Page 30 of Dark Truth

The conversation drifted as the waiter brought our order.

“This Roxie friend of yours? When can I meet her?” Jessi’s eyes glittered with interest, and I wondered how curious Jessi really was.

“Why?” I asked her, just to see her reaction.

“I watched some more of her videos. She’s amazing. Maybe I’m curious about that place she works at.”

“It’s a very”—I paused and took a breath—“very interesting place. There’s a lot more that happens there, but it’s kept very quiet.”

“I imagine it would have to be.” She put her fork down, wiped her mouth, and sat back. “Places like that aren’t very common, but Trent’s taken me to a few. I just didn’t know about that one.”

“Really? Stuffy old Trent in a place like that? I don’t want to picture it … actually, never mind. Don’t tell me more.” I held a hand up to her, and we laughed together.

It felt good to laugh with her. It had been so long, but now, those months apart had melted away. We were the same friends we’d always been. I pushed my plate away, full at last, and looked over at her.

“Do you want to go shopping with me? I need to get a new dress, and while I have the sitter with the kids, I might as well get that done too.”

“Sure, I don’t have anything else planned this afternoon. Oh, Jessi? Do you want to see the pictures of the baby?” I had forgotten about the folder in my bag but took it out.

“Oh, look at that tiny little angel.” Her voice held awe, and when she looked up, I saw tears in her eyes. “I’m so happy for you. You deserve to be happy and with a family of your own, Emily.”

“Thank you.” I squeezed her hand, and we got up to leave. The bill was paid, and we went out to her car. She drove us to a shop nearby, and I was drawn to their maternity section.

Jessi came with me as I looked at all the clothes that had been made for a woman’s expanding belly. I felt stupidly happy. I’d need clothes like these soon enough, and she’d be there with me. That did my heart a lot of good.

“It’s awful how much you cry when you’re pregnant,” I whispered and ducked my head.

“It’s terrible, isn’t it? You feel like you’ve constantly sprung a leak or something.” She handed me some tissues out of her bag, and I wiped my face. “Do you want to get some of these?”

“Not yet. I think I should wait until I need them, don’t you?” I didn’t want to jinx anything and kept the rest of the sentence to myself. Now that I’d seen my baby growing in my stomach, I wanted to protect it more than ever.

“Might be a good idea. You’ve got time. Although, things will start to change other than your stomach size, you know?” She looked at me knowingly as we walked to the dress department. She began to list things off that could happen.

“I thought this process was all about glowing and blossoming? Not turning into a nightmare.” I looked at her with dread, and she looked ashamed.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just thought you should know. I thought the same thing. Roses and flowers and all that bullshit. Not always.”

“You’re right, I guess, I should know what to expect.”

“There’s a book you can get, with a similar title to that. I’d recommend it. Takes some of the surprise out of things.”

“I’ll have a look for it.” Maybe I’d get an electronic copy of it, I decided. A physical copy would be a dead giveaway, and I didn’t want that to be the way Dylan found out.

I knew the time was coming, but the longer I waited, the harder it became. I wasn’t exactly afraid of his response, but I didn’t want to shock him into another episode, or make his head explode from stress. The poor man had a lot on his plate.

Jessi found the dress she wanted, and we left soon after that. She took me back to my car, and I drove home. Dylan was downstairs, doing some paperwork. Not much had changed at home, and he had started to exercise again. We had a new gel-topped mattress, just in case he needed it, and I liked it, so we’d kept it on.

He’d had handles installed in the shower, and rails along the walls, just in case he slipped or lost his balance, but other than that, we tried to get back to normal. For now, he was improving every day, and I wanted to keep it that way.

I put down my bag and went into the kitchen.

I had started dinner and was at the island, scrolling through the book Jessi had recommended when I got a call from Roxie.

“Hey, you wanted to meet up tomorrow?”

“Yeah, if you want to. My sister-in-law wants to meet you. Only if you want to. I’m not going to force you into anything you don’t want to do.”

“Nah, it’s fine, girl. I meet people every day, remember? I’ll charm her pants off and satisfy her curiosity.”