A hypnotic possibility.
Time to run as fast as her heels would allow, even if only for the twenty minutes necessary to settle Patrick. Cowardly? Not a chance.
Plain smart.
Julia tucked into the hall and found a quiet corner in an empty conference room. She plunked the diaper bag on the lengthy table and sagged into a spinning chair.
She popped open the top buttons on her jacket, loosened the nursing bra. Patrick latched on with greedy appreciation. Julia settled back with a sigh. Much-needed peace flooded over her.
Twenty minutes to regain precious ground.
The door squeaked open, Kathleen pushing through with a determined stride. Uh-oh. This was a conversation she definitely didn't want to have yet.
Put on the good face for Zach. It wasn't anyone's business, no matter how much she desperately needed someone to pour out her fears to.
Kathleen twisted open a bottle of water before passing it to Julia. "I thought maybe you might want this."
Nursing did make her incredibly thirsty, but Julia recognized the drink for what it was. A convenient excuse to check up on her. "Thanks. You're a gem to think of this."
Kathleen lowered herself into a chair, hand pressed to her back, other hand grabbing the arm rest for balance.
"You'll be able to return the favor a hundred times over since you'll be living right across the street."
"Uh-huh." Julia grasped the out offered by Kathleen's pregnancy. "You really don't have to take on the girls for us. You should be home putting your feet up."
"Watching the girls is a lot less trouble than stitching up that pilot's foot this morning.
Man, was he ever a baby about it."
Julia laughed with her stubborn, wonderful friend. "Promise me you won't overdo."
"Not a chance. Tanner has the evening all planned out." Kathleen smoothed a hand over Patrick's whispery white hair. "Sorry we can't keep the little guy overnight too, but he's still breastfeeding."
"You're already doing more than enough." Too much.
"I hope Tanner didn't overstep." She circled her hands along her stomach as the baby rolled visibly. "He can be like a Sherman tank when he locks in on an idea."
Julia couldn't halt the rogue rasp of envy for the serenity that warmed from the other woman. The contentment. The confidence that she was loved.
Pride shooed away any leanings toward confiding. "It's a beautiful, generous offer. Zach and I appreciate your thinking of us."
Kathleen's hands stilled, her eyes searching Julia's. "Just be careful. Be happy."
Julia met her eyes, no dodging. She wasn't fooling her practical buddy for a second. Julia settled for a neutral answer. "We know what we're doing." Yeah, right.
Kathleen nodded and let the subject drop. She arched her swollen body from the chair.
"I'll go see if the girls want to order in or eat out while you finish up."
Julia watched Kathleen leave, her friend's contentment lingering long after she left, taunting Julia with how things could be.
Even as she listened to another airplane roar overhead, she didn't doubt her decision to marry Zach or her resolve to put on a happy-couple face for the world. She did, however, question how the hell she would walk away without a few new bruises on her already battered heart.
Chapter 8
Zach cracked open a fortune cookie from the smorgasbord of Chinese food left by the Bennetts on his dining-room table. Popping both halves into his mouth, he read the slip of paper.
A beautiful woman has a message for you.