Page 8 of Bad Boy Bakers, Vol. 2
“Good job!” She offered them a high five for the effort before slipping into the stream of people going in and out, grabbing the remaining dishes, utensils, and other detritus from the meal.
The tiny kitchen was packed as adults worked to load dirty platters and casserole dishes into the dishwasher.
The dogs danced in and out of legs, playing what seemed to be a game of hide-and-seek or peek-a-boo.
Spotting greasy hands about to reach for fur, Hadley grabbed Maddie around the waist, boosting her up.
“Let’s get our hands washed. You, too, Dakota.”
She held them up to the kitchen faucet one at a time so they could wash their hands. Dakota’s feet were dangling when Holt’s voice boomed from the back of the house, startling them all.
“B.B., come back here! What is in your mouth? Somebody grab her.”
People leapt into motion at the order. Banana Bread streaked through the house, something clutched in her teeth.
She was a blur of golden brown fur as she dodged from person to person, the manic metronome of her tail waving as everyone got in on the game of keep away.
Otis and Leno hampered the proceedings, trying to join in themselves.
Brax took a header over the pit bull and nearly crashed into a wall.
Rachel ended up on her ass, with Otis trying to climb on her head.
The girls laughed, and poor Duncan, who’d only just let go of Mia, tried to climb her leg with a wail.
“Gotcha!” Holt managed to snag B.B.’s collar, dragging her to a stop. “Drop it! Drop it! Give it to me.”
At last, she relinquished her grip on the thing in her mouth.
Holt examined his prize, his expression turning amused, then lighting up with wonder as he let the dog go and straightened to his full height. Smile wide and delighted, he looked at his wife. “When were you going to tell me?”
Face blank with confusion, Cayla shook her head. “Tell you what?”
He held up the mangled white stick. The positive pregnancy test.
The bottom dropped out of Hadley’s stomach again. Unless there was miraculously another one in the bathroom trash—which didn’t seem likely—she was about to get outed in front of everybody.
Oh, dear God.
Nobody was focused on her, and she took the opportunity to try to slow her racing pulse, resisting the urge to curl her hands or cross her arms or do anything that might pull attention her way.
Breathe. You have to keep breathing.
“Ah.” Cayla’s face softened as she stepped up to pat his cheek, the gesture one of intimacy and easy affection. “No. That’s why you never look outside the processing window. It’ll look like a false positive from the evaporation line. Not pregnant.”
Holt’s face fell, his big shoulders slumping in disappointment. “Oh.”
Wrapping her arms around him, Cayla rose to her toes and brushed her lips to his. “It’ll happen. You just have to be patient.”
Cayla had covered for her. Relief took all the starch out of Hadley’s knees, and she had to put a hand on the lip of the sink to keep from dropping. That wouldn’t be the end of it, she was sure, but it wouldn’t be coming out here and now before she’d had time to think.
Holt pulled his wife closer, whispering something in her ear that had her cheeks going pink.
Twenty bucks said it was a creative suggestion about the next way they should try for that positive.
The whole moment was sweet. They’d so clearly be ecstatic to be pregnant and expanding their family.
They wanted to have that physical manifestation of their love and commitment.
From all indicators, they were putting a lot of time and effort into trying for it on purpose. That was how it should be.
So why the hell couldn’t this have happened to them?
Hadley needed to get out of here before this curdling anxiety forced her dinner back up and exposed her as Cayla hadn’t.
Excitement over, everybody turned back toward post-dinner cleanup. Excuses were being made.
“We need to get the kids on home for bed,” Mia said.
“Yeah, we aren’t far from bath-time here,” Holt added.
Hadley helped round up toys and dogs as an excuse to keep avoiding Cash. She managed to hold her shit together long enough to go hug her brother.
“I’m gonna get on out of here. My car’s blocking people in. Thanks for dinner.”
He squeezed her back. “See you tomorrow, Squirt.”
“Sure. Night, Jerkface.”
She made a beeline for the door as Mia and Brax scooped up their kids.
Cayla caught her on the stoop. “Thanks so much for coming. I’m so excited to get to spend more time with you.” She pulled Hadley into a hug and whispered, “I’m here if you want to talk.”
Well, if she’d needed confirmation that her sister-in-law knew, that was it.
Swallowing hard, Hadley pulled back, daring to look Cayla in the eyes. She saw nothing but compassion and understanding in that gaze. The support for whatever was needed had her control wavering, so she just nodded and headed for her car, feeling as if her world was crumbling down around her ears.