Page 21 of Wicked Little Secret

Chapter Six

Olivia

A blast of chilly autumn air greeted her when she opened the door for the delivery driver. The Halloween skeleton hanging from her door rattled in the wind.

“I have five boxes on the truck,” he said as he eyed her visibly pregnant belly. “I can bring them as far as your entryway.”

It was the baby furniture she’d ordered. There was no way she was going to be able to drag the boxes upstairs by herself.

“Can you put them in the garage?” She had an empty stall she could keep them in until Evan came over and put things together.

“Even better, that way I won’t trip over your decorations,” he quipped as he glanced down at the uncarved pumpkins on her porch.

After the driver left, Olivia surveyed the cardboard boxes with a sigh. She was a strong, independent woman, and she hated having to ask other people for help.

Some leaves blew in the garage with a gust of wind, so she clicked the garage door button closed before she went inside. She had at least another six weeks to worry about the furniture; she’d deal with it later. Right now, she was going to look for the lawn service flyer that had been on her windshield when she’d left the grocery store.

Just one more thing she couldn’t do herself.

**

She’d ended up working on Halloween and missed the trick-or-treaters. It was probably for the best—the last thing she needed was to spike her blood sugar by sneaking candy that was supposed to be for the little witches and goblins. And she inevitably would. Her cravings had been out of control lately.

She’d had a pity party meltdown the night before when she had a specific craving for a Popeye’s chicken sandwich and her food delivery driver brought the wrong thing. It had been late, and she hadn’t wanted to go out, so when she opened the delivery app and smugly placed her order, she’d felt pretty proud of herself.

“I don’t need a partner. I have a smart phone and a credit card.”

Then when she pulled out a sandwich she hadn’t ordered and fries instead of mashed potatoes, she broke down crying. She couldn’t even get the delivery driver—someone she was paying—to take care of her.

Her life was pathetic.

Evan had gotten hot and heavy with Steven’s little sister and had been blowing off putting the baby furniture together. Her financial planner never seemed to be in the office when she called about being able to afford taking unpaid time off once the baby came, and the temp agency she and Rose were working with to find her replacement doctor was being vague about the candidates.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, it was starting to stress her out. Olivia needed to have all her ducks in a row, all the time. This baby was going to be here before she knew it, and she wanted everything shored upnow.

The only person who’d come through when he said he would was the college kid taking care of her lawn.

He’d shown up on time and raked her leaves, then offered his snowplowing services, which she immediately took him up on.

“You’ll be my first customer when we get snow,” he assured her when she made a point of telling him she was due the beginning of December.

“Thanks.” One less thing for her to worry about.

**

Less than a month later, she paced the floor as she watched the weather report. Of course there’d be a blizzard on her due date.

She’d warned Evan not to go to Hope’s bed and breakfast on the Cape, but he wouldn’t listen.

“Mercedes is a German car, it’s built to handle the snow. I’ll be able to get back with no problem if you go into labor.”

Olivia looked out the living room window to see the snow starting to pile up on her back patio. The only vehicle that would be able to handle the accumulation they were expected to get was a snowplow.

Maybe the weather gods would be in her favor.

Early the next morning, she woke up thinking she’d peed the bed, only to quickly realize her water broke.

“Oh no,” she cried as she rushed to her bedroom window and saw the drifts of snow in her driveway.

---