Grady’s hands fell from Maren’s hair.
“Speak of the devil,” he heard her mutter under her breath, although he pretended not to.
“I need to take this.” He pointed to the phone.
Maren fluttered a hand at him. “Sure, yeah. Go ahead.” Grady figured her head was spinning just as quickly as his and the circles she began walking in the kitchen now that she was out of his arms only solidified that hunch.
“It won’t be long.”
“It’s okay, Grady.” She tried to smile but didn’t succeed. “I’ll just help myself to some soup.”
His shoulders fell and he cocked his head. His eyes scrutinized her, trying to read her. The phone continued to vibrate against the tile. “Honestly, only one second.”
“Take all the time you need, Grady. I will wait.”
He knew she was talking about the phone call, but he prayed to God she meant so much more than that.
15
Maren
The coffee was lukewarm. Not ice cold, but not hot, which made it difficult to gulp down, or even sip, for that matter. For Maren, coffee had to be one of two extremes to be enjoyed: burning hot so that it created a warmth that instantly radiated to the rest of her body, or cold in a way that refreshed and invigorated. Tepid wouldn’t do.
This coffee, it seemed, was a lot like Maren’s relationship with Grady.
She swirled the dark liquid around in the Styrofoam cup and let herself become dizzied in the circular, hypnotizing loops.
“Any news?” Leland had scurried down the hospital corridor, his feet lagging behind his upper half that leaned forward like he was walking in a windstorm. “Heard from Cutter yet?”
“Not yet.”
Maren set the coffee cup down onto the metal table next to her. A daytime courtroom show played on the television anchored to the wall, but its volume was so low she couldn’t hear it. The subtitles that scrolled on the bottom of the screen were only accurate about a third of the time and the large man next to her that smelled strongly of gasoline kept laughing and nudging her each time the words didn’t match the meaning. His laugh was a wheeze that made Maren’s lungs sting just hearing it.
As politely as she could, Maren stood from her seat and walked over to Leland, now in the doorway.
“He hasn’t been out yet,” Maren told her friend.
Leland didn’t like that answer. He scrubbed his hand along his jaw. “And you’ve asked the nurse for an update?”
“They’ve only let Grady in so far. We have to wait.”
“I’m not good at that.”
“Me neither,” she said with a shrug. Leland gathered her to his chest and his pointy chin dug into the crown of Maren’s hair.
“I have a feeling everything’s going to be okay. I just do. Kiley tends to be a little dramatic, you know? I’m sure it’s just indigestion. All that diner food can’t sit well when you’re eight months pregnant. The grease and that fried junk. That’d be enough to set her into false labor, don’t you think?”
Maren wanted to believe that to be true, she did. But the quiver in Grady’s tone when he had answered Kiley’s call made Maren think otherwise. This wasn’t heartburn. This wasn’t indigestion. This was cause for real concern and Maren was becoming increasingly worried that she hadn’t heard any news in over two hours.
So they waited.
The sky outside the window transitioned as the evening wore on, a watercolor of smeared oranges and purples and eventually blues when twilight swallowed up the day. The iridescent lights in the sterile waiting room gave Maren a headache, a squeezing grip that couldn’t be lessened by rubbing her temples. It didn’t help that she had next to nothing in her stomach. She could almost predict the growl before it rumbled, like a count down. Even if she had a buffet spread out before her with all of her favorite foods, she wouldn’t be able to eat. Worry left her sick with unease.
Up to that point, Maren hadn’t slowed down enough for reality to sink in. Kiley was pregnant with Grady’s baby. They were a family, even if their empty ring fingers didn’t legally indicate it. That precious new life would tie them together more than any gold band ever could. The formal vows were unnecessary. Grady would be forever bound to Kiley from this point forward.
All the years that Maren had spent as Grady’s best friend and neighbor didn’t matter now. The thin hope she’d kept hidden in the recesses of her heart was for nothing. There was no future left to place any hope in.
“You okay?” Leland looked up from his phone. His elbows dug into his thighs as he hunched forward in the waiting room chair. “You’re looking a little pale there, Maren.”
“Am I?” She blew out a breath and pushed her hair from her face. “I’m fine. Just worried, that’s all.”
The waiting room was quiet, save for the occasional page turn of a magazine. Leland nudged Maren’s shoulder and offered a thoughtful smile.
“I know I haven’t told you directly yet, but I’m really sorry about your dad, Maren. He was a good man.”
“Thank you, Leland. He was.”
Leland scrubbed a hand down his face and shook his head. “Bet this isn’t what you thought you’d be coming back to when you finally came home, is it?”
“I don’t think this is home anymore.”
Pulling his chin back, Leland’s voice was incredulous when he said, “You really plan on staying in San Fran forever? I mean, I just figured someday you’d grow tired of all that city stuff and come back to Riverburn for good.”
“I’ve got a place there, and a decent enough job, too. It’s been home for me for quite a few years now.”
“You got friends?”
“Yes, I have friends. Several.”
“You got family there?”
Maren felt her teeth clench. “Honestly, Leland, it doesn’t really feel like I have much family here anymore, anyway.”
“Family isn’t always blood, Maren. Take me and Cutter—he’s more of a brother to me than my own brothers have ever been.”
“Well, I don’t know that Grady thinks of me as a sister anymore.”
“Anymore?” Leland sputtered a laugh and hit his chest with his fist as he cleared his throat. “I can guarantee you that man never thought of you as a sister, Maren. A lot of things, but definitely not a sister.”
Maren ignored the deeper meaning in Leland’s words. “You think everything is okay? I mean, shouldn’t one of us try to find out how things are going—?”
At that moment, Grady burst through the waiting room doors, his frame and presence imposing in the otherwise silent space. The woman with the magazine shot him an annoyed glare, then set back to her reading.
“Braxton Hicks!”
“Not my favorite name choice, but I guess it’ll have to grow on me,” Leland answered, shrugging. He stood up and clamped a hand on Grady’s shoulder in an offer of congratulations.
“It’s not the name. They’re false contractions. Basically just Kiley’s body getting ready for the big day. Completely normal.”
“So there’s no baby yet?” Maren joined the two men in the center of the room. Black crept into her vision the moment she bounded to her feet, a blurry haze that swallowed up the entire scene like the static of an old television. Knees buckling, she lumbered forward and grabbed onto Grady before she hit the ground.