“Is everything okay? Why are you crying?” I whispered in her ear, not wanting to share that question with the others.
“Hormones,” she whispered back, but it sounded like a rehearsed excuse. I let her go and patted Lucas’s back.
“Congratulations.”
“Thanks. We’re still getting used to the idea.”
“Do Mom and Dad know?” I asked. Clementine’s face turned red. We were getting to the juicy part.
“Dad is cool. You know.” Of course I knew. Clementine was his favorite child. She could get away with anything. “Mom not so much.”
“Why?” Hannah jumped in the conversation. “I thought Sylvia liked you?” She turned to Lucas. “Did you do something to piss her off, Cole?”
“Hey,” he lifted his hands up in the air as if to surrender. “I did everything by the book. I proposed to that one ages ago.”
“Yeah,” I shot Clem a look. “What’s up with that? If you don’t want to marry him, just dump him. Who spends two years engaged?”
No one laughed at that one. Tough crowd.
“A lot of people have long engagements. Anyway. Mom is freaking out. She can’t stomach the fact that her youngest is pregnant without being married first.”
That sounded like my mother. She gave Clem and Lucas a hard time, I was sure of that.
“We are trying to organize…something. But it’s hard. It’s so last minute. It’s almost August and my belly isn’t getting smaller.” Clem paused and squinted, looking at something behind my back. “Umm, Hannah? I have only seen one picture, but isn’t that Nick over there?”
We all turned our heads at the same time. Hannah stood up with a smile on her face. I didn’t pay much attention to the arrival of the boyfriend, though. We were finally getting to the important part of the conversation, and I was eager to finish it.
I glanced at them just when that Nick guy planted a quick and dispassionate kiss on Hannah’s lips in the appropriate-for-this-type-of-establishment way.
Lucas and Clem stood up to introduce themselves. I didn’t. I wasn’t here because of that happy couple.
Nick was of the well-mannered type and extended his hand to me. I took it, a little annoyed. Why did Clem need all these people here? I got Lucas’s presence, but the other two could have been left out of this dinner. I opened my mouth to remind my sister of our unfinished conversation, but Lucas cut me off.
“Nick, you’re a doctor, right? Can I ask you a question? We are having a baby and we have some concerns.”
I hated men who used we statements. It was bad enough women used them.
“Oh, congratulations. I’m a cardiac surgeon, so not exactly the right person for your question, but go ahead.”
Nick had that fake facial expression all doctors had while talking to a highly skittish patient. The one that made you feel he really sympathized with you, while he actually thought you were wasting his time with stupid questions.
And come on, but…a cardiac surgeon? Seriously? That was so predictable of little Spencer. What was next? A three-story house in the suburbs? A bunch of kids running around on the front lawn? A Labrador chasing them, while Hannah carved pumpkins on the porch for Halloween decorations?
Although if I had to be honest, she looked like a girl who would be obsessed with Christmas. She was too cheery for Halloween.
“Is there anything food-wise that Clem should avoid?” Lucas asked. “She has a terrible morning sickness that stretches throughout the day. Her doctor told us it will pass by the end of the first trimester, but she barely eats these days.”
“How far along are you?” Nick asked.
“Ten weeks,” Clem answered. She was looking at him like he was about to save her life.
Nick started suggesting different foods to try and I looked at the time. I was supposed to meet with Patrick Hayes, the notorious Irish mobster, in an hour, and I was sitting with Boston’s most boring couple and two parents to be that seemed to have no idea what was happening to them, listening about my sister’s eating habits.
“You’ll just have to suck it up,” Nick added at the end. “If it continues in your second trimester, you should discuss it with your OB-GYN. I’m really not the right person to give you any advice. But if you ever need someone to cut your chest open, I’m your guy.”
“Nick,” Hannah smacked his shoulder with a laugh. It was a fake laugh. Not that throaty one she gave me when we were alone. “Sorry, guys. Surgeons have a weird sense of humor. You should hear them when they get together.”
Nick leaned in and kissed her cheek.
“Thank you for the reminder, sunshine,” he said and my head snapped in his direction when I heard the nickname. “I sometimes forget people don’t usually like these images inside their heads. Again, congratulations on the pregnancy. You must be thrilled.” He shot a quick look at Hannah and added. “I would have been.”
Yeah, it was definitely the kids and the Labrador situation over there.
“And terrified,” Clem squealed. Hannah and I both shot her a look, then shared one between us. It wasn’t like her to be so openly insecure. And with a total stranger. Not to mention I had literally never heard that voice coming out of her mouth in her entire life.
“What’s going on?” I whispered to Hannah, while the other three discussed other baby related things I had no interest in.
“I don’t know,” she answered under her breath.
“I have to go. Ask her and text me later.”
“Excuse me?”
“I presume you still have my number.”
Okay, that sounded bad, but Little Spencer wasn’t the hysterical type that burned personal items or deleted phone numbers in a fit of rage.
She balled her hands into fists, which only proved me right, and I got up.
“Sorry, kiddos,” I shot a quick look at Nick. “Not you. You’re probably older than me both in age and in spirit. I have to go now.”
“Where are you going?” Clem didn’t try to hide her disappointment.
Everyone was looking at me except Hannah, who was staring at her salad like she had never seen one before.
“I have to go. Take care, Clem.” I hesitated for a moment but finally added. “Spencer. It was nice seeing you again.”
I had no fucking idea why I said anything to that woman if you didn’t count my never-ending desire to make a mess of everything that is perfect. Her diligently arranged world made me want to drag her out of her comfort zone and watch her squirm.
“But we hadn’t finished our talk,” Clem’s wounded gaze clung to my face. I felt like something was pulling my insides out of my flesh, but I answered with a smile.
“I have to work, Clem. It’s Saturday. The bar is full.”
“You’re the manager. You could take a night off.”
“I’m sorry,” I kept my voice firm. I could promise to do this another time, but I wasn’t a total asshole, and I didn’t want to lie.
“Okay,” she tried to figure out what to say next. “Can I come to the bar later tonight?”
“No,” I said with a laugh. It was rude but I had to make her feel unwanted. I was playing with her childhood trauma but what else could I do. Let her come there and introduce her to Patrick Hayes and his thugs. “Call me tomorrow, okay? We could grab a coffee or something.”