“Is Whit okay?” Layton called out.
Courtney rolled her eyes and made her way over toward us. “Yes. The little moody bitch is just fine. She was driving me insane, and I had to get away from her. How in the hell do you live with that?”
Layton smiled and said, “True love.”
“Or great sex,” Courtney said as she attempted to sit on the tailgate.
I walked up to her, lifted her up, and then set her down onto the truck tailgate as she grabbed my cell phone to keep from sitting on it.
“My oh-so strong hubby,” she said as she smiled at me and then looked back at Layton. “So, I’m going with great sex since you decided to remain silent on that one.”
Layton shook his head and grabbed the fence pullers as I let out a laugh.
“So, what did my beautiful bride do to make you so pissed at her?”
Courtney dropped her head back and closed her eyes. “God, the sun feels so good.” She let out a sigh and said, “She wants me to run into town and buy her crunchy peanut butter.”
Layton stopped and looked at Courtney funny. “I just bought some, like three days ago.”
“Wait, I bought her some last week,” Courtney said as she looked at me.
I held up my hands and said, “Don’t look at me. I haven’t bought her anything but the mint chocolate ice cream last night.”
Courtney’s mouth dropped open. “You bastard.”
Oh shit.
“You bought that bitch ice cream and didn’t buy any for me?” She looked down at her stomach and pointed. “Um…hello, Daddy? Mommy is pregnant, too, and likes chocolate and ice cream and is sick of flowers!”
Layton let out a giggle, and I turned and glared at him.
I looked back at my beautiful wife, who was due in a little over a month. Her skin was glowing, and since she became pregnant, her eyes were the most beautiful blue I’d ever seen. My mother had sworn to me that Court’s eyes had not changed colors, but I swore the blue in her eyes was brighter.
“You don’t like my flowers?” I said, trying to sound hurt.
Courtney snapped her eyes up to mine, and I tried like hell to make my eyes water. She dropped her mouth open a little.
I turned and walked away. “I’ll be right back.”
“No! Reed, wait. Shit! Reed…I was just…damn it. Layton, get your ass over here and get me off this tailgate.”
I kept walking as the smile spread wider on my face. I walked around my truck and leaned against it as I put my hands on my knees and dropped my head.
“Reed, you know I was just kidding. Oh my God, I love my flowers more than anything. Please. I’m so sorry I said that. I really didn’t mean it.”
I looked away and held my hand up, like I couldn’t talk.
I’d planted a garden behind our house, and every morning, I would go out and pick a small bouquet of flowers. Then, I’d put them next to Courtney’s side of the bed, so she would see them as soon as she woke up. I knew Courtney understood my passion for plants, and she loved helping me in the garden, so I knew this would get her good.
“Oh God, Reed. I…I…I didn’t mean it.”
I was just about to let her know I was kidding when Layton yelled, “Reed!”
I jumped up and ran over toward him. “What? What’s wrong?” I said as I skidded to a stop.
Layton held his phone out for me, and all it said was, My water just broke.
I smiled as I looked at Layton. He was standing there, frozen stiff.
I snapped my fingers in front of his eyes and said, “Dude, snap out of it.”
Nothing.
“What’s wrong?” Courtney said.
“Whit’s water broke, and Layton here is frozen, like a stone.”
Courtney slapped the side of Layton’s face to snap him out of it.
Still nothing.
“Hey, that was kind of fun,” she said with a snicker.
I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him over to the passenger side of his truck. I shut the door and looked at Court, who was looking at my cell phone. She glanced up at me, and her eyes were filled with hurt, but I didn’t have time to tell her that I had only been kidding about the flowers.
“Babe, can you follow us back in my truck?”
The moment I saw the tears build, I knew she thought I was upset with her. Shit. Shit. Shit. “I just don’t want to leave it out here for a few days until I can get it.”
I jumped into the truck and started it up. I pulled up next to my truck. Courtney was pulling herself up and into my truck. I tried to quickly tell her that I was not upset, but she shut the door. I honked the horn, but she wouldn’t look at me.
Ah hell, I know better than to kid around with a pregnant woman. “Shit,” I whispered as I took off toward the house.
The whole way there, I tried to get Layton to talk to me, but he was in a comatose state.
“Jesus, dude, you better snap the hell out of it before we get to the house. You’re gonna freak Whitley out.”
Layton turned and looked at me. “Her water broke. Do you know what that means?”
I tried hard not to laugh as I said, “Um…she’s fixin’ to have a baby?”
I came around the corner and pulled up, and Layton jumped out of the truck before I even stopped. Mimi came out with a huge smile on her face. I let out a laugh and shook my head. I knew Courtney would never leave Whitley alone being so close to the due date, but she was going to be pissed this had happened right when she left.
Speaking of, Courtney came barreling up in my truck and skidded to a stop before she got out of the truck. As she walked by, she shot me the finger.
“What the fuck?” I whispered as she walked by.
I jumped out of the truck, ran up to her, and grabbed her by the arm. “Courtney, why did you just do that?”
She looked away from me, but I turned her body around, so she was facing me.
“Fuck you, Reed. I hate you.” She had tears streaming down her cheeks.
My heart dropped to my stomach. “What?” I whispered. I dropped my arms and took a few steps back.
She looked so angry.
“Courtney, I was kidding, baby. I swear to you, I wasn’t upset about what you said about the flowers. Why are you acting this way?”
The next thing I knew, she threw my cell phone at me. “Just don’t talk to me until we get Whitley to the hospital. Until then, I don’t want to look at you. Prick.”
She turned and walked away. I picked up my cell phone and saw she had opened my text messages.