"The baby?" His eyes widened. "The baby!"
He yanked his phone out, looked down at it, and then whooped. Then he grabbed Molly in a hug and swung her around. "I'm going to be a daddy today!"
Before he hobbled off on his sprained ankle, leaving us calling out congratulations and the Segway still on the floor, surrounded by stuffed bears, he turned to his boss.
"And I quit! I told you I didn't want to ride that thing. We're moving to Arkansas to live with Janey's family."
Molly gave the manager a long, steady stare when he blustered.
We left the mall with free Cinnabon, free stuffed bears for Shelley, and gift certificates for $100 each. Sometimes I think Molly missed her calling and should have been a lawyer like her parents.
By the time we got back to my place, still laughing, my face was throbbing.
"You'd better get ice on that before Jack sees it and goes all scary tiger on the mall," Molly said, grinning, as she helped me haul packages into the house.
"He's getting better," I protested. "Darryl tried to shove me, and Jack only warned him."
"It's a wonder he's not a suspect," Molly said.
I blushed. "Well. He was here all night, so I guess I'm his alibi."
Molly ran out to her car and returned with a large box wrapped in pink, sparkly paper and ribbons and a small box wrapped just like it.
"Okay, this big one is for Shelley's birthday. It's a guitar and a promise of lessons from me. Never too early to learn."
"That's so sweet!" I hugged my wonderful best friend. "And the small one?"
A wicked smile spread across her face. "That's for Jack. It's a bag of catnip."
I was still laughing, watching her drive away, when Jack texted me.
Got some bad news.
I called, and he told me about Rooster.
"That's not bad news. That's great! If—"
"Wait."
Then he told me about Phin and Judd.
It felt like the Segway smashing into me all over again.
* * *
Jack and I arrived at Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby's house at the same time, which was fun, because the place was all decorated for the double-duty birthday party he knew nothing about.
I climbed out of my car and threw my hands into the air. "Surprise!"
He stepped out of his truck, staring at the balloons taped to theHappy Birthday Jack and Shelleysign on the front door.
"I—what?"
"It's a birthday party for you and Shelley! Well, Shelley isn't surprised, since she helped plan it, but we kept it a secret from you, didn't we?"
From the gobsmacked look on his face, we totally had.
"I don't understand. It's Shelley's birthday. She's a kid. I'm not—"
