Walsh got home while she was finishing up with her lesson notes. Emmie heard the bike go past the barn and move up toward the house and frowned to herself, as she jotted in her student journal. Up ‘til now, she hadn’t unloaded on him about the whole Aidan/Sam situation. But after seeing Sam’s devastated face today, she was tired of biting her tongue.
She finished up, closed the office door, shut out the lights – paused a moment to reflect that not so long ago she would have then headed up to the loft apartment to spend the night alone – and started toward the house.
Walsh was in the foyer when she walked in, sorting through the day’s mail at the side table. Her greeting was: “I still can’t believe you didn’t warn me about Tonya and Aidan.”
He glanced up slowly, gave her that mild eyebrow lift she sometimes found sexy…or infuriating. “Wasn’t my business.”
“Oh, bullshit.” He started toward the kitchen, and she followed. “Tonya’s moving her horse to another barn because of it. That’smybusiness, which makes you obliged to share. And we won’t even mention how humiliated I was when I single-handedly broke the news to Samantha.”
“Think you just mentioned it, love,” he said over his shoulder as they kept walking.
“I told you she was bringing her sister out,” she continued, growing angrier. “You didn’t think a baby was worth mentioning?”
“A baby!” Bea exclaimed as they entered the kitchen.
Oh damn.
Bea pressed her hands to her face, eyes wide with shock and delight. “You’re having a baby?”
“No, Mum,” Walsh said. “We’re not.”
“I’m sorry,” Emmie added when she saw her mother-in-law’s crestfallen expression. “We’re talking about friends.”
“Oh,” Bea said, a wealth of heartbreak in that one word. “I was hoping…” She heaved a deep breath and almost sounded tearful. “I want you two to have a baby…”
Walsh put an arm around her trembling shoulders. “I know, Mum, but you want it to be because we want it, yeah? Not just have a baby to have it.”
Across the island from them, Emmie felt like she’d been shoved. She hadn’t been coy about having children. She’d just turned thirty, and she knew all the medical statistics, knew that if you’d never had a child before, it was imperative that you not wait too long.
She blinked. “Yes,” she said, voice dull, “we wouldn’t want to screw around and accidently get pregnant.”
Walsh glanced toward her…
But she was already leaving the room.
~*~
“What do you want for dinner?” Sam asked as she put the Caprice in park at the curb in front of Leroy’s. “The equestrian gets to pick.”
Erin had helmet hair, and for once in her life didn’t seem to care that she didn’t look her best. She fiddled with her seatbelt. “I want…bacon pasta,” she decreed, chin held at a lofty angle. “With extra parm.”
“But of course, your highness.”
They climbed out of the car rolling their eyes at one another, but feeling sisterly. Sam was still a little shocked by Erin’s visit the other night, the way her little sister, Queen of Bad Decisions, had been so clear-headed about Aidan and the situation with Tonya.
Seeing Emmie today had been good, too. Sam didn’t want to hide and hope it all went away. She had to live her life; she had to push Aidan aside and carry on.
“Go find some crescent rolls,” Sam told Erin when they got inside the store. “I’ll find the pasta and cheese.”And wine, she added silently.
She ought to call Aidan, she decided. They ought to sit down, eat, drink, lay everything out. Because even if she hated what had happened…she could never hate him. She wouldn’t allow herself to fall back into bed with him. No. That would only feed his irresponsibility. But they could be friends. They could…
“Hi, Sam.”
She started, turning around with a jolt as she heard her name. This time she didn’t have to grope for the name of the man standing beside her in the alcohol aisle – she’d seen him recently, after all.
“Greg. Hi.”
He was dressed in jeans and a dark sweatshirt, and held a bottle of whiskey in one hand. His smile was wide, but didn’t touch his eyes. “How are you?” he asked.
