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Why would they when they were practically kids themselves, partying and not taking life seriously?
Seeing the blue lines on the stick had been a wake-up call to Abby. Not long after she had the results and had broken the news to her mom and sisters, she called Connor to let him know. She hadn’t expected him to do anything, but it was the right thing to do.
He took it well, considering, and after the initial shock, promised to work hard and earn enough money to get back to New Jersey so they could be together when the baby was born.
A month later, Abby miscarried.
Now, all the feelings she’d worked hard to push aside were resurfacing. Would she have made a good mom? Would Connor have returned to Pelican Bay like he’d promised? Had the baby been a boy or a girl? Would they have still been together?
All questions without answers.
Rising from the bed, she went into the bathroom to shower. As usual, Abby did the only thing she could do. She pushed the feelings way down and got ready for a hard day of work.
Thirty minutes later, she sat on a stool at the worktable in the back of the shop, drinking a cup of coffee. Setting it down, she rummaged in a box of supplies. She’d been thinking a lot about what she and Nat talked about yesterday regarding giving out free soap samples. Emma and Maddy had encouraged her to do it, even promising to meet up with her and Natalie tonight to talk about the opening.
It took two trips of hunting through boxes to find what she needed to make the soap. She worked an hour straight, melting, mixing, and pouring the molds. She left them out on the counter to solidify and was cleaning up her tools when Natalie entered.
“Morning, sis,” Natalie said. “Wow, you’ve been busy.”
“The pros and cons of living above your business.”
“This is for the samples, right?”
“Yes. I think we should do it,” Abby said.
“Yay. I’ve warned Liam that if he doesn’t get his ass together and show up to Harrison’s for work, I’ll put him to work here.”
“Glad to know your parenting skill involves threatening your son and using our business as a type of community service.”
“I’m at my wit’s end with what to do with him. The kids he’s hanging with are hellbent on finding trouble.” Natalie poured herself a cup of coffee.
“Have you talked with his dad about it?”
“A little. Jake offered to have Liam move to Philly and live with him part time.”
“Seriously? You said you’d never do that because Jake could barely take care of himself,” Abby reminded her.
“He’s met someone. Told me she’s expecting, and they’re getting married in September. He got a steady job and everything.”
“Wouldn’t a new wife and kid make Jake even less likely to pay attention to his son?”
“I guess…I don’t know. You see how desperate I am?” Natalie exhaled a frustrated sigh.
Abby grabbed a towel and started drying her tools. “I think it’s time to talk to Mom. She raised us, right? And we were no picnic.”
“And look where it got her. One daughter pregnant at eighteen. Another wild and partying. No wonder Liam’s a mess with us as role models.”
“At least Livvie turned out okay,” Abby said.
Their youngest sister had recently received her degree in physical therapy and gotten her first job. Hopefully, she’d learned from her two older sisters’ mistakes.
Natalie jumped off the stool. “Enough of this depressing crap. Should we get back to painting?”
“Don’t need to. It’s done.”
“How’d you manage that?”
Abby twirled the end of her ponytail. “Connor came by yesterday afternoon and helped me finish it.”
