“I think I’ll just hang out and wait for my shift to start. You can tell me about it later.”

“I don’t like leaving you here without a vehicle.”

She only barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

Dad flipped up the collar of his coat and opened the door. “Okay.”

He left the house, and Bea looked back down at Steve, now sitting at her feet. “It’s just you and me today, I guess.”

Jeremy had gotten up early to go to Billings for “research.” She’d asked him how much longer it might be before he had a solid business plan, and his eyes had dimmed. “I’m not sure,” he’d said. “I’m still looking for my place in all this.”

It had seemed so simple at first, when she and Jeremy got engaged. They loved each other and would figure it out as they went along. What else did they need to know? Now here they were. A college dropout working part-time at a grocery store and an unemployed city kid trying to figure out rural life. With a baby on the way.

She wished she could go back to the day they moved into their crummy apartment in Santa Clara. They’d said, “This will be an adventure. As long as we have each other, we’ll be fine.” She had a few things to tell those two naïve kids. Like how humiliating it was going to be to move back in with her dad, for starters.

Bea plodded to the couch and flopped onto it. Wasn’t she still just a naïve kid? Maybe Dad was right. Maybe she’d rushed into marrying Jeremy because of everything that happened with Mom. And maybe she didn’t know him as well as she thought.

Steve jumped onto the back of the couch and curled up near her head, purring. She huffed. A cat’s life was so uncomplicated. Her eyes began to drift closed, then flew back open at a knock on the door.

“Oh, man.” She groaned as she pushed herself to her feet. If it was Marge coming by with another casserole, Bea was going to . . . well, she didn’t know what she was going to do, but she wouldn’t be too thrilled about it.

She flung open the door, ready to politely but firmly decline any and all food items, but it wasn’t Marge. It was Amber and Hunter.

“Hey, guys.” Bea smiled at Hunter as he nestled a sleepy face into his mom’s shoulder. “Someone got a haircut.”

Amber adjusted him on her hip and tousled his hair. “I did it myself. I always cut my mom’s hair, so I figured I could do his. Saves money, you know.”

“You did a good job. He looks very handsome.” Bea stepped aside. “Come on in.”