“I get it, in a way.” Amber blew a piece of hair from her face. “They wanted to party at the river and go to concerts and date each other. You can’t do stuff like that with a baby.”

Bea bit the inside of her bottom lip. She didn’t care about parties or concerts or dating. But what other things might she lose from her life once her baby was born?

“Well, I better get this guy home.” Amber slung Hunter’s diaper bag over her shoulder and smiled at him. “Did you have fun with Auntie Bea?”

Hunter gave a happy-sounding gurgle as he and Amber headed for the door, and Bea’s heart squeezed. Auntie? She was an only child. She’d never be a real aunt, but she sure liked the sound of it.

“See you later.” Bea waved and closed the door after her friend.

Friend. Who would’ve ever thought she and Amber Moss would be friends? Jeremy appeared, drawn by the sound of the door.

“She gone?”

Bea nodded. “I’m exhausted.”

“I’m sorry I missed most of it. I need all the practice I can get.”

“I had no idea what I was doing.”

“I’m sure you were great.” Jeremy kissed her on the forehead. “I had quite a day, too. Ed showed me how to change a tire on the ten-wheeler. Then I stopped at that antler shop on my way home.”

“You talked to Mr. Van Dyken?”

Jeremy nodded. “He showed me all these amazing pictures on his phone of his work. He even has a video about how to build an antler chandelier that he made for his grandson.”

“Whoa, I would totally watch that.”

“It needs some editing, but yes, it was really cool.” Jeremy was fired up now, and his voice rose. “But all that stuff’s just sitting there on his phone. Being wasted! I showed him how to set up a Facebook account and post pictures on it.”

“Did he do it?”

“No.” Jeremy deflated. “He said he wasn’t ready for that sort of thing.”

Bea harrumphed. “Well, is he ready to go out of business?”

“I said something along the same lines.” Jeremy chuckled. “Except with a little more subtlety.”

He steered her toward the kitchen. “Shall we go see what your dad has planned for this big dinner he keeps talking about?”

Bea was happy to turn her attention to dinner. They entered the kitchen and found Dad elbow-deep in raw meat. He was kneading a giant ball of burger in a glass bowl and forming patties with his hands. Containers of chili powder, seasoned salt, garlic powder, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce were scattered around the counter.

Bea perked right up. “Are you grilling?”

Dad nodded. “Just the way you like them.”

Even though she thought she’d never be hungry again after her cheesecake breakfast, her stomach rumbled.