew she shouldn’t listen in, but there was something in the easy back and forth of the conversation that lulled her in.

Imagine living in a town where even the cashier at the grocery store was your friend.

She got chills just thinking about it.

Maybe her mom was right. She could create what she wanted out of what she’d been given. She was in New Springs, for better or worse, and it was time to make the most of it. Create her own support system.

“How’s your brother this morning?” Rita asked, with a sympathetic wince.

Rachel paused as she pulled out the cash from her billfold. “You heard about the fight?”

“Clara came in early to buy doughnuts and told me how Mike McGuire and his friends put him in the hospital last night.”

“He’s not in the hospital, Mac took him home.”

Rita clucked her tongue and took Rachel’s hand.

“Poor guy, he’s had a tough go of it.”

Rachel laughed and Julia wondered if she should go to the other express aisle…this one was pretty slow.

“You must be just about the only person in town who thinks that,” Rachel said with a laugh that was slightly more acidic.

“I never thought he was as bad as this town thought he was. He and Mitch were allowed to run wild was all. Jesse just needed a firm hand. All that old gossip…” Rita kept talking but Julia no longer registered the words.

Jesse had been in a fight last night.

Her ears burned and her heart fell to her stomach.

“Mac and I are trying to get him to stay, at least for a while,” Rachel said and Julia guessed this was Jesse’s long lost sister.

“Good luck, sweetheart.”

Finally, Rachel walked away with her bags and Julia put two bucks on the conveyor belt for their treats, grabbed her son and the stroller and didn’t wait for her change.

“Excuse me,” she cried, through the slowly closing mechanical doors. But Rachel did not slow down.

“Excuse me,” she yelled louder, racing through the door. Ben ran beside her, laughing, but still the woman’s long strides didn’t stop.

“Hey!” Julia screamed. “Rachel! Please stop!”

The woman finally whirled, strands of hair caught in her eyelashes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were yelling for me.”

“Hello.” Julia halted in front of the woman. Ben banged into the back of her legs. “Hi, I just—” She heaved a big breath, feeling scattered with worry about Jesse. “Is your brother Jesse Filmore?”

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