For You(215)

Then there were some who even tried to take pictures of me. Pictures of the stool pissed everyone off but we got used to it, as long as they bought a drink or two, we let it slide. When they tried to take a photo of me that was a different story. It pissed Morrie and Dad off when they tried it. It pissed Darryl off more. They pointed their camera or cell phone at me, they were shown the door, usually by Darryl. Sometimes, they were shown the door in a not very nice way, again usually by Darryl. A couple of times, it was so not nice, they called the cops. Unsurprisingly, any cop that showed up to that call arrived and they weren’t in a very good mood when they did. Not at Darryl, at tourists doing stupid shit that fucked up their day. The cops didn’t tend to spend a lot of time explaining their bad mood before they explained where the town line was and asked if the tourist wanted an escort there. The tourists usually declined their offer at an escort but took them up on the directions.

I hung up the dress, grabbed my bag, exited the dressing room and Phylenda, April, Danny and I walked to the cash register.

When I handed over my credit card, Phy asked, “You gonna let me in on your sudden need to have a fancy tight dress?”

I turned to her and didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, I figure I better wear fancy tight dresses while I got the chance, seein’ as, in a few months, I’ll be big as a house.”

Phy wasn’t one to show her emotions, she didn’t give much away. She’d learned to hold things close and not expose anything, give anyone a weapon they might use against her.

But Phy was changing. Nearly losing her man a different way and him being made into a hero by town’s talk and his own actions had a way of doing that. Darryl did what he did and he showed his true self, maybe late, but he did it. She found herself in the position of having a man who she could be proud of and her kids having that kind of father. For years, Darryl’d been working hard to show her he was that man but she couldn’t ever trust it. He put his life on the line to save mine and that was different. She wasn’t used to being able to hold her head up high but I could tell she was getting used to it and I could also tell she liked it a lot.

Therefore, when she read my meaning, her eyes went wide then they grew wet.

“You’re serious?”

“Doc told me today.”

“How far along?”

“Ten weeks.”

Phy blinked, I giggled, leaned close and whispered, “Yeah, I think it happened the first time we did it.”

She whistled and said, “Shee-it, Colt’s swimmers must be super-powered.”

I didn’t doubt that, practically everything about Colt seemed super-powered.

I signed the receipt, took the bag and we headed into the mall, making a bee-line toward Jessie’s favorite shoe shop.

“I’m scared,” I told Phy, my eyes on the kids who were wandering ahead of us aimlessly, taking in all they could around the mall, probably wondering what they could ask their Mom to buy them that she wouldn’t say no to.

“Why?” Phy asked and I looked at her.

“I’m not exactly twenty anymore.”

“Women havin’ babies later and later, seems to work for them.”

I looked back at Danny and April. “Yeah, maybe so, but doesn’t seem much works for me and Colt.”

I jumped when Phy’s arm went around my waist and I looked back to her. She wasn’t open and she wasn’t touchy either but now she was close.

“Feb, that was then and this,” she put her other hand to my belly, “is now.”

I pressed my lips together and I felt my own eyes get wet.

She smiled at me as I breathed deep.

Then she dropped her hands, shouted at her kids and we turned into the shoe shop.

* * * * *

“What’s the big to do?” Dee asked, arms crossed, eyes on me, much like Jessie and Meems (though their arms weren’t crossed), all of us scrunched into Mimi’s little office at the back of her coffee shop. “I gotta get back to the bar.”

“Jeez, Dee, you act like that bar’ll crumble to the ground, you’re not in it,” Jessie muttered and Dee swung her eyes to Jessie.

“Yeah, well, I love Darryl, we all love Darryl, we all know why we love Darryl, that don’t mean Darryl can hold down the fort without a little help,” Dee retorted, being generous with her words for, hero or not, once Darryl recovered and got back to work a couple of weeks ago, he had not, unsurprisingly, changed. “Ruthie’s on vacation, Cheryl’s not on until seven, Morrie’s at home with the kids, Jackie’s watchin’ Ned’s babies and Jack’s in the office, payin’ invoices. Not to mention, Feb’s here, actin’ weird and goin’ shoppin’ with Phy, of all people.”