Page 10 of The Solstice Additions (A Laurel Holidays Summer Romance)

Chapter Nine

T he next day, I plunked a dish in front of Lyle as he situated himself at the bar.

“What the hell is this?” He looked at the sandwich, then at me, and then at the other guys removing their ball caps as they readied themselves for lunch.

“It’s tuna salad on wheat bread.” I nudged the food closer to him as Kenan was filling icy mugs with soda while wearing a salty little smirk.

“Since when does the alehouse serve such gourmet fare?” Lyle asked, pulling the plate with a fat tuna sandwich, a pickle spear, and a handful of wavy chips closer.

“My boyfriend suggested that we try a few new additions to the menu. Today is debut day. After he’s done with those beers, he will be putting on the tuna costume I ordered and hitting the sidewalk to promote our new menu item.”

“I’m doing what now?” Kenan asked.

The regulars laughed. I gave him a hip bump. He smacked my backside before heading off to serve the girls from the courthouse their ginger ales. The lunch rush broke free then, and I didn’t have time to jaw with Lyle or the other guys on my dart team until things quieted down.

I slipped behind the bar after making the last tuna sandwich of the day.

We’d run out in an hour. My man was a genius even though I still preferred all my food fried in grease.

Guess some folks were concerned about cholesterol.

I began washing glasses. Kenan was clearing tables as the jukebox played an old Chet Atkins song.

Lyle was sipping on a cup of coffee. The others had left to return to work. “Don’t you have to get back to your job?”

“I’m part time now.” He seemed quite happy about that. “Next year I retire.”

“Nice,” I said while I sloshed dirty glasses in a sink filled with hot water and soap. “What do you plan to do with all that time on your hands?”

“Travel maybe. The little woman says she wants to see the Grand Canyon. Go see the kids. Fish. Raise geese?”

I glanced up at that comment and sighed. “They’re not hatched yet,” I reminded him. “But if we get more than two, I’ll give you two goslings.”

“No shit.” He seemed truly stunned. “I figured you would sooner give up one of your balls before parting with them geese.”

“Well, you figured wrong.” I placed the last mug on a dry towel before wiping my hands on my apron.

“Thank you. I’ll take good care of them.”

“I know. You’re the only person I would trust with them. Most folks don’t like geese unless it’s roasted for Christmas dinner.”

“I’ll get a pen set up for them at my place. You’re just full of surprises today. Tuna salad and goslings. What else are you planning to hit me with?”

I almost blurted out the news but bit it back. It was too delicate, too fresh, to share. Plus, we’d not told my family yet. If anyone found out before my sister and mother, then locusts would eat all my pretty yellow marigolds, frogs would tumble from the sky, and…and…shit.

“Hey, sugar bottom, what were the plagues that your guy Moses dropped down on Pharoah?” I shouted across the bar. Kenan glanced up from piling empty baskets atop one another. Lyle stared at me as if I’d gone off the deep end.

“There were ten. Which one are you looking to cite?” he shouted over the jukebox.

“Just one, but not one about locusts or frogs.”

“Boils?”

“That’ll do, thank you.” I blew him a kiss.

Right. Boils would pop up on my sphincter if my mother and sister were not numbers one and two on the big announcement list. Also, and this was a biggie, we really had no clue how to proceed right now in terms of property and who would sell what.

We’d work it out. So yeah, that was private for now.

“Where does your mind go?” Lyle earnestly asked.

“It goes to wondrous places, my friend.” He shook his head.

The phone in my back pocket vibrated, making me giggle.

No. Not giggle. Titter. Ticklish butt cheeks and all that.

I wiped my hands on my Whiteham Alehouse apron, then tugged it free.

The fact it was a call was a minor alarm.

Only my parents called. When I saw it was my mother, the minor alarm became a medium tocsin.

I shot Kenan a worried look as I accepted the incoming call.

He dropped the wet cloth to the table and then hustled over.

“Hey, Mom, what’s up?” I asked, turning from the bar to push into the kitchen and away from the noise of patrons and the jukebox. The doors didn’t even have time to swing shut behind me before my boyfriend entered right behind me.

“It’s Nora, her water broke.”

The medium tocsin suddenly became an air raid siren. “Shit.” I glanced at the mess that was my kitchen as my anxiety climbed sky high. “Is that bad?”

“Well, it’s not great, but she is just a week shy of full term and the baby is quite big, so we’re hoping things will be fine. Antoine and I are getting her ready to leave. She wants you here.”

“Brann, get your ass up here!” I heard Nora shout in the background.

“Tell her I’m on my way. Tell her not to have the baby until I get there, but if she has to, then tell her to breathe.

” I had no fucking clue what the duties of a birthing brother were, but they always told women to breathe on TV shows.

Mom passed along my requests. Nora said some mighty vulgar things in reply.

“Wow, that’s spicy.” I’d give her a pass, though, since she was probably scared and in pain.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Tell her I love her and to keep her legs crossed until I arrive. ”

“I will, honey. Drive carefully.”

“I will.” With that, I ended the call. Kenan was leaning on the sink, concern tightening his forehead. “She’s gone into labor. It’ll be fine. The baby is big. Strong. I’m sure everything will be fine.”

“It will be,” he assured me. “Go get your bag and get rolling.”

“I’m sorry to leave like this.” I waved a hand at the dishes piled in the sink even as I was already untying my apron. “Shit! The goslings. What if they come while I’m gone?!”

We’d not been able to see anything this morning. Wilma was not leaving the nest at all now, which told me she knew the fluff butts would be hatching soon.

“If they come then Fred and Wilma will tend to them. We have the special waterfowl starter all ready for them. I’ll handle it all, I promise.”

I captured his head between my hands and kissed him with all the love I felt. He melted into the kiss, hugging me close, his tongue dancing with mine. When the kiss ended, I was a little breathless and clung to him.

“I love you so much,” I whispered into his ear. “Send pictures of our babies if you can get some.”

“I will. Now go and please drive carefully. Call when you make stops and when you get there.” He gave me his ‘I’m not joking’ serious look. I nodded, stole one final kiss, and bolted out of the kitchen at top speed.

I had already packed a bag for the upcoming trip and had decided to drive as I could be there in a little under five hours, whereas flying would tack on a few hours due to layovers in Detroit.

Normally, I don’t mind a long layover, but when my sister was pushing out a baby, I needed to get there yesterday.

The drive home may have seen a few speed limits broken, but I knew the sheriff.

If I got pulled over, which was unlikely, I’d explain that Nora was having a baby and Ken would let me go with a warning and a good luck wish for my sister.

Skidding into the driveway, I ran inside, grabbed the bag sitting inside the bedroom door, my phone charger, and a bottle of red energy drink.

I’d stop along the way to fill up, piss, and grab some coffee once I was across the border.

Tim Hortons was calling. Patting myself down for the wallet and passport check, I jogged out to check on the geese.

Fred shot up to his feet from where he was napping just outside the coop door.

Wilma looked at me with one sleepy eye. I stood still, listening, but heard nothing in the way of tiny peeps.

“Okay, so I have to go. Nora is having her baby. I’m not asking you two not to have yours as well because you can’t stuff them back into the eggs.

What I am asking is that you be nice to Kenan, okay?

He’s a great guy and really likes you a lot.

” That last part was a fib, but they didn’t need to know that.

It wasn’t that my boyfriend disliked them, he was just leery, and that was understandable.

“He’s going to be taking care of you while I’m gone.

Be nice. Do not pinch his butt, that’s mine to pinch, and please let him take pictures.

Okay?” Fred hissed. Wilma blinked and then went back to sleep. “Cool! Right, I’m off.”

Giving my little place a long look, I ran back the way I came, relocking the doors behind me and diving into my Nissan.

I pulled up my maps app, slid my seatbelt around me, and found a playlist to listen to.

I sent Kenan a text updating him on my departure and the lack of visible goslings before I backed out of my drive and hit the open road.

He sent me a selfie of him washing dishes with #cinderfella, which I found to be quite funny.

That jovial mood started to fall apart the closer I got to Ottawa. The baby updates were sparse, not much to report per Mom. Nora was in a room. Antoine was there, so was our mother, and the one nurse looked like a prince, according to my mother.

One that wears a crown or one that wears purple eyeliner? ~ B

She typed back that she had no clue if the prince wore eyeliner, but she thought that his wife did.

Snickering to myself, I let it go. The time seemed to slow, and when I hit the rush hour traffic in Ottawa, I was close to pulling out my hair.

Seemed things were progressing rapidly, and Nora was now being moved from a labor room to a delivery room.