Rainy Day Friends Read online

  “As long as you didn’t kill it,” Cora said. “Spiders are our friends.”

  “Mom, are you kidding me? I murdered the shit out of that spider. Right now I’m just waiting to make sure he didn’t call out the cavalry before I took him down.”

  Cora didn’t so much as blink at this. She just shook her head, a small, indulgent smile on her lips. She clearly loved her daughter very much, and suddenly River knew why she was so drawn to Cora.

  She reminded River of her own beloved mom. But because that was a slippery slope, she shut it down and smiled at everyone Cora introduced her to, until they came to a big L-shaped desk in the back corner, holding two impressive-looking printers, a big-screen computer, and a bunch of other equipment.

  “River,” Cora said, “this is Lanie. She’s our resident graphic artist.”

  River froze, but Lanie stood up and reached out a hand for River to shake. “Nice to meet you.”

  River still couldn’t move, and then Cora’s smile started to fade, so she galvanized herself into recovery. With a forced smile, she took Lanie’s hand. “Sorry,” she murmured. “Pregnancy brain.”

  Lanie nodded but didn’t smile. Not as friendly as Cora, not even close, River realized.

  Cora’s cell rang on her hip and she looked at it with a frown. “I’m sorry, I have to take this. Lanie, River has offered to start right now. Can you take her back to the front desk at reception and wait with her until I send someone down with the forms she needs to fill out for employment? River, honey, after you fill out the forms and give them to Lanie, I’ll have someone get your things into your cottage.”

  “Oh, no,” River said quickly. “I can do that myself—”

  “I’m sure you could, but what kind of a human being would I be if I let a pregnant woman do such a thing?” She smiled. “Besides, I have a misbehaving employee I want to torture. Don’t make things too easy on him, you hear me?”

  River had no choice but to nod. Still, there was no way she was going to let that happen. She didn’t want anyone to know her humiliating truth, that not only was she alone and pregnant, but that she’d also screwed things up so much that she was living out of her car.

  On the walk to the reception area, Lanie remained reserved but pointed out the staff room and where to put her things.

  “So you’re new too?” River asked.

  Lanie looked at her. “Yes, how did you know?”

  Shit. You’re an idiot. “Uh . . . Cora mentioned it just now.”

  “No, she didn’t,” Lanie said and looked like she might’ve said something else, but two little girls came running down the hall and threw themselves at Lanie.

  “Lanie!” one of them cried happily. “Look, we’ve got our own lip gloss now!” In unison, they pulled lip glosses from the pockets of their matching jeans. “Just like yours, only they’re clear because Daddy said we can’t wear color until we’re forty or until he’s too old to chase us, whichever comes first.”

  Lanie softened and smiled. “Nice. So where are you two really supposed to be right now?”

  One of them grinned a toothless, guileless grin.

  The other bit her lower lip. “Um . . .”

  Lanie turned to a huge whiteboard schedule and ran her finger down the “twins” column. “Looks like you’re supposedly with Grandma.” She pulled her cell phone from a pocket. “Cora, did your phone call have to do with missing product? Say, a pair of three-feet-high missing product? Yep . . . uh-huh. Okay, I’ll tell them . . . Sure thing.” Lanie disconnected and crouched down to face both the little girls. “Your grandma says you have three minutes to get your ‘cute little tushies’ back into her office before she reports you missing to the sheriff, and the word is that the sheriff’s this close to reducing your bedtime for bad behavior.”

  This caused twin squeaks of alarm, and then the two girls vanished hand in hand down the hall.

  Lanie shook her head, but she was also still smiling a little bit, looking suddenly very human as she led River to the front desk without another word.

  “You don’t have to wait with me,” River said when Lanie just stood by, looking at her watch.

  “You don’t know this yet,” Lanie said, “but Cora’s the sweetest, kindest tyrant you’ll ever meet. She asked me to wait with you. I’m going to wait with you.”

  River nodded.

  Lanie gestured to the chair. “You really should sit. Do you want some water or anything?”

  “No, thank you,” River said, feeling guilt settle onto her chest just as sure as her baby was tap-dancing on her bladder. Guilt and . . . confusion. Because for months now, Lanie had been the devil incarnate in River’s eyes. But now she was wavering on that belief. Lanie was quiet and reserved and . . . human. And so much more accomplished at life than River could ever hope to be.

  “So how did you know I was new?” Lanie asked.

  And smart, River added with an inner wince. “You just seemed new.”

  Lanie studied her and then thankfully let it go without another word.

  And not a minute later, someone came by with the forms and Lanie vanished.

  The next three hours were a whirlwind.

  River filled out the forms, answered the phone when it rang, and met more Capriottis. At some point, she went to the bathroom and came back to find a pregnancy book on her desk with a little bow wrapped around it. She hugged the book close and silently thanked her anonymous benefactor.

  At five on the dot, a guy showed up. Twentysomething, he was dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, boots, and a backward baseball cap. He pulled off his dark sunglasses and gave her a nod, his face unreadable. “Ready?”

  Her heart stopped. Had she done something wrong and he was escorting her out? “For . . . ?”

  “Cora said to move you into cottage number five.”

  When she let out a whoosh of relieved air, he gave her an odd look that she ignored. “Thanks,” she said. “But I’ve got it.”

  “Boss lady says otherwise. And as she’s still pissed at me, she also said after I was done doing that, I should ask you what else you needed and do that too.”

  “I don’t need anything from you,” River said.

  “She said you’d say that.”

  Startled, she met his gaze, which was calm and steady, not matching his words at all. Neither did his tone. In fact, he seemed . . . amused?

  Which made no sense. “Shouldn’t you be feeling bad about getting in trouble with the boss instead of laughing at me?” she asked.

  “I’m laughing because you’re as stubborn as she said you’d be.”

  “Maybe I just don’t want to deal with a troublemaker.” Or in other words, anyone of the male persuasion.

  He shrugged. “That’s probably a smart plan,” he said.

  Unable to help herself, she asked, “What did you do to make Cora mad?”

  “Fell off a wild horse and got a concussion.”

  She gasped. “And that was your fault?”

  “One hundred percent. There’re wild horses grazing the land and we’re supposed to protect them, not touch them. And we’re certainly not supposed to ride them. They can be dangerous.” He gave a wry smile and tapped a finger to his temple.

  “I see,” she said, though she didn’t see at all. “I appreciate that she offered your assistance, but really I’m fine.”

  “She was pretty sure you’d say that too,” he said and turned to look out the window. “The rusted blue Camry, right?” Without waiting for a response, he moved to the door.

  “Wait!” she cried and struggled to stand up. It took her a second and once she was up, his eyes widened at the sight of her belly and he held up a hand.

  “Oh Christ,” he said, his calm definitely shaken now. “Sit back down!”

  “I’m pregnant, not helpless.” But damn, she was dizzy from getting up too fast.

  He came around and got ahold of her. “Whoa,” he said. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  �€