“You have an excuse to buy a whole new wardrobe! Of course I’m here.”
“You just think it’s fun because it’s not your pants that won’t button. And don’t change the subject. Are you really okay?”
“Of course. It wasn’t a big deal to begin with, so no sense in crying over spilled milk.” Her throat tightened around the words, but she tried to make herself feel them, tried to make herself forget that her eyes were bloodshot and her throat was hoarse from crying for forty-eight hours straight. God, she was such a liar.
And Cat was having none of it. “Dani. It’s okay if you’re upset. I’m upset. He came over to see Josh yesterday and I couldn’t even look at him.”
Dani’s shoulders fell. “Look, thanks for the second-hand anger, Cat. I really do appreciate it. But Dylan wasn’t going to change and I learned that pretty early on. I should be relieved.” That was her mantra and she was sticking to it. Even if she had to cry it into her pillow for a little while longer.
She opened the door to the baby store and tugged on Cat’s arm. “Now please, let’s stop talking about Dylan because this is much more fun.”
“Okay,” Cat relented.
“Oh my God. Look at this!” Dani lifted a pair of grey knit booties the size of her palm and squealed. “How do they even make them this small?”
Cat took them from her and her eyes started to mist.
“Don’t cry. But definitely buy these.”
“Okay.” She tossed them in her shopping basket. “But we’re supposed to be looking at maternity clothes. I can’t buy all the baby stuff yet.”
Dani ignored her, plucking a little pink tutu off of a hanger. “When are you going to find out the sex?”
“We’re not, actually.”
Dani scrunched her nose. “What? How will you plan?”
“Thank you!” Cat exclaimed. “You get it! It was Josh’s idea, but you know I can’t stand uncertainty.”
“You’re a saint to agree to that.”
“I’ve been kind of a brat. It’s the least I could do.”
“You’ve also been sick as a dog. You’ve earned one of those little gender reveal party things. Emma could plan the hell out of that.”
“True. But I promised. And it was a rough few months, but things are back to normal.” She looked down at her round belly. “Well, as normal as they can be.”
It seemed nothing was normal anymore. And just when Dani was starting to get used to the new version.
“Come on. Let’s find you some clothes. Maybe we can find some maternity lingerie.” She winked and watched Cat’s cheeks flush pink.
“Let’s start with elastic waist pants.”
An hour later, Cat had enough empire waist dresses for a full week of work and a new winter coat. She also had the grey booties Dani had picked out and two sets of footed pajamas—neutral green—with tiny ducks on them.
“Where are we eating? Any particular cravings?”
Cat shook her head and looked at her phone as they walked. “Can we stop into Josh’s office on the way? I want to show him the booties.”
Dani froze, a wave of anxiety washing over her.
“Dylan isn’t there,” Cat said. “I checked.”
Great. Now she had to call ahead before she went places. Dani supposed this was the kind of awkwardness they’d been risking when they decided to give this a go. They’d always known whatever fall out came from this would be on display for the entire group to witness and she wasn’t about to let Dylan keep her from going to certain places, seeing certain people. “Fine,” she said. “Let’s go show Josh the baby booties.”
Rideout and Pierce Architecture was on the seventh floor of a narrow row house turned office building. The other businesses on site included a social media start-up, a realtor, and a private practice psychologist that Dani considered taking a detour toward on the way up. She could stand a clinical analysis after this Dylan debacle.
Dylan and Josh’s office space in the city was barely big enough for the third desk they’d added when they hired the new guy, but they really only needed the address. They both worked from home the majority of the time. In order to expand, though, they’d wanted the downtown location on their business cards and the ability to entertain clients in a more central location. Dylan had explained the entire five-year projection to her one night over drinks. She tried not to let that memory stick while she took in the space for the first time.
Cat stepped off the elevator and Josh spotted them through the glass door, jumping up to open it for them. “Hey.” He kissed Cat on the forehead, then gave Dani a smile that dripped with guilt by association.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said, reaching up to give him a hug. He smelled vaguely of sunscreen, the way Dylan always did even under his expensive cologne, and she pulled away, angry at herself for the way her stomach tightened painfully.
“No look,” he said, his hands up in surrender. “What are you two up to?”
Cat stepped into his side, smiling up at him. “I took a long lunch to buy some new clothes,” she said. “Dani helped me.”
“I sure did. Wait until you see the lacy little maternity nighty I picked out for her.”
Cat’s eyes went wide. “Dani!”
“Dani. Hey.”
Dani spun around to see Ryan Tucci leaning in the doorway of the office across the hall. He had a stack of folders tucked under his arm, standing there in his fashionably fitted dress shirt and tie. Her belly fluttered in remembrance of their romantic date, right before Dylan had shown up to Cat’s with Cassidy and tricked her into thinking he gave a damn.
“Hey,” she said. He stepped in to hug her, his solid arms squeezing her shoulders.
“It’s good to see you again.”
“You too,” she said, hoping her face wasn’t bright red. “Do you work here?”
“I do. My office is upstairs.” He shifted the folders he was holding under his arm and took a sip of his paper to-go cup of coffee. “Can we talk?”
“Of course.” She waved Cat and Josh along and they disappeared into his office. Ryan led her to a bench beside a window looking out over the city, and she smoothed her damp palms on her jeans. “How’s city life treating you these days?”
He smiled, clearly pleased that she remembered he was new here. “I’m finally getting the hang of it, just in time for the snow.”