Page 63 of Live Like There's No Tomorrow
“It wasn’t as weird as I expected. She seems really nice.”
“She must be, after all, Ben took an interest in her.”
“She seems like our kind of person. It seems a shame to me that she’s being left out in the cold.” Holly looked shocked. “If she wasn’t, you would be.”
Charlotte laughed. “I don’t mean by Ben. I mean by everyone else. We have such a great group of friends, it seems wrong to me that only she or I can be part of it. Surely there’s room for both of us?”
“I’d say that would be up to Ben. I know a few of the others weren’t keen on her, purely because she wasn’t you. But now you and Ben are back together, and you’re okay with her, I don’t see why anyone else would have a problem with her.”
Charlotte thought about that. How comfortable would she be hanging out with Angel in the future? How comfortable would Ben be with that? She looked up at Holly and smiled. “I guess we’ll just have to see how it all goes.”
Holly nodded. “I guess.” She looked at her watch. “I need to get back to work.”
“And I should get over to see Emma. I’ll go over everything we talked about today and draw up some notes. I’ll email them to you tomorrow, but give me a call if you think of anything else, won’t you?”
Holly smiled. “I think we covered it all. I’m excited to get started.”
“Great, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
~ ~ ~
Ben smiled when he saw Eddie come in. “Hey, bud, how’s it going?”
Eddie smiled back at him. “I’m doing great, thanks. How about you? I’m guessing you’re doing pretty well. April and I went around to Charlotte’s place on Saturday. We were going to do the neighborly thing and invite her over. But when I saw your car there we beat a hasty retreat. I didn’t want to intrude.”
Ben tried to hide his smile, remembering what he and Charlotte had been up to in the hot tub when Eddie and April had dropped by. He could hardly say he was sorry he’d missed them. Truth be told, he was sorry they’d been there. If it weren’t for that interruption, he was pretty sure that he and Charlotte would be back together in no uncertain terms by now.
Eddie seemed to interpret his silence as an indication that he should change the subject. “Anyway, I thought Chase and Kenzie would be here by now.”
“She’s not due into work for another fifteen minutes yet.”
“I know, but we said … Here they come now.”
“Hey, guys,” said Kenzie with a smile. “Sorry we’re a bit late, Ed. It’s my fault.”
“No problem.”
Ben’s phone rang in his pocket and he fished it out, hoping it might be Charlie. He smiled when he saw Emma’s name come up on the display. He hadn’t spoken to her for a few days.
“Hey, Mouse. How’s it going?”
“The baby’s coming, Ben! It’s coming, and you still haven’t said you’ll be the godfather.”
Ben shook his head. “Of course I will, Em. You know I will. You’ve still got a little while yet though, haven’t you? When’s your due date again?”
“No, you don’t understand, Ben.” She sounded strange, as though she was breathing heavily. “The baby is comingnow.As in right now, like we-are-on-our-way-to-the-hospital kind of now.”
“Oh my God, Em! What the hell are you doing calling me? Don’t you have more important things to think about right now?”
Emma laughed. “No, I don’t.” Jack’s driving. “I’m just sitting here with my mind racing through all the things I haven’t done yet.” She laughed again, sounding a little hysterical this time. “I think I’m just trying to focus on anything other than what’s about to happen. So humor me, would you?”
Ben laughed. “Of course I will. Can I do anything? Do you want me to call anyone? Can we come over to the hospital?”
Kenzie’s eyes widened when she heard that. “Is she okay? Is the baby on the way?”
Ben nodded, a big grin on his face. He was so happy for Emma and Jack. And there was no way he was going to allow his mind to wander away from their happiness and toward his own pain.
“I’d love it if you want to come to the hospital.” Emma gave a nervous laugh. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take me though. You might have to wait around a while if you come now. Don’t worry about calling people though, I had to call you first, but after you I’m going to call around everyone. That should keep my mind off it for a while, right?”
