California Homecoming by Casey Dawes

the mention of Paul’s name.
    Furniture would be a big hit to her bank account, but if she didn’t take the plunge she’d never be ready before the baby came. “Okay.”
    “Great!” Mandy’s voice become more excited. “Then there’s a restaurant sale in Livermore in a month! Good stuff, but older, probably in your price range — what do you think?” She turned to face Sarah.
    Sarah swallowed. “Sounds like a plan.” She broke off another piece of muffin and put it in her mouth. The texture had just the right crumble and the sweetness of the blueberry wasn’t overpowering. “These are really good,” she said.
    Mandy flashed a smile. “Thanks! They can be the first part of one of your trademark breakfasts!”
    Sarah laughed, but in the back of her mind she wondered what she was going to do about Rick. She was pretty sure Hunter would never come back again. The thought made her sad.
    “What’s up?” Mandy asked.
    Sarah shook her head. “My life is too complicated.”
    “You’re saying this before you have a baby.”
    “Yeah.” Sarah smiled. “It’s going to be a zoo around here after that happens.”
    “You’ll handle it and you’ll have plenty of help. Elizabeth and Annie will be over here daily, cooing over the baby.”
    “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
    Mandy tapped her fingers on the table. “I think what you’re really afraid of is Rick upsetting this controlled little life you had planned.”
    Bingo.
    “You’ve got a point.” Time to move on from the morning’s conversation. “Let’s make a list of the furniture I need to get.”
    “Sounds good.” Mandy poised her fingers over the keys of the tiny computer.
    Sarah began to list everything she thought she needed.
    After Mandy left an hour later, Sarah lay down on the bed she’d brought from her mother’s. It was mid-afternoon before she woke.
    The day’s weather hadn’t changed, but she put on her raincoat and went to a warehouse store to get odds and ends for the bathroom. It was after five before she was done so she stopped for takeout on the way home. By six her evening meal, a pre-made chicken pot pie, steamed on the kitchen table. Sarah was sure it was loaded with calories, but now that her stomach had settled down she was hungry all the time.
    She sat down to dig in.
    Her cell phone rang and she glanced at the read-out.
    Her mother.
    The pot pie called to her.
    Sarah decided her mother could wait and dug into the creamy vegetable and chicken mixture.
    Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell pealed.
    Her mother started talking as soon as Sarah opened the door. “I can’t believe you didn’t pick up the phone, Sarah! Down Daisy,” she said to the dog who was greeting her enthusiastically.
    Daisy sat.
    “Nice to see you, too, Mom.” Sarah shut the door and held out her hand for her mother’s coat.
    “You can’t be that mad at me, can you?” Elizabeth said as she walked to the kitchen. “I only told Rick because I thought he should know what you were doing. He
is
the baby’s father.”
    “He’s also the one who wanted me to get rid of it, remember?” Sarah automatically put the teakettle on.
    “He assured me it was just a reaction — he didn’t really mean it.”
    “You can believe that. I’m withholding judgment.”
    “But he told me you agreed to see him as long as he stayed somewhere else.” Elizabeth sat. “In fact, he said you told him to stay with me.”
    “It seemed fitting.” The low simmering anger threatened to boil over with the teakettle water.
    “Ouch. I suppose I deserved that for sticking my nose in where it didn’t belong.”
    Sarah thought of Hunter calling her Miss Nosey the night before. At least she knew where she got it. “Something like that.”
    “Okay.” Her mother’s deep breath amused Sarah. “I’m sorry.”
    Sarah pulled mugs and teabags from the cupboard, but didn’t say anything.
    “Am I forgiven?” her mother whispered.
    Sarah grabbed the kettle before it