Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

As the very last days of March crept upon them, winter finally started to break in Whale Harbor. Darla sucked in a deep lungful of air. There was something so perfect about the weather just before it finally turned warm, she thought with satisfaction. It was crisp and cool in a way that you knew wouldn’t turn around and blast you with snow when you were least expecting it.

Scout was enjoying the first bloom of spring too. She paused to sniff at just about every spring of green that was poking its way free from the earth, but Darla didn’t mind. She, much like her puppy, had nowhere else to be but enjoying the morning air.

From the pocket of her jacket, her phone buzzed.

MONICA: SEND HELP. STILL PREGNANT.

MONICA: Did you know that only about five percent of women give birth on their due dates? My doctor dropped that one on me at this week’s appointment. I asked, “So I could have an April baby?” and she said “Oh, yeah, definitely,” like it wasn’t a big deal. Like I haven’t been preparing for a March baby all along!

MONICA: Anyway, it’s my due date today, and I’m clearly spiraling. How are you?

Darla let out a chuckle, although not one devoid of sympathy. Marty had confided that each day felt like a week at the end of one’s pregnancy… and she hadn’t even made it as far as her due date. Monica had been getting increasingly antsy for a while now, and Darla suspected the trend would continue until Baby Watson made his or her appearance.

DARLA: Okay, but consider this: each day is more likely than the one that came before it, just because the baby will definitely arrive eventually!

MONICA: I was a librarian, so this math sounds right, but I can’t confirm it. I’m going to just agree though, because I want to believe in what you’re saying.

Darla laughed again at her friend’s message and shot off a response that promised to pay a visit later. Then she typed out another quick text, adding…

DARLA: Unless you go into labor, of course!

MONICA: Fingers crossed! Not that I don’t want to hang out with you, but when you put it like that, I REALLY hope I don’t see you this afternoon.

Darla sent back several emojis of crossed fingers before slipping her phone into her pocket.

“Okay, Scout,” she said to her dog as they rounded the last corner in the sidewalk back to their house. “Let’s pick up the pace a little bit, huh?”

Scout continued to leisurely sniff at a patch of grass, although she did eventually give in when Darla used her firm I’m serious voice.

Good practice for parenthood , Darla thought to herself with a glimmer of excitement. It was still too soon for answers, but recently her nerves had decreased, and her feeling of anticipation and possibility had grown.

Her thoughts returned to the present as she saw Emily’s car pull into her driveway. With a frown, she glanced again at her phone. It was barely eight o’clock in the morning. What a strange time to be returning home. Even stranger, she noticed as Emily got out of her car, her friend looked like she was dressed for work, not for a Saturday morning.

Tugging Scout’s leash lightly, Darla moved toward her neighbor. Once the puppy saw Emily, she was eager to come alone. Scout knew by now that Emily was good for some ear scratches and head pats, which was Scout’s favorite currency.

“Hey!” Darla called, raising a hand in greeting. Emily’s head jerked up. Darla had clearly surprised her. She walked toward her neighbor and Scout, however, a slightly sheepish smile on her face.

“Hey, good morning,” she said. “Hey, Scout,” she added, when the dog sniffed at her hand with interest.

“How have you been?” Darla asked. “I feel like I haven’t seen you around in ages.”

Emily winced. “Yeah, so, I might have been hiding a little bit.” She bit her lip, then looked at Darla hesitantly. “Okay, it’s kind of a long story, so if you don’t have time, it can wait.”

Darla looked pointedly at where Scout was meticulously sniffing every inch of a tree root.

“We’ve got time,” she confirmed dryly.

Emily huffed out a slightly nervous sounding laugh. “Yeah, okay. So, before I moved to Whale Harbor, I owned this business…”

She proceeded to tell Darla about her past success in business, her partner’s treachery, and the resulting anxiety she’d felt, both about her place in the world and her ability to accurately judge the intentions of others.

“Moving here was probably because I was running away,” Emily admitted. “But now I’m glad I did. Whale Harbor is something else.”

Darla shook her head, shocked at the story. “Okay, well, first off, I am so sorry. Ooh, if I ever see that old partner of yours, I’m going to give her a piece of my mind.” Now it was Darla’s turn to wince. “Okay, I just sounded like my Grandma Abby right there. But the point is, your former friend sounds like she was just awful, and I do not blame you at all for being shaken up about it. Honestly, I’m flattered you let me stick my nosy self into your business after an experience like that. I probably seemed nuts to you!”

Emily’s grin was relaxed, and Darla noted that her friend seemed a lot calmer after making this confession.

“No,” she corrected. “You seemed nice. You are nice!”

“But wait,” Darla said, putting the details together. “That doesn’t explain why I haven’t seen you recently, does it? Did something else happen?”

“Oh, right, yes. I forgot where we started with all this.” Emily chuckled. “So, when I took your sister’s present to the hospital for you, I talked to this doctor, and she sounded like maybe she was going to put the pieces of my identity together.” She made a self-deprecating face. “Ignore the parts of this where I sound like I think I’m a spy.”

“I love it,” Darla assured her. “Adds dramatic flair. Keep going!”

“Well, the next bit is super un-spy-like, although it is dramatic. I thought she was going to recognize me and I… totally freaked out, if we’re being honest about it. Went full hermit, hiding in my house for the last few weeks.”

Thinking of her friend’s loneliness made Darla’s heart tug. “Oh, sweetheart,” she said, reaching out to squeeze Emily’s arm.

“I probably could have been super dramatic about it for way longer,” Emily said, “but last night as I was leaving work, I ran into Xavier.”

“Okay,” Darla said, grinning. “This sounds like we’re getting to the good part.”

“He kind of… Well, I don’t want to say forced, because he was really nice about it, but he strongly encouraged me to tell him about my whole rationale behind running away like I was on fire.”

“This is better than TV,” Darla said.

“So I tell him my whole sordid tale, right? And guess what?”

“What?” The word was barely more than a gasp. Emily was good at telling stories.

“He already knew!”

“He what?”

Emily laughed. “Yes, that was my reaction exactly. He was so casual like, ‘yeah, I saw it in a newspaper, I figured you’d tell me when you were ready.’”

“Unbelievable,” Darla said, shaking her head.

“And then,” Emily went on, really enjoying her dramatic flourishes, encouraged by her friend’s excitement. “We had dinner together. And dessert. And then we chatted on his couch and by the time we looked up, whoops! It was morning.”

“Whoo!” Darla let out such an excited cheer that it startled Scout. “Sorry, sweetheart,” she told the dog, who went quickly back to sniffing the ground. “But oh my gosh! I am so happy for you, Emily! That’s so romantic! I am beside myself.”

Emily’s happy smile said that she too was struck by the romantic gesture.

“Will you think I’m a total dork if I gush?” she asked, laughing. “It was amazing. It was just amazing! I’ve never had a first date… or, well, a second date, actually, like that in my whole life.”

Darla grinned knowingly. “It’s not dorky at all. In fact…” She gave Emily an exaggerated wink. “That’s the kind of thing that tells you it might be the last first-slash-second date of your life.”

Emily nudged Darla’s shoulder playfully. “Oh my goodness, let’s not get totally away with ourselves,” she chided.

The blush on her cheeks, however, suggested that she might be thinking along the same lines as her neighbor.

Emily stifled a yawn, her long night catching up with her.

“Let me let you go so you can get some rest,” Darla said. “But before I do, I just wanted to say, I’m so happy you moved in next door. Whale Harbor is a pretty special place, but I remember that special-ness feeling a touch overwhelming when I first moved back from New York. I spent those first few weeks convinced I was going to turn right back around. But I’m so glad I decided to stay, and I think you will be too.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to see that,” Emily said absently, looking out over the first blooms of spring with an absent smile.

“But,” Darla added, summoning Scout to her side, “if you ever need anyone to talk to about all the things you miss from the city, I’m right next door.”

“Oh, man, could I ever go for a bodega breakfast sandwich right about now,” Emily joked.

Darla put a hand to her stomach. “Oh, stop, you’re going to make me get so hungry.”

The two women laughed, then chatted for just a moment or two longer before they each headed inside their respective houses, pausing briefly to give a final wave goodbye before heading inside.

Scout darted around Darla’s legs, yipping in excitement, as they headed into the kitchen. The puppy knew that after their morning walk came breakfast time, and after the extra patience required while Darla had spoken to Emily, Scout was even hungrier than normal.

“You’re a good puppy, huh, Scout?” Darla asked fondly as she headed for the container that held Scout’s kibble. “So patient and good, aren’t you?”

Scout nudged Darla’s hand, although whether it was agreement with the human’s words or an encouragement to serve breakfast more quickly, Darla wasn’t sure.

She and Rick had learned quickly that Scout was an absolute genius when it came to breaking and entering, so long as the thing she was breaking into was her food container. The only thing that successfully kept the puppy from stealing extra food each day was a complicated, pet-proof latch that kept even the scent of the food inside.

This meant that when Darla opened the container, the smell of the kibble came out in a waft.

Normally, this wouldn’t have bothered her in the least. The smell of dog food didn’t make her starving, like it did to Scout, but she found it to be generally an inoffensive smell.

Not today, however.

Today, the moment that the scent hit her nose, her stomach lurched in that telltale way.

Darla dropped the food scoop and bolted for the bathroom, making it just in time before she lost the contents of her stomach. Scout, in an impressive show of loyalty, abandoned the unsupervised food container to check on her mother.

“Hey, Dar, are you okay? I heard a clatter.” Rick’s voice came closer as he trailed through the kitchen and into the downstairs bathroom.

When he poked his head inside, she could see he was wearing the kind of warm clothing required for a tour out on the water. Though the overall season was getting much more pleasant in terms of temperature, mornings out on the ocean were still brisk and cold.

Darla stood, flushed away the sick, and quickly crossed to the sink to rinse out her mouth. When she faced her husband, her cheeks were damp, but she was grinning.

“I threw up,” she told him happily. This normally wouldn’t be cause for celebration, but…

“Do you really think you’re--?” He cut himself off, like he was afraid speaking their hopes out loud might jinx them.

“Pregnant?” she filled in for him. “I mean, I don’t know for sure, of course, but maybe?”

He reached out and pulled her into a hug before jerking back, in a classic “nervous possible dad” kind of move.

“Wait, maybe I shouldn’t squeeze you.”

“That’s not how it works, silly,” she said, reaching out to wrap her arms around him and hold him close. “I’ll take a test in a few days, since that was when I was planning to do it anyway, but this feels like a good sign.”

“It really does,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I hate that I have to run right now.”

A rustling sound revealed that Scout, apparently reassured of Darla’s safety, had returned to her open food container to scrounge… which meant that Darla had to move quickly too.

“Head to work,” she told him. “I’ll see you when you get home.”

“I love you, sweetheart,” he said. Then he grinned in the direction of her stomach. “And if you’re in there, little pea, I love you too.”

Darla spent the rest of the morning grinning so hard it made her cheeks hurt.