Annie looked over her half-rimmed glasses at me. “We both know you don’t need to work.” I suddenly regretted telling her about the sizable inheritance that my parents had left me in their will. “Surely, you were planning to take some time off to spend with that baby?” She didn’t seem to expect an answer, so I remained quiet. “Babies are only small for a short time, Ab. You enjoy every second of it.”

“I will, but…”

“No buts,” she ordered in her rarely used no-nonsense tone. “You can figure out your career later, but I want you to stay home with that baby for a while. It’s important bonding time that you’ll never get back.”

I nodded at her, agreeing wholeheartedly with what she was saying. My mind was racing, frantically trying to come up with a reason why Annie couldn’t sell the shop and leave. “What about Mr. Finley?” I was grasping at straws.

Annie’s face softened noticeably. “Harry? Well, he’s thinking about selling Treats, too. Neither one of us is getting any younger. We want to travel before we are too old and feeble to go.”

I couldn’t imagine Annie ever being old or feeble, and I hadn’t realized that she and Mr. Finley were serious enough to be talking about a future together. I’d been so caught up in my own world of problems that I had failed to notice all of the changes that were going on in Annie’s life.

I wasn’t ready to accept any of this. I laid my head down on the counter, trying to process it all. Annie rubbed my back gently. “It’ll be okay, Ab. It will all be okay,” she promised.

I hoped with all my heart that she was right.

15

I tried all week not to stress about the news that Annie had shared with me. I knew it wasn’t good for the baby for me to worry, but I couldn’t seem to get my mind off it. I was at home alone for the first time in a long while. Court was working the dinner shift, and Seth was hard at work on a boat. He seemed to go in phases with his craft, and he was currently in the midst of an über-productive spurt.

I had a whole Saturday evening to myself, with nothing to do. I donned my short, scruffy but comfy faded pink robe and tried to watch some television, but could only find reality shows and infomercials. Nothing caught my attention, so I wandered to Peanut’s room and sat down on the floor. The room was empty, except for our computer desk and an empty dresser that had been in my parents’ home. The chalky white walls were bare of any pictures or other decorations.