Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“That’s a pretty man you got there.” She set the dish on the stovetop.
“Yeah, he is. He’s so excited about the baby.”
“Now you’re how far along?” Mama Jess leaned a full hip against the counter.
“I’m twenty-eight weeks,” Kerris said, rubbing her belly.
“Waddling, huh?”
“A little.”
“Using the bathroom all night.”
“Yes.”
“Ankles swelling.”
“Some.” Kerris grinned and glanced down at her semipuffy ankles. “Sounds like you know of what you speak. Did you ever have any kids?”
Mama Jess’s face clouded and her mouth turned down at both corners.
“Only fostering.” She looked at Kerris and some of the sadness passed. “Kids like you.”
Before Kerris had time to respond, Cam stepped back into the kitchen.
“I can’t wait another minute.” Cam rubbed his hands together. “Starving and ready to dig in.”
Mama Jess looked at him, and her face softened the way all girls’ did for Cam.
“Then let’s eat.”
Chapter Three
You know that Bennett boy is on TV tonight,” a customer said, leafing through a rack of sundresses Kerris had found at a Charleston yard sale.
Kerris’s hands hovered over the display of hats she was straightening. She had no idea what the customer was talking about. Kerris had heard Walsh’s name so little since the funeral, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t thought about him, because she had even when she didn’t want to.
“You want those hats from the back, too, Lil’ Bit?” Mama Jess asked from the door to the storage room, turning back at Kerris’s affirmative nod and affectionate smile.
Kerris had wasted no time persuading Meredith they needed help at Déjà Vu. Getting Mama Jess out of Walmart and away from the tyrannical Bonaparte wannabe had been easy. Mama Jess had brought new life to the shop over the last month. She’d brought new life to Kerris.
“You gonna watch?” Meredith repositioned a few scarves.
Kerris glanced up over the pile of hats with a clueless smile pasted on her mouth.
“Watch what?”
Meredith shot Kerris a knowing glance. “The Pinnacle interview.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know. Pinnacle, the TV magazine that has the ‘30 Under 30 List’ each year. Walsh made the list, and they’re airing his interview tonight.”
Mama Jess walked up to them with a small mountain of hats.
“Who’s Walsh?”
The back of Kerris’s neck tingled and sweat broke out on her palms. Mama Jess was as sharp-eyed as they came. Kerris had noticed the considering look on Mama Jess’s face every time she saw Kerris and Cam together. Mama Jess knew something was amiss in their marriage, but hadn’t asked about it…yet. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t.
Cam remained mercurial. Coming home one day cooing over her belly, kissing her sweetly, encouraging her to put her feet up and rest while he unpacked food he’d picked up on the way home. And then the next day he’d be curt, demanding, and withdrawn. It added a thin layer of anxiety over the concerns Kerris already had, but she didn’t know what to do about it. She hadn’t contacted Walsh, and he hadn’t reached out to them. He really was staying out of their lives. It was the only way this marriage could work, but Cam couldn’t seem to let that moment between Walsh and Kerris go. And if Kerris were completely honest, neither could she.
Mama Jess was still looking at Kerris, waiting for her answer.
“Walsh is just a friend of Cam’s.” Kerris took the hats from her.
“His best friend, isn’t he?” The customer who’d originally mentioned the interview inquired from across the room.
Big ears.
“He hasn’t been back to Rivermont since his mother passed, though,” another well-meaning customer chimed in.
“His mother? Who was his mother?” Mama Jess asked.
“Um, Kristeene Bennett.” Kerris started displaying the hats.
Who in Rivermont didn’t know Kristeene Bennett? The community had memorialized the woman with park benches, hospital wings, cobblestones, a new street sign, and even a sandwich that bore her name.
“Isn’t he the one who was kidnapped a while back?” Mama Jess asked.
Kerris only nodded. She didn’t want to think about Walsh, and certainly didn’t want to watch some stupid interview that screamed he had moved on and was doing just fine without her.
It was perverse. She knew that. She knew they should have no contact, and in spite of the miracle growing inside of her, in spite of her marriage being semi-intact, in spite of her thriving business and her growing passion for her river stone jewelry—she missed Walsh. So much. It was a private ache she rarely even acknowledged to herself.
“Yeah, that’s Walsh.” Meredith gave Kerris a sharp glance. “He and Cam grew up together.”
Kerris couldn’t be in this conversation a moment longer.
“Do you ladies mind if I knock off a little early?” She reached around to the small of her back, massaging a fake ache. “My back hurts and my ankles are swollen.”
Mama Jess glanced at Kerris’s slim ankles in her strappy sandals.
“Your ankles look fine to me.”