Diner Girl(32)
Chapter Eight
With Mark around, Jennifer had no worries. He doted on her, taking care of every need before she knew she had it. He was caring, tender, and sensitive; he drove her to doctor’s appointments, even insisted on paying for them. In another life she might feel guilty about the lack of effort she’d had to put into existing over the final weeks of her pregnancy, but after scrambling for everything the first eight months, she decided to just enjoy the attentiveness.
As her due date grew near, Jennifer felt overwhelmed with emotion. Her thoughts centered on the upcoming birth, but also on Mark’s presence in her life. And how this had changed everything.
She wouldn’t have to say goodbye to her child. Of all the things to be thankful for, that was the most important.
Some things hadn’t changed. He still worked. A lot. But he’d cut his hours back so he could spend more time with her, especially in the past week. Her belly dropped, her Braxton-Hicks contractions grew stronger, and the inevitable seemed even more so than it had only a few weeks ago. She would be having the baby. Very soon.
When he couldn’t be there, Sally, Rebecca or Ruth came to stay with her. Today Sally was coming, and Jennifer couldn’t wait. She missed her friend. She missed the diner and Albert with his exuberant, “Waiting for baby.” She missed the customers, the peeling wallpaper, the dead TV, even Mr. Thompson.
“Hey, kiddo,” Sally said, walking into Jennifer’s bedroom. “How are you feeling?”
Jennifer had not heard the door and cried at the sight of her friend. “Sally!”
“Oh, hon.” Sally pulled her into a hug. “What’s wrong?”
Ninny, she thought. She just couldn’t seem to help the weeping these days. Laughing/crying, she said, “Nothing’s wrong. I’ve just missed you! I hate these pregnancy hormones.”
The punctuated way she said the last remark made Sally laugh.
“So you’re crying in happiness at my being here? I just can’t imagine what’s gonna happen when I show you the toenail polish I brought.”
Happiness lifted the corners of Jennifer’s mouth. “I don’t know, Sal. I might lose it completely! Wow, I missed you. Let me see!”
Sally pulled out a shade of shocking purple, a shade that did not exist in the natural world. Jennifer was impressed. “I love it!”
“Okay, so give me a foot and dish it...tell me what’s been going on.”
Jennifer wiggled her toes as she worked her foot into her friend’s lap. They’d been doing the same thing for most of the months of her pregnancy, especially now that Jennifer could no longer reach her own toes. “Sally, he’s being so wonderful.”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“Right.”
“But?”
“Well, I just don’t think it’s me he’s being wonderful for.” Jennifer felt remorse even as she said it. “That sounds horrible.”
“You think it’s all about the baby for him?”
“Yes.”
“So you’ve got a hunk of a doctor bowing down to you, and you’re jealous of the baby?”
Jennifer cringed. “Okay, it sounds even worse when you say it. Let’s just say I’m feeling like if it weren’t for the baby, things wouldn’t be moving this way.” She paused. “I mean, besides the fact that you brought him to the diner and all. I feel like if we just met up again somewhere else, I’m not sure he’d feel much for me.”
“Would you like things to move slower?”
She held her breath as Sally blew on her now wet toenails. That part always tickled. “I don’t know, I just feel so much for him right now, and I’m not sure how much of that is baby hormone or how much is how I really feel. I wish I knew for sure how he felt about me.”
“You think you love him?”
Jennifer didn’t answer.
“You could ask him.”
“No, I couldn’t. How would he answer? I mean, what would he say? He’s too polite. So, he’d lie, and years from now we would be stuck in a miserable relationship because he’s noble.”
Sally shook her head. “Give me your other foot.” She started painting again and sat quietly, seemingly deep in thought. “You know, you’ve come a long way since Mitch.”
Jennifer’s whole body shuddered. “I hate even thinking about that man.”
Unfortunately, she’d been thinking about Mitch a lot lately. About how he took her in and then used her.
“You’re thinking about him right now, aren’t you?” Sally’s voice sounded almost accusatory.
“I’ve thought about him a lot.”