Done, she texted back. See you at six thirty.
Bringing Ethan and Beth.
So this would be extra awkward. Which reminded her that while Adam knew about her and Nico, and Trina had pretty much guessed, Megan had not told her youngest that she and Nico had… a thing.
Great.
Bracing herself with a fresh can of Diet Coke, she called, “Hey, Cami! Can you come to the kitchen a minute?”
Cami was bouncing all over the car. “So if you’re dating Mr. Dusi, do you call him your boyfriend?” She giggled. “He’s not really a boy.”
The car smelled so much like cheese her mouth was watering. “Um, we’re just starting to… date. But if we get serious, I’d probably call him my… partner or something.”
“But isn’t he your work partner too?” Adam asked. “That could get kind of confusing.”
You’re telling me. “That is true.”
“Well, I think ‘partner’ sounds really modern,” Trina said. “Very European.”
Adam turned around. “Dude, they’re not European.”
“Do I look like a dude, Adam?” Trina’s accent got stronger. “I swear, can you sound any more like a surfer?”
“Yeah, dude, I can.” He smirked. “Righteous.”
Cami said, “I surf, and I don’t say righteous. I do say dude. Mom, when do surf lessons start again?”
“Not until next month, and that reminds me, you probably need a new wet suit.”
“You should ask Mr. Dusi where to get secondhand ones,” Trina said. “I think most of the Dusi kids pass them around.”
Megan made a face. “Don’t surfers pee in those things?”
“Ew, Mom!” Cami burst into laughter. “I don’t pee in my wet suit.”
“Guys do,” Adam said. “They all pee in their wet suits. That’s how they keep warm.”
“That’s so grooooss!” Cami yelled, almost directly in Megan’s ear. “Boys are so gross!”
“Cami, honey.” Megan covered her ear. “You’re not going to have to wear a boy’s suit anyway, so chill.”
“But they pee?”
“So do fish, goofy.” Trina tweaked Cami’s ear. “The ocean is all a bunch of fish pee.”
“And whale sperm,” Adam said. “Still want to surf?”
“Mo-om!”
“You guys.” Megan shook her head. “Don’t torment your sister.”
“But it’s so fun,” Trina said.
“And so easy.”
“You know, Henry and Toni are having their first kid,” Megan said. “Can you at least try to be civilized mini-adults?”
Adam shrugged. “Better that they know what they’re getting into.”
Chapter 24
Toni was exactly halfway through her second serving of Patti LaBelle’s famous Over the Rainbow mac and cheese when Megan realized that her friend’s contractions were not playing around. She took one look at Toni’s face, dropped her fork, walked around the table, and put an arm around her belly, which was hard as a rock and only getting tighter.
“Hey, girl.” Megan took a deep breath. “Copy me. Do that.”
Toni took a shaky breath in and a smoother one out.
“How long have they been like this?”
“All afternoon.” Toni’s voice was low and quiet. “I didn’t know if they were the real deal or the Braxton-Hicks thing.”
“I think these are the real deal.” Megan forced herself to be calm. She remembered exactly how long this was going to take. She felt Toni’s belly finally relax. “Henry, mark the time, and Toni, tell him when you get another one like that.”
Nico’s eyes were wide, as were Beth’s, Cami’s, and Trina’s.
“What’s going on?” Trina asked.
“This lady is gonna have a baby pretty soon,” Megan said. “So I need you girls to get your brothers from the basketball hoop and make sure all this food is put away and all these dishes get clean.”
“Oh my God, Auntie Toni!” Beth’s face was alight with excitement. “I’ll get the guys. Can I call Grandma Rose?”
“Not yet.” Toni looked at Henry. “When we go to the hospital, right?”
“It’s up to you,” he said. “Maybe ask the doctor how long they think it’s going to be.”
“Once Dusis show up for a baby, they won’t leave until they see the little squishy face,” Nico said. “The hospital staff dread us taking over the waiting room.”
Henry stood up and started to pace. “When should we go?”
Nico stood and joined him. “Chill out, man. It’ll probably be a while. Why don’t we take a walk? Let’s make sure the truck has gas, okay?”
“I think it does.” Henry followed Nico away from the table and toward the barn.
“Okay,” Megan said. “How far apart would you say they are?”
“Maybe ten minutes?”
“Well, that’s news to me.” Megan smiled a little. “You’ve been acting cool all night, joking with the kids and teasing me and Nico.”
“Let it never be said that Toni Dusi let an opportunity go by to give her cousin and her best friend shit.” Toni took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “There’s no getting out of this now, is there?”
“Nope.” Megan leaned over and pressed her cheek to Toni’s. “It’s both more wonderful and boring than you think. I can almost guarantee though that you’ll only remember the good stuff.”
“Pregnancy brain?”
“Major pregnancy brain.”
“Tell me what Drew said about Angela Calvo,” Toni said. “Does he think she’s a suspect?”
Well, he thinks she might have insinuated herself into my ex-husband’s life so she could target the three women who thwarted her fiancé’s attempts to steal Nico’s wine caves. Namely us. She could be after us. “He wanted to check out her movements the past few weeks, so he told us to just hang back and chill.”
“I realized the other day who she reminds me of,” Toni said. “Remember way back when we first met?”
“At the gym?”
“Yeah, the weird case with Katherine’s students?”
“What about it?”
Toni took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Another one’s coming.”
Megan looked at her watch. “Okay, so that’s seven minutes since the last one. That’s closer than what you thought.” She nudged Toni’s back. “Let’s try to walk, honey.”
“Walk?”
“Yep. It helps. Trust me.”
Toni grumbled as she hoisted herself to her feet and took one step forward. She held her stomach when it started to tense.
Megan quickly texted Katherine what was going on, then reached for Toni’s hand. “Did you know that if you hum and sing ‘Closer’ by the Chainsmokers, it’s almost exactly four minutes?”
“Oh yeah? I don’t know that song.”