Ready For It (MacAteer Brothers Book 2)

by ML Nystrom

  Owen sighed and lifted his hard hat to set it back on his head. Garrett had left, and there were only a few more days until his own contract completed.

  “Owen MacAteer!”

  He turned to see the project foreman coming towards him. “Need you to finish up lots four and six today. The plumbing’s goin’ in tomorrow mornin’, and they need the final frames up.”

  “Tubs in?”

  “Notchyet. Got back ordered. You just get the framing done. Them other guys will take care o’ the rest.”

  Owen blinked at the man. Framing the bathroom areas didn’t work if the tubs and other pieces weren’t in place yet. These weren’t regular standard tubs, they were the large triangular jetted ones that held four people at one time. If they weren’t there to frame around, it would be next to impossible to put the units in place once they completed the interiors. He opened his mouth to point out the problem, and his brain seized up. His jaw moved up and down, but no sound came out. The squat man in front of him waited a few seconds, his eyebrows raised, then he nodded and moved away.

  “Yep, don’t you worry ’bout the horses, jus’ load the wagon. Get them frames done. Nothin’ else.”

  Owen pressed his dry lips together and watched silently while the man waddled away. He had a better way of making this job work, but he couldn’t express it. Sometimes he stuttered if he spoke over three or four words at a time. Sometimes he reversed sounds. Sometimes he froze up and had trouble finding words at all. Frustrated, he picked up his tool belt and walked to lot four. Not my problem if they have to tear out framing and waste a day redoing everything. I’m getting paid and I’m done.

  He paused in front of the lot and pulled out his phone. Several other workers were already in the house interior. He saw them moving through the forest of two-by-fours, adding additional wood to the frames for the future sheetrock ceiling. He tapped open the screen and sent a quick text to Connor.

  Owen: Contract almost done. I should be able to leave by Friday. Be there in time for dinner. Garrett left already?

  It took a few minutes, but the three little dots started bouncing.

  Connor: Yes. He took off this morning. Joy is on a tear about something and Garrett needed to get up there to make her happy. I don’t get what he sees in that woman. I’ll get steaks for the grill. What you got lined up next for work?

  Owen: Whatever Garrett and Da have booked next month. Not sure if I will take it. I’m sick to death of cutting and framing. What do you have coming up?

  Connor: Got some people wanting decks built. Custom stuff around pools. A couple gazebos and pergolas. I’m getting a lot of calls about them and I need an extra pair of hands for a few weeks. You want to summer here and do something different for a while? The kids would love to see their uncle.

  Owen debated for a few minutes as he read the text. Garrett had mentioned the new job was more of the same as this one. More framing for a large housing development. Cookie cutter work. He always got paid well, but the unchallenging work had lost any appeal to him, not to mention the stress of working with his father. Connor’s projects would be a nice change of pace, and he wasn’t under any contractual obligation.

  Owen: Do I get to design or just build?

  Connor: I’m getting calls for both. Pick what you want as long as the jobs get done on time.

  Owen: I’ll help out at least a week or two. You got a place to park my camper?

  Connor: I think it will fit in the backyard once I clear the brush on the side of the woodshop. Bev won’t care. She leaves all the yard work up to me. No trouble though for you to sleep in the house. We have the room.

  Owen: Depends on how long I stay. Only a week, I’ll take the room. More than one, I’ll hook up to the house. Fair?

  Connor: Great. You’ll be saving me a lot of overtime. Seriously, think about sticking around for a while. I need extra help I can count on.

  Owen swiped the screen closed and slipped the slim phone in his back pocket. Four more days, then I’m building something special. It would be nice to take a break and enjoy his nieces and nephews. Each one had a unique personality, and he loved watching them grow up. There was another person in Asheville he wouldn’t mind seeing, but that dream had long since faded.

  “Hey, Owen! You gonna stand around with your thumb up your ass? Get to work!”

  Owen started the air compressor, and the loud chugging drowned out the foreman’s voice. He rarely indulged himself in anger, as he didn’t see a point in it. Especially since in four days he would be in Asheville eating steaks with his family and starting something new. He kept his mouth shut, loaded the nail gun, and resumed work.

  Chapter Three

  I sat in my car outside Beverly’s remodeled home, inhaling huge breaths through my nose and exhaling slowly through my mouth. After I had my panic attack on Monday afternoon, I drove straight to the closest CVS for a pregnancy test. It took me about four point zero seconds to step back out of the store and drive home empty-handed. What was I thinking? The clerk was a former student of mine, and I avoided buying tampons and condoms when he was working. A pregnancy test? No way. I ended up going back home and ordering two from Amazon. The box arrived yesterday, and I took the test this morning.

  The red plus sign had mocked me from the plastic wand, and I took the second one just to make sure the first one wasn’t defective. Fuck! This is real.

  Beverly’s house had been two side-by-side duplexes, with her and her kids crammed into one side and Connor in the other. When they married, Connor redesigned both sides into one house with six bedrooms, a large open kitchen and den area, a game room, and a deck in the back. It was still a crowded house with four kids and two adults, but they made it work.

  My hands tightened on the padded steering wheel. It had to be close to dinnertime before I made myself loosen my grip and exit my vehicle. I had told no one yet about my condition, still coming to grips with it myself. I wasn’t ready to share, but I needed advice. Scratch that. I needed help.

  “Hey, Auntie M!” Mattie, Beverly’s youngest son, answered the door. The blue ring around his seven-year-old mouth told me he had been in the ice pops. “Watch this!” He ran through the den in his socked feet and surfed over the smooth linoleum floor. I’d seen him pull this move before, usually with a crash into a cabinet or the fridge.

  “Mattie-boo, you’ll make a fine surfer dude someday.”

  “Coolio! Mom’s out back with Connor. Uncle Owen is coming tonight.”

  Fuck, why me? I hadn’t seen Owen since last year, when he, his twin, Garrett, and their sister, Eva, were helping with the redesign and construction of the house. I had flirted outrageously with both of them, but neither took the bait. Owen wouldn’t even speak to me. The ginger-haired giant just looked at me with his greenish-blue eyes and kept silent. I asked questions, flipped my hair, laughed, pulled at my earlobe. No response from either of them. It was embarrassing.

  “Oh, I’d better leave then. I don’t want to get in the middle of family night. Tell your mom I’ll call her later.”

  “You will not. Come on out back and sit your butt down. Connor’s cooking steaks, and we have extra.” Beverly came through the back door and pulled a bag of marinating meat from the fridge. “Abby decided this morning she wanted to be vegetarian. A few days at the beach and she is ‘in love’ with some boy she and Autumn met there.” She used her fingers to make air quotes. “He claims to be vegetarian, therefore she needs to be vegetarian too.”

  One look at the bloody plastic bag and an unpleasant wave ran through my middle. Jeez, not now! I swallowed several times. “I’ll be in the way.”

  “You’ve never been in the way. Besides, didn’t you break up with Peter? No date night for you tonight.”

  “Um… yes, about a month ago.”

  “I think you said he works as a clerk in the courthouse archives.” She pulled the steaks out and dropped them on a platter. “Tax records, births, deaths. People are just dying to work with him, eh?�
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  I didn’t attempt to rebut her lame joke with one of my own. I was trying to deal with the wet, sloppy sound the meat made when it hit the large dish. She looked at me with concern. “You okay? You look a little green.”

  “The pollen is thick right now. That’s all.”

  Mattie ran by with Jacob chasing him. Both were screaming like banshees.

  “Give it back!”

  “It’s mine!”

  “No, it’s not!”

  “It is too!”

  Muttface, the family dog, followed, barking his head off. Bev lifted the loaded platter high in the air and let the two bodies streak past her. She was an old hand at this and didn’t blink an eye. “You have other plans tonight? Clubbing at Saddle ’n’ Spurs?”

  Saliva filled my mouth, and I nearly choked on it. My head pounded with the noise.

  “No. I’m not going clubbing anytime soon.” Probably never again.

  She put the platter down on the counter and opened the fridge to pull out a big bowl of green salad and a smaller one of potato salad. “Boys, if you’re gonna fight over… whatever it is you’re fighting over, I’ll take it away from both of you. Go outside and take the dog with you.”

  “But, Mom!”

  “No buts. Out.”

  “I need—”

  “You heard me.”

  Mattie surfed across the kitchen floor. “Do I hafta put shoes on?”

  “Might be a good idea, since Muttface leaves doggie bombs in the backyard.”

  “What if I stay on the deck?”

  Bev pulled an aluminum-covered casserole dish from the oven. “What are the chances that will happen?”

  Mattie regarded her for a moment and sprinted to find his shoes.

  “No peeing off the deck either!” she called after him while pulling off the foil with a rattle. Steam rose from the bubbling mac and cheese. “I caught them last week trying to see who could squirt further. I thought Mattie would poop himself, as hard as he was straining.”

  Girl. I should definitely have a girl. There’s no way I can handle a boy.

  “I’m not eating anything but the green salad, Mom.” Abby sauntered into the kitchen in a long skirt, loose T-shirt, and bare feet. A long braid hung down her back, and no makeup showed on her face. The distraction helped. Normally, she never graced anyone with her presence unless she was fully coiffed, made up, and dressed to the nines. The girl had made a one-eighty turn with this new natural hippie chick look.

  Beverly pulled a spoon from a drawer and started to stir the thick pasta concoction. “Mac and cheese and the potato salad are vegetarian, aren’t they?”

  Abby huffed and expertly rolled her eyes. “Mom, how many times to I have to repeat myself. It’s vegan. Not vegetarian. No animal products at all. It’s inhumane.”

  “Says the girl who spent yesterday scarfing down cheese pizza at the pool.”

  “Mom! You just don’t get it.” Abby stomped off.

  Boy. Definitely a boy.

  Mattie, now clad in his sneakers, ran through the kitchen with Muttface at his heels and slammed open the back screen door. The sound exploded in my head.

  “Don’t break my house, you mini hooligan!” Beverly called out, further exacerbating the war going on in my skull.

  Boy. Girl. Was there another option?

  The spoon made a sticky squelching noise as Beverly moved the mac and cheese around. My eyes burned as I looked at the oozing meat still on the platter in a puddle. A raw odor hit my nostrils. The sound, the sight, the smell, all of it became too much for me to handle.

  Oh, shit! I covered my mouth and made a beeline for the downstairs powder room. The door was closed and locked.

  “I’m busy in here! Wait your turn!” Sarah’s muffled voice came from the other side.

  I gagged twice and rushed for the front door. Bev’s concerned voice followed me, but her words didn’t register. I made it to the porch and hit a wall. Literally.

  Strong arms came around me as I lost my balance. My head flew back, and I saw Owen’s face swim in front of me. He said nothing, but his eyes showed concern. I should have said something, I suppose, but I didn’t have time for niceties. I jerked away from him, leaned over the rail, and proceeded to embarrass the shit out of myself.

  Two broad hands swept the sides of my face and gently pulled my hair out of the way. Shit! Owen was holding back my blonde mane while I was sick. The gesture was sweet. Still, it was humiliating that he saw me like this. Of all the people to watch me vomit up whatever I had left inside me, the last person I’d pick would be him.

  “What the hell, Melanie? What’s wrong?” Bev rushed out to the front porch and handed me a glass of cold water. I kept my head down as I swished and spat. My temples pounded, and I grew dizzy. Fuck, is this what I have to look forward to for nine long-ass months? I pressed two fingers to my forehead and closed my eyes. I needed to tell my BFF what was happening. I needed to think about my life. I needed… I needed... fuck, I needed to sit down before I fell down.

  The glass slipped from my limp fingers and broke into a thousand sparkling pieces on the porch. I followed it but didn’t hit the ground. Two strong arms scooped me up and cradled me against a hard chest. Passing out seemed to be my best option, so I went with that.

  I didn’t know how long I was out. It might have been a few minutes or a few hours. I woke up to the concerned faces of Bev, Sarah, and Abby. The furnishings showed I was in the guest room, lying on the bed. Bev sat at my side and was stroking my hands. Abby was standing behind Sarah, holding the younger girl against her hips. A groan burst from my mouth as the memory of my gastric explosion and who saw it came back to me. I rolled over and wanted nothing more than to hide.

  “Mom, what’s wrong with Melanie?” Sarah’s tearful voice tugged at my heart.

  “I’m not sure, sweetheart. I think I may have an idea what it is, but Melanie will tell me when she’s ready.”

  “Is she going to die?”

  “No, she’s not going to die.”

  “Is it brain cancer?”

  “No, it’s not brain cancer. This isn’t any kind of cancer.”

  “What is it?”

  “Right now, it’s private. I’m sure Connor has the steaks ready now. You girls go tell him Melanie is awake and feeling better. I’ll come down soon. Make sure the boys eat. Abby, you take charge of cleanup. Sarah, you help her.”

  “I wanna stay with Melanie.”

  “Melanie will be down in a minute too. Just give her some time to get her breath and drink something. Now scoot.”

  The two girls grumbled as they left the room, and Beverly tapped my shoulder. "Quit playing possum. The coast is clear for now. Sit up, drink this, and don’t argue. I already had to break up one fight tonight. Connor wanted to call an ambulance, and Owen wanted to put you in his truck and drive you to the hospital emergency room himself. It was a crapshoot to see which one would turn green and burst through his shirt. First time I’ve ever seen Owen get mad at anything. I convinced them at least for now that you aren’t in any immediate danger of dying.”

  She handed me a glass of something carbonated, and I sipped at the liquid. The bright taste of ginger ale crossed my tongue.

  “You want a few crackers? I have some saltines here. I can’t guarantee they aren’t a little stale, but it’s what I have on hand.”

  I drank more of the soda and waited to see if my stomach behaved. It seemed to accept the ginger ale. Damn, if this stuff kept me from hugging the porcelain bowl all fucking day, I’d go buy a case. Two. Three. Did it come in a keg? “No crackers right now. Maybe in a little while.” Fuck, when did I get so weak sounding? Stop this now, Mel. You’re a strong woman. In control. Rough and tough.

  “So how far are along are you?”

  I promptly burst into tears.

  “That far, eh?” Her hug made me cry even harder.

  “I’mb ad leezed seven, maybe aaighd weeks I thinck.” Damnit, now my nose plugged up. I hate cry
ing almost as much as I hate vomiting. “I toog the test this mornding. Id’z for real. I’mb knocked up. How’joo figure it oud?”

  “From the faculty meeting vomitorium and the beautiful reprise a little while ago. I put two and two together and came up with two: you and baby onboard.”

  I sobbed on her shoulder. She just held me and let me get it out. God, I love my BFF! She was my safe place.

  When I got enough control over myself, I leaned back and picked up the glass again. I was sure my nose was red and my face blotchy. Bev plucked three tissues from a box on the nightstand and handed them to me. I took them and wiped myself off, attempting to preserve a tiny bit of dignity. “Seriously, what gave it away?”

  She smiled. “I have a little experience with morning sickness, as you well know. Was it food smells or noise?”

  I shuddered. “Both, I think.”

  She nodded. “With Abby, it was meat. Beef, to be exact. The sight and smell drove me to the bathroom every time I was around it. I was constantly sick all day. Jacob had me craving sweets, but not a lot of morning sickness. Only for a week or two. Sarah was my easiest. No morning sickness at all, but I couldn’t go to any football or basketball games at school, because noisy crowds got to me. Mattie’s was morning sickness for three weeks and then tired, all the time. He had nothing in particular he wanted to eat, but I snacked a lot. Have you seen a doctor yet?”

  I blew my nose. The wet sound bothered me, but my stomach had settled enough I didn’t have to give an encore performance. “No, I’ve been staring at the test stick all fucking day thinking about what to do.”

  “I’m guessing you haven’t told… um… Peter, I guess?”