“Now that we’ve got that straight, I declare the job done,” Ben announced. He passed the dog’s leash to Hunt and unplugged the vacuum. “So, tell me, how did that aerobics class go?”
Hunt blinked. Had his friend been reading his mind?
“I know I kind of backed you into it, and for once, I was actually feeling a bit guilty.” Ben searched around the end of the vacuum, trying to figure out how to push the cord back in its hole. Brute force didn’t appear to be the answer. “Did it work out okay?”
“Well, it was wet and completely embarrassing, so I hope that makes you feel even more guilty.”
“So who did they match you up with then?” Ben glanced up. “There must be some way to push the cord back in, don’t you think?”
“You knew about the whole partner bit?”
“I suppose I might as well come clean. I wasn’t sure you’d go through with it if you knew it required close personal contact with a stranger. So who was it? Some old man recovering from angioplasty?”
“No, actually it was a woman, about thirty maybe.”
Ben dropped the cord, raised his hands and stood up.
“I’m done.” He faced Hunt. “So what was she recovering from?”
Hunt frowned. “I’d say recovery is not quite the right word.”
Fred tiptoed tentatively toward the vacuum. He put his nose down by the exhaust and sniffed.
Ben frowned. “What do you mean?”
“She’s pregnant, bro.”
“Pregnant? So where’s the father?”
Fred slumped down on his belly and began gnawing on a corner of the plastic casing.
“Apparently not in the picture.” Hunt stared off, not focusing on anything in particular. “What is it about fathers and their children, anyway?”
Ben growled.
Hunt quickly explained. “No, man. You didn’t even know that Matt existed until last year. I was just commenting on the sorry state of affairs in general. I mean, you never even knew your father. Mine barely acknowledged my existence. My most vivid memory of him is not his face, but this big black Cadillac driving away. When he died while I was still young, I realized I didn’t miss my father, but that shiny limousine was another matter.”
“If it will make you feel any better, I’ll buy you a set of whitewalls on eBay,” Ben said.
Hunt smiled. “Spoken like a true friend and, I must admit, a good father.”
“Tell that to Matt.”
“No, Matt knows you’ll always be there for him,” Hunt said. The way you were always there for me through cancer, Hunt could have said, but being a guy, he didn’t. When it came down to it, he really wasn’t New Agey after all, just his stiff-upper-lip mother’s son.
“So what’s with this woman’s husband then? How come he’s not there doing squat thrusts or jumping jacks or whatever it is you do in the shallow end?”
“Some of us have already chosen to do underwater jogging in the deep end with floaties.”
“Floaties?”
“A technical term. I’ll enlighten you later,” Hunt said.
“Anyway, as to the lady in question, my partner—” the term sounded strange but surprisingly not unwelcome “—from what she said, I’m not sure if there was ever one on the scene.”
Ben whistled. “An unwed mother, huh?”
“Single parent is the politically correct term these days,” Hunt corrected.
Fred turned his head and mouthed furiously on a button along the bottom edge by the left rear wheel.
“There didn’t have to be a guy, you know. It could have been a sperm bank donor,” Ben suggested hypothetically.
“Who knows? She made it pretty clear she wasn’t into men,” Hunt replied.
“She’s gay?” Ben asked.
“She didn’t say that, and I didn’t ask.”
Fred bit down, and the cord suddenly sprang into action, retracting on command. It snaked in quickly and the plug smacked Fred in the butt. The dog seemed stunned, then gave a delayed bark.
Ben shook his head. “How do you like that? We’re actually stupider than that dumb dog of yours. Forget your average female.” He made a face back at Hunt. “So, was she okay to look at?”
Hunt watched Fred lick his fur. He exhaled. “To tell you the truth, it wouldn’t have mattered if she were only attracted to hedgehogs. And the fact that she’s pregnant? Weird maybe, but so not a problem. It just made her all the more womanly. In fact, everything about her turned me on.”
CHAPTER SIX
AFTER SARAH’S SPEEDY RECOVERY, the three pedicures, and, luckily, no further dramas, Julie drove them all to Katarina’s. She pulled into the driveway, and Katarina glanced over her shoulder to the backseat of the Honda CR-V. “She’s asleep. Is that a bad sign?”
Julie turned off the engine. “I think it’s perfectly normal for a woman in her thirtieth week of pregnancy to fall asleep at the end of a long day. It’s other things that have me concerned,” she said in a low voice. She glanced behind, then pointed outside, out of earshot.
Katarina nodded and, wincing as she opened the door as quietly as possible, tiptoed out. They huddled together by the driver’s-side headlight, their backs to the car.
Katarina began, “I thought you said that dizziness happened occasionally when you’re pregnant, especially if the mom-to-be is overheated or hasn’t eaten in a while.”
Julie shook her head. “I know what I said. That Sarah was sitting down, allowing the blood to collect in her lower limbs, and when she stood up, not enough blood returned to her heart and her blood pressure dropped, causing her to faint. That part’s simple.”
“Are you worried about something else?”
“She comes in every two weeks at this stage, but I’d like to see her sooner. I don’t think it’s something more serious, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
“So there’s no need to worry then, right?”
“Wrong. There’s every chance in the world that her fainting could happen again.”
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