No, it wasn’t my mother apologizing for being a bitch. It wasChris.
We talked for a while. But not about Noah or Josh or my new black-sheep status. Instead he told me about his last flying job and about the crazy old man he and his co-pilot had to rescue in theoutback.
“I swear to God it’s true,” Chris said as I giggled. “We show up and the guy is dancing around bare-arse naked, claiming he’s getting in touch with mother earth and doesn’t needrescuing.”
I glanced up and spotted Josh striding toward me, his forehead a worried frown. “Josh is here now,” I told Chris. Josh had texted while I was talking to my brother and I’d told him where Iwas.
Did he know about what happened with mymum?
No—I didn’t wish to spoil his fun. I’d told him I needed to talk to Chris for a fewminutes.
But one look at me and he realized something waswrong.
Chris and I ended our call as Josh sat next to me on thebench.
“What’s going on?” heasked.
I was about to reassure him that everything was okay—but my hormones decided they werebored.
So instead of smiling reassuringly at him…I burst intotears.
Have you ever attempted a conversation whilesobbing?
It was darn near impossible. All I could do was nod while my words sounded like a foreign language no one elseknew.
In the end, Josh enveloped me in his arms and let me cry on hisshoulder.
Before I managed to flood the place, the sobbing eventually slowed to a hiccup, and I told Josh about the phone call with mymum.
“I’m sorry,” I said, pulling away. “I didn’t mean to take you away from your teammates and then cry all overyou.”
“Hey, that’s okay, Hot Stuff. And no matter what you might think, you’re not alone. You’ve got me and your brothers. And you’ve got Trent, Kelsey, and Erin. You’ve got a lot of people who care aboutyou.”
I sniffed and nodded. “Iknow.”
Besides, my parents hadn’t been there for me for years. Why mess withtradition?
“You ready to go back to your apartment?” Joshasked.
“Definitely.”
Before I terrified some poor little kid—because red hair, makeup, and heavy crying equaled one scary lookingclown.
21
Holly
Iwas officiallytwenty-eight weeks pregnant—and in my third and finaltrimester.
Gome!
So far things were going great. My sex drive hadn’t changed. I was still a sexed-up maniac. Josh just had to look at me and I was ready to jump hisbones.
The man was a real trooper. Not once did hecomplain.
I exited my car in the mall parking lot as a text came through on my phone. I still had a few minutes before meeting up with Kelsey and Erin for lunch andshopping.
Josh:How’s the sexiest momma arounddoing?
