Granting Wishes (11 page)

“It was a last minute thing,
Princess. We’re only having a coffee. I had breakfast with mom and dad.” He squeezed her close again and gave her a tender kiss. “You both remember Jade right?”

Jade gave a halfh
earted, smirky sort of smile. Chelsea really wanted to smack it off her face but instead, she kept up her sweet as sugar smile and did her best to look surprised.

“Jade? Oh,
my goodness, yes. I remember you now. Gosh, you sure look different. How are you?” By
‘looking different’
she meant
‘my God you have your makeup on so thick it probably takes a scraper to get it off and you really need to eat a cheeseburger since you look half starved’
.

Lilah snorted under her breath and grinned. She made it a point to completely ignore Jade and looked at her brother instead. “Hi, Twinnie. We’re about to go car shopping. Chels is finally getting a hot new ride. As much as my Mustang has been breaking down, I might even trade mine in too.”

Jade looked out the window and turned back to Chelsea. “Oh my God, you still have that hunk of crap from high school? That ugly car was on its last leg back then. I always felt so sorry for you that you had to drive that thing. Sucks being poor. Really sucks being poor
and
fat.”

Chelsea tensed up and her nails dug into Dom’s back. He flinched but at least it kept her from scratching Jade’s face off and getting arrested.

“Jade, don’t be hateful. There is no reason for it.” Dom said sternly.

“
It’s okay, Dom. She was always like that with me. I imagine it’s eating her up to know you’re
my
man now and here she is, back in town pining after you.” Chelsea gave him a soft kiss and stroked his cheek.

“Speaking of eating, I imagine it’s eating you up that you’re still Chubby Chelsea. Some things never change.” Jade laughed.

Lilah snatched Jade by the hair and jerked her head back, drawing her fist back to punch her when Dom grabbed her hand, and pulled her and Chelsea out of the diner with him. In the meantime, Lilah spouted off none to ladylike things, while Chelsea busted out laughing at her protective best friend. Jade followed them out, yelling at Dom. “We still need to talk, Dominic. Once you control your bitches.” That made Chelsea stop laughing and she lunged at Jade. Unfortunately, Dom caught her just before she was within reach of Jade.

“No, Jade. We haven’t had anything to talk about since high school. Don’t bother calling me again. I see now you weren’t trying to catch up while you were in town like you said. Lose my number. I don’t deal with trash, and I sure as hell don’t put up with anyone treating my woman
, or my sister, disrespectfully.”

It was four weeks later when Chelsea pulled into work with the top down on her metallic toffee brown Beetle Convertible. She was crazy in love with her affordable, yet stylish new car. It got good gas mileage and she happened to think she looked pretty cute driving it. After trading in her clunker and putting down a large down-payment, her monthly payments were easy to handle. Lilah had teased her for her choice of car, but Dom said it fit her to a T. She agreed with him.

Things between them had smoothed out once they sat down and talked about Jade. Dom assured her he didn’t have feelings for his ex-girlfriend. The only reason he’d met her at the diner that Saturday morning was because she had texted him the night before when they were on the way home from the bar sounding quite distressed. He’d been intrigued,
and a little too drunk to be thinking clearly. Jade told him she was back in town for a while and was looking up old friends to reconnect. She had mentioned she’d been having a really hard time and could use a friend to talk to. He told Chelsea he didn’t expect Jade to still act like she had a chip on her shoulder. Since then, he had avoided her calls going so far as to block her number when she kept trying to get ahold of him.

The office lights were on though Chelsea had arrived early to meet everyone for an early start to their volunteer work today. Upon further inspection, she noticed Lilah’s purse was on the floor by her desk looking like it had been tossed there. As she sat her things on her desk, she heard the unmistakable sounds of someone vomiting in the bathroom. After knocking on the door, she heard a croaked
“yes” followed by more heaving noises. Chelsea’s stomach rolled but her friend needed her so she pushed open the door to see Lilah kneeling in front of the white porcelain toilet holding onto it like her life depended on it. Lilah tore off a wad of tissue and wiped her mouth with it while Chelsea pulled a cloth out of the cabinet and ran it under cold water. She rang it out and filled a Dixie cup with water and handed it to her friend while she wiped her face off with the cold rag.

“It sounds like you need to take the day off, hon,” Chelsea said as she gently rubbed Lilah’s back.

“No, I actually feel better now. Well, I will if you pour me some mouthwash in this cup,” she said, handing the cup back to Chelsea.

Chelsea filled it with spearmint Listerine and handed it back. “If this doesn’t kill the taste of puke, nothing will.”

While Lilah swished and spit, Chelsea rinse out the cloth and rubbed it over Lilah’s neck. “What set it off? Did you eat something bad for breakfast, or were you out drinking last night and didn’t invite me?”

“No, neither one. I walked through the cafeteria to drop off a stack of flyer's for the grand re-opening of Kringle Farms and the smell of fried hash browns
made my stomach do triple back-flips. I didn’t think I was gonna make it in here. I do feel better now. A little light headed, but not like earlier.”

“Huh, you love their hash-browns and gravy. I wonder why that would bother you all of a sudden? Oh…” Then it hit Chelsea what might be wrong. Lilah sat back against the wall. For a woman that had just thrown up, she still looked beautiful; even dressed down in shorts and a t-shirt with her hair
pulled back into a bun. Today was scheduled to be a work day out at the farm to prepare for the re-opening so they had decided to dress for comfort. Not even a bit of make-up was applied but Lilah was
glowing
. “Lilah, honey,” Chelsea started slowly, taking a deep breath.

“What? What’s wrong? Please don’t tell me I have puke on my face!”

“No, not at all. You look beautiful as a matter of fact. You’re glowing.”

Lilah wasn’t catching on to the subtle hint. She didn’t have a clue as to what was currently racing through Chelsea’s mind.

“I have a question; an intimate one. When you and Jake were together, did you use protection?”

Lilah got up off the floor and looked at Chelsea, grabbing her ar
ms as if to steady herself. “We, um, we’ve only,” she stuttered. “It was just that one time.” She started pacing back and forth while Chelsea stayed quiet a moment, letting her work it out in her head.

“But what’s the chance of that happening the first time? Oh crap, Chels. You don’t think?”

“When was your last cycle?”

Lilah flew out of the bathroom and grabbed her purse, pulling out her planner and flipping through it. “When was yours, Chels? We usually are in sync.”

Chelsea thought about it a moment and her face flushed bright pink. She was speechless.

“Holy shit,” she said, grabbing her cell phone and looking at the calendar notes. She sat down with a hard thump and dropped it on the floor.

“You and Dom didn’t use protection either?”

She shook her head slowly, feeling shock wash over her like a rush of cold water. It was a bad time for Josie to walk in all bubbly and bright. But everyone had planned on meeting early, having breakfast at Ms. Lola’s, then riding out to the Kringle’s together.

“Well good mornin’ my beautifious sunshine’s! Isn’t it a glorious day? I’m so stinkin’ excited to be workin’ outside today even though it’s supposed to be hotter than a two peckered billy goat. Thank y’all so much for includin’ me in on this. I do declare I just love my job here! And don’t y’all look just gorgeous all fresh-faced and natural. I cheated though. I can absolutely not leave my house without a layer of mascara and drawin’ on my eyebrows. I’d be a fright I tell ya. Would even scare those precious animals on the farm.” She laughed, then looked from Lilah to Chelsea once she realized neither one was talking. “What’s wrong? Too early for me to be so chipper? I bet y’all haven’t even had your coffee yet have you? And here I am just a ramblin’ away.”

“Good morning, ladies,” Angel said as she walked in. “I’m ready to go if all of you are. Sorry I was running late.”

Still, Chelsea and Lilah were staring at each other not saying a word. The silence was uncomfortable and awkward, but Lilah broke it when she hopped up and grabbed her bag. “Chels and I need to make a quick run to the store. We’ll meet you at the diner.” Chelsea jumped up and followed her out, swinging her purse over her shoulder without a word before Angel or Josie could object.

“Well, that was strange,” Josie said to Angel.

“Yeah, I’d say so. Come on, let’s head out and grab a table at Ms. Lola’s before it gets too busy.”

In the meantime, Lilah and Chelsea hopped into her Beetle and made a beeline for the grocery store and bought home pregnancy tests. Deciding it wasn’t something they could wait
on they stopped at the bathroom after they went through the check-out line.

“According to the instructio
ns, we have to wait two minutes then check the results,” Chelsea said. “You either get a plus or a minus in the little round window.”

“Ah crap, I pee’d on my hand. This is not my damn day.” Lilah cried out in the stall next to hers.

They sat their tests on the counter while they washed their hands. By now, both were silent. It was the longest two minutes, but when Chelsea said it was time, they held hands and walked back to the counter again and looked together. Lilah immediately burst out in tears.

***

Ms. Lola’s was getting busy by the time they arrived and scooted into the corner booth with the girls, Dom, and Jake. The girls tried to mask their surprise at seeing their boyfriends there.

“We figured we’d sneak into town and enjoy breakfast with our favorite ladies before we start our work day. Breakfast is my treat of course. It’s the least I can do for making y’all sweat out in this heat and humidity today.” Jake slid his arm around Lilah’s shoulders and gave her a tender kiss. Ms. Lola came by with a fresh pot of coffee and started flipping their cups over on the saucers to fill them
, but Lilah quickly covered hers with her hand. “I think I just want some orange juice, Ms. Lola, thank you.” Chelsea chimed in, “I’d like a tall glass of chocolate milk. I’m all coffee’d out.”

Dom’s laughter had a wicked tone to it when he replied, “Mhmm, and we all know how my girl loves her chocolate.” Her face turned beet red and she swatted his arm, “You’re so bad, Dom.” He chuckled and kissed her, “I am, but you love me don’t you?” She grinned at him, melting a little. “I do.”

It was Josie’s turn to giggle now. “Aw, y’all are such cute couples. So romantical, seein’ y’all so in love. I wish there was a single man in the bunch of ya. Then I could be a part of the family.”

A collective groan started a bout of laughter that eased the earlier tension the girls were feeling. The rest of their breakfast was filled with laughter and good-natured teasing. Afterwards, they all piled into cars and headed out to Kringle Farms where the work was already in progress. Jake gave them a quick tour of the most recent accomplishments to the renovations and expansion. They now had two additional buildings that would house bunks for future campers. Their licensing was in process and they had recently hired two special needs equine therapists that would be the head of that department. The animal therapy program was now in the works and soon they would be able to begin hosting troubled youth and special needs patients. It was a proven fact that equine therapy had many benefits and Kringle Farms was happy to be able to begin providing that service to the community. Thanks to the Canes’ A Million Wishes program, there would be no charge to any of the children or adults that joined the program.

Sidewalks with railing and ramps had been installed throughout the property for ease of maneuvering. The new barn housed not only paint horses and buckskins, but there were also Shetland ponies and Kringle Farms pride and joy, Clydesdale’s that were a big part of the holiday programs. They were a sight to see, pulling wagons for hayrides, carriage rides or prancing through the local parades. Gentle giants that loved attention and that were so tame they could even be a part of the therapy program for the youth. They were proud, majestic animals with sweet temperaments. A truly beautiful sight to see.

The tack room was already lined with saddles, blankets
, and bridles, along with grooming supplies for the many animals on site. Today was painting day. The outsides of all the buildings, both old and new, were getting coated with traditional barn red paint with white trim. The volunteers that had joined in the effort to make Kringle Farms shine had showed up ready to work. This place had long been a beacon of light in the community and now it was getting the tender loving care it deserved.

“I know we don’t have campers coming in yet, but we need our photographer to take pictures of it all for the brochures. We’ll also be giving tours during our grand re-opening event. Can a couple of y’all be in charge of making up all the beds and hanging the curtains while the rest help paint today?”

“Lilah and I will do that, Jake,” Chelsea volunteered. Smelling paint fumes was certainly not something they needed to be doing.

“Hey, guys. Where do you need us, Jake?” Noah Cane and his father
, Matthias, came up to the group. Lilah hugged her father and grandfather, giving them each a kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks for coming out to help,” Jake shook their hands, then pointed to the station he had set up with all the painting supplies. “Grab whatever you like to paint with and we’ll start work on the main barn first.”

“Sounds good. Mikayla and GiGi are cooking up a feast for everyone, so spread the word they’ll be bringing food out later.”

“Sure appreciate that, sir.” Jake led them off, leaving Chelsea and Lilah to start fixing up the beds.