The Motherhood Intervention: Book 3 in the Intervention Series Read online

  He marched off to the bedroom to change, and they hadn’t spoken for the rest of the night. Summer stayed awake all night listening to Luke’s breathing on the baby monitor. Because Derek was covering an early shift for a co-worker, they didn’t speak in the morning. Summer got out of bed feeling like a zombie and wanting nothing more than to stay home with her kids.

  ***

  Josie texted Summer before she’d even fed the kids breakfast: Don’t go to Rowdy’s tonight. We have a surprise for you. We’ll pick you up at 4.

  I can’t go anyway, Summer had texted back. It seemed more important than ever to spend time with the kids.

  You’re going, Josie had responded. Don’t try to get out of it. You need it. See you at 4.

  Between crying jags and loose laundry collection, Summer spent the next several hours wondering what Josie and Delaney were up to. Surely they weren’t taking her to some strip club before the baby’s arrival. They couldn’t be. Or, maybe they were. It’d be a nice change of pace. A little lap dance from a thong-clad guy with a six-pack never hurt anyone.

  The doorbell rang at exactly four p.m. Summer barely heard it over the vacuum. Derek had taken the kids outside, and she’d put some tamale pie in the slow cooker for dinner before returning to her frenzied cleaning.

  Summer had forgotten Josie and Delaney were coming. She glanced down at her outfit and realized she’d have to change. Hannah had smeared oatmeal on her shoulder and oh, geez, how had she not noticed that coffee stain on her right boob? She grimaced, then shrugged, then grimaced again when she caught a whiff of her body odor.

  Delaney and Josie would just have to wait while she freshened up. They’d understand, in large part because they wouldn’t want to be seen with her looking or smelling like this.

  The sudden silence when she turned off the vacuum left her ears ringing. She pushed a strand of greasy hair out of her face and went to open the front door. Was she even wearing a bra? Nope.

  Before she reached for the doorknob, the door swung open. Summer stepped back and yelped in surprise. It wasn’t Delaney and Josie. It was Willow. She gave Summer a once-over before breezing in.

  “Honey, you look like a mess. I hope it’s okay I just opened the door. I rang the bell but no one answered it for quite some time. What are you doing in here? It’s a mess.”

  The high heels gave her back end a little sway and Summer stood back to watch Willow’s ridiculous sunhat cruise through the living room. Summer’s mind played her a little recap of all the scrubbing, wiping, scraping and vacuuming she’d done all day. Willow should be wearing white gloves and trailing a finger along every surface, testing for dust. Summer wrung her hands.

  I’m wringing my hands.

  She dropped them at her sides.

  “Did Derek—did I—did someone invite you over?”

  “No, honey! Heavens, no. You made it clear you didn’t want me here. But it seems as though you need me. And you know, I got to thinking.”

  She’s going to apologize. Finally. After all these years.

  Summer’s heart beat faster. What would Willow say? Would she apologize for the drinking? For ignoring Summer for years? For leaving Summer next to the cantaloupe?

  “This is the perfect time for me to be here. To spend time with the kids. I can help with them when you have this baby. God, you must be getting close.”

  An apology was too much to hope for, apparently.

  “Willow—”

  “Mom. Call me Mom, honey.”

  “Look, I—”

  The doorbell rang. Summer didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

  Why couldn’t they have arrived just five minutes earlier? Summer would have evacuated as quickly as possible, and never would have known about Willow’s impromptu visit.

  This time, she expected the door to open before she answered it. Delaney and Josie never bothered waiting. Sure enough, they walked right in. They looked so much like angels Summer’s breath caught. The afternoon sun made Delaney’s hair golden, and Josie’s skin radiant. Josie had her head tilted back as she laughed at something Delaney said.

  When they saw Willow, they stopped. Froze.

  “Is this—” Delaney said.

  “Your mom! It’s your mom!” Josie said. “It’s about time! We get to meet your mom!”

  “Dead ringer!” Delaney said. “You guys look exactly the same.”

  Summer shrugged.

  “Guys, this is Willow. Willow, this is Delaney, and this is Josie. Willow was just leaving.”

  “I was?” she said to Summer. Then she turned to Delaney and Josie. “I wasn’t, actually. It’s so nice to meet you, girls. I can’t say I’ve heard anything about you, but…”

  “Woman, you need a shower!” Josie said.

  Summer nodded, and rushed out of the room. As she did, she heard Delaney ask, “So how long are you in town for?”

  ***

  A few moments later (Summer always prided herself on being a fast showerer), Summer reemerged in a pair of capri pants and a bright blue tank top that made her look less like a circus tent than any of the other maternity tops she owned.

  “Wow. You look—” Willow said.

  “Much better,” Josie said. “We’ve just been having such a nice chat with your mom!”

  Summer refrained from rolling her eyes.

  I’ll bet.

  “But now we must go,” Delaney said. “We have an appointment.”

  “Shall we see you out?” Josie asked Willow.

  Willow opened her mouth and closed it, and both Josie and Delaney shot Summer meaningful looks.

  So what? Yes, I got that behavior from her. It’s hereditary.

  With that, the girls ushered both Willow and Summer out of the house.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “You know, it must be a shock for her, seeing me pregnant. And not only pregnant, but really pregnant,” Summer told the girls as Josie pulled away from the house. “It’s the fifth time, and I must say, I’m bigger than ever.”

  Josie reached across the center console to pat Summer’s knee. Her elbow hit Summer’s belly. “Sorry, baby,” she said.

  They all giggled.

  “So that was awkward,” Delaney said. “What was up with that?”

  “I have no idea. The woman just showed up. Can we talk about something else? Thinking about Willow is raising my stress levels. What’s with this mysterious appointment? Is it too much to admit I was hoping we were going to a strip club for a lap dance?”

  “I wouldn’t subject my new nieces or nephews to that,” Josie said.

  Delaney rubbed her belly. “Jake and I are going to buy a house,” she said.

  Summer closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the seat, grateful for the distraction.

  “That’s great. Did you guys find one you agree on?”

  “Well, no,” Delaney said. “Not exactly. But I was thinking we could go look after this.”

  “Where are we going?” Summer asked again.

  “Pedicures, Mama,” Josie said. “We can’t have your toenails looking like that in the delivery room.”

  “I can’t even see those puppies. Are they bad?”

  “The worst,” Delaney said.

  Summer grimaced. She hadn’t even thought about her toenails. “Thank goodness you guys are looking after me. You’re such good friends. And then we’re going house hunting?”

  “Yeah,” Delaney said. “If you’re up to it.”

  “Anything to be out of my own house,” Summer said. “Where do you want to look? I love your neighborhood. Maybe just find something a little bigger around there?”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Delaney said. “But Jake loves being downtown.”

  “You practically are downtown,” Josie said. “I mean, like, a hop, skip and a jump.”

  “I know. But he’s right downtown. You know?”

  Josie muttered something about men in Spanish, and Summer grinned as she drifted off to sleep.

 
***

  A moment later, Josie parked at the curb in front of the nail salon, and Summer jerked awake. She’d almost rather stay in the car and sleep than go in and try to make meaningless conversation with all the ladies inside. But she had to do this, for Josie and Delaney.

  “Your hands are dry. Really dry,” the manicurist snapped when Summer finally settled on a folding chair that hurt her back and cut into her legs, making her ankles swell.

  “I know,” Summer said, trying to stifle a yawn. “I was cleaning all day.”

  “You should not be cleaning right now. Chemicals hurt the baby.”

  Summer’s hackles rose. Of course she wasn’t using chemicals. “I use vinegar,” she said. “Totally safe.”

  Summer had planned on a pedicure only, but the girls had talked her into getting her fingernails done, too. And it was a good thing. They were a mess. The feeling of the manicurist rubbing her forearms and fingers nearly put her to sleep again.

  “Why were you cleaning all day?” Delaney asked from across the room where she sat in a massaging chair, her feet in a tub of warm water. She set her magazine on her lap and Summer laughed at the perplexed look on her face.

  “Nesting,” the manicurist said.

  All the women in the nail salon nodded, some of them making “mmhmm” noises.

  “Weird. Will I do that, too?” Delaney wanted to know.

  They all nodded again.

  “I guess I need a house to nest in.”

  “We’ll find you one,” Josie said. “Just give me a mission. I’m on it. You won’t be homeless when you give birth.”

  Delaney and Summer laughed, but stopped immediately when one of the nail techs glared at them. They spent the rest of their appointment in near-silence.

  “I do feel so much better,” Summer said a half-hour later when they stood on the sidewalk admiring their toenails. “Thanks, you guys.”

  The girls squeezed her in a quick hug. “You’e welcome.”

  “Now. House hunting?” Josie said.

  “Let’s eat dinner, first,” Summer said. “I’m starving. I think I forgot to eat lunch today.”

  “Did you eat breakfast?” Josie’s tone was conversational, but Summer could hear the edge underneath it.

  “I think so,” Summer lied. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Summer knew she hadn’t eaten breakfast, but she felt guilty enough about it without having Josie chastise her. And anyway, she was eating now, right?

  ***

  After dinner, the girls met the real estate agent, a tiny gnome of a man with slicked-back hair and short fingers who claimed his name was Jack Jackson, at one of the houses on Delaney’s short list.

  “See?” Delaney said as the four of them stood in the living room. “This is perfect. It’s perfect. But Jake would hate it. The rooms are too small and the ceilings are too low.”

  The house, a Victorian just a few blocks down from Delaney’s current home, was apparently a few blocks in the wrong direction. It was farther from the heart of downtown than Jake would like. According to Delaney, though, it had everything: three bedrooms, a yard for the puppy, Sweetie, and a big tree out front where they could hang a baby swing.

  “Would he really hate it?” Josie asked. “Or just the location?”

  Jack Jackson, piped up: “The location is perfect!”

  Josie rolled her eyes. Jack Jackson’s phone rang, and he held up a finger and stepped outside.

  Delaney sighed. “I don’t know. We can’t agree on anything. The houses he likes are all sharp corners and stainless steel. Hardly the kinds of places to bring a baby home to.”

  Summer laughed. “Look at her body language,” she said to Josie. “So dejected. You’ll find something, Delaney. It just might take a while.”

  “Well, we only have, like, a month!” Delaney gestured to her belly.

  “You know, finding a house after the baby’s born wouldn’t be the end of the world,” Summer said. “He or she won’t be crawling around for at least six months, so you don’t have to worry about those sharp edges right away.”

  “What about nesting?” Delaney wanted to know.

  “You can nest anywhere,” Josie said. “It’s just cleaning and stuff. Right, Summer?”

  Summer nodded. “It’s true. We can keep looking, but maybe you should just resign yourself to finding a house when the baby is a few months old. Just relax and let the Universe take care of it.”

  You should take your own advice, Winter whispered.

  “Maybe,” Delaney said. “It’s something to think about, anyway. I just feel anxious about this.”

  “Well, let’s go look at the last house on your list,” Summer said. “Where did that guy get to?”

  “Who, Jack Jackson?” Josie said.

  They all giggled as they walked outside to find him.

  ***

  The next house stood just a block from downtown—definitely within walking distance of the square and the fountain.

  “But I feel like it’s too small,” Delaney whined. “I mean, the third bedroom is practically a broom closet.”

  “Okay,” Summer said. “You know I love you, but you’re being kind of a baby about this. The houses you’re looking at? They’re perfect for raising a baby. You should see the trailers I grew up in. Crappy, falling down, leaky roofs. It’s a house. It has four walls and a roof. You’re making much ado about nothing.”

  Josie gave Summer a strange look—equal parts perplexed and annoyed—and said, as if Summer hadn’t spoken at all, “That could be Jake’s office.”

  Summer noticed a twinge in her belly, and rubbed it with her thumb. It didn’t go away. It figured. She would go into labor in a stranger’s house. This entire pregnancy had been like that.

  First, Derek had lost his job practically at the same time as she was peeing on the pregnancy test. Then, he’d gotten a new, demanding job that kept him away from the house during her entire first trimester, when it was all she could do to keep from living in the bathroom, draped over the toilet. Then Luke had started having weird symptoms, saying it felt like he had a hammer in his chest.

  Her uterus tightened at that thought. Definitely the start of labor.

  “You’ve been acting weird all afternoon,” Josie said to her then. “And you just made a weird noise.”

  “Have I?” Summer said. “And did I?”

  “Yes, and yes,” Delaney said. “What’s going on?”

  At that moment, Summer’s water broke.

  For the first time ever, it was a huge gush. All over the floor of this adorable house’s living room. The carpeted floor. All three of them stood there, Delaney and Josie staring at Summer and Summer looking down at the soggy carpet. Why hadn’t Summer thought to carry a jar of pickles with her?

  Delaney clapped a hand over her mouth.

  “Dios mío,” Josie whispered.

  “What the hell are we going to do?” Delaney said.

  Summer stood there, her arms raised. The grandfather clock ticked loudly.

  “Oh, my,” Summer said after a long silence. “Oh, my.”

  “I’ll call the exterminators,” Josie said.

  Summer laughed then, loudly. She put one hand on her belly, one on her forehead, and cackled. “Well, I never.”

  She knew she should feel embarrassed that she’d just made a huge mess in a stranger’s house. She thought she should feel guilty for taking the attention off of Delaney’s house hunt. But all she could feel at the moment was relief. Finally, a trip to the hospital. A break. Two days alone.

  “Do you want me to take you to the hospital?” Josie said.

  Summer wanted to jump up and down, to scream like her teenage self and throw herself at Josie’s feet, begging to be taken to the hospital. But she needed her hospital bag, and the package of chocolate chip cookies she’d stashed at the bottom. The package she planned to eat, all by herself. With some reluctance, she said, “Not yet. Just take me home.”

  Josie nodded. “Let me
call a cleaning service.”

  The real estate agent came back inside, saw the scene, froze and walked back outside. Josie made the call, and Delaney guided Summer out to the car.

  “You stay here,” Josie said to Jack Jackson on the way out. “The cleaners are on the way.”

  He didn’t answer.

  All three of the girls laughed like lunatics as they drove away.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  As Josie drove her home, the contractions came on strong. Summer knew this baby would come fast. She grabbed her hospital bag and handed Josie and Delaney the minute-by-minute schedule she’d typed out for the kids. She climbed into the van.

  “Are you ready?” Derek asked, squeezing her thigh and grinning at her before backing out of the driveway.

  “Do I have a choice?” she said.

  His laugh, nervous and excited at the same time, made her smile. He put the car in Drive and she rolled down the window. A ribbon of her hair escaped and fluttered in the breeze.

  “You’re so beautiful. I’m so happy you’re the mother of my children,” he said.

  Although his words made her feel unreasonably emotional, she said, “Don’t get all mushy on me. I’ve got to push a baby out.”

  They held hands the rest of the way to the hospital, where Summer fell onto the bed with a deep sense of relief.

  “This is what I’ve been hoping for,” she said to Derek as the nurse strapped the monitors around her body.

  “You knew it was inevitable, right? You’ve done this four times before.”

  “No, not the labor and delivery, smartass,” Summer said. “The vacation.”

  Derek quirked an eyebrow, and the nurse laughed.

  “I hear you, honey. Sometimes getting a few nights’ rest in a hospital is exactly what you need, even if you gotta give birth to do it.”

  Derek didn’t answer, but shook his head. Summer couldn’t tell whether he was amused or disturbed. She chose not to open the door on that conversation. One tiny crack and all the stress and anxiety could come pouring out.