Cart Before The Horse by Bernadette Marie

eight-year-old, don’t you think?”
     
    “A deal was a deal and it was worth every cent.” He turned to Holly. “Hi, beautiful.”
    “Hello.” She looked at him and then at Chandra. Her head dropped and her cheeks turned red. “Hello, Chandra.”
    Gabe bit down on his lip to stop the smirk that threatened to surface.
    “What’s new?” Chandra gave her a nod.
    “End of the world is about to happen.” Her face faded to white, and he wondered if she was that nervous or if she was sick again.
    Chandra slapped the top of the bar. “Don’t sweat the small stuff, honey. Get this guy out of my hair for the night, okay? In fact, I’d really like it if I didn’t see him until I come to work
on Tuesday.”
    Holly laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”
    She turned and walked out of the restaurant, and Gabe turned back to Chandra. She pulled a bottle of wine from under the bar and handed it to him. Then she gave a shrug and a nod and went about her business. He wasn’t even sure Holly realized what she’d seen go down. How would she feel if she knew she’d been set up, Chandra knew about the TP-ing of her house, and that he’d paid the eight-year-old to clean it up? And did she catch the not-so-subtle suggestion that she should keep Gabe occupied all weekend? He thought that had been a stellar idea.
    The holidays were right around the corner. Gabe thought he might have to budget Chandra a pay raise.
     
    Holly started the car and waited for Gabe to buckle in. Her palms sweated against the steering wheel, and the urge to turn the car off and go back inside nearly won over the plague of guilt that would follow. “What’s the wine for?”
    “Chandra thinks I should give it to your parents.”
    “Oh.” Her mother would appreciate that. Her nerves settled a bit knowing Gabe was going to win her mother over, for
     
    a little while anyway.
    “You look pale today. Are you okay?” He reached across the car to push a lock of hair behind her ear.
    Leave it to the man, sitting across from her looking go rgeous, to remind her how bad she felt and looked. If it wouldn’t take more energy than she had, she would push him out of the car. But she needed him. She gave a grunt and pulled back from his hand. “I’m very tired and of course I got sick this morning. But that doesn’t seem to be news anymore.”
    “Would you like me to drive?”
    “No, I’ll be fine.”
    She figured driving would keep her mind otherwise occ upied as she merged onto I-25 and headed north.
    She’d been so tired when they got home she’d fallen asleep quickly, but once she woke and realized what she was about to do her nerves took over. Then there was the shiny reminder on her finger of the web of lies she’d twisted.
    As she merged onto Highway 36, she caught Gabe’s
stare. “What?”
    “You haven’t been talking to me since we left downtown. But I think you have a whole conversation going in your head.”
    “Sorry. I guess I do.”
    “Do you want to talk about it?”
    “No.” She switched lanes. “I’m just nervous. My mother’s going to want to talk wedding plans, and if she’s calmed enough and I mention the baby, she’ll want to discuss nurseries too. Mind you, this will be after the curtain of tears falls because her daughter has done everything backward again.”
    “This is the twenty-first century. Is there really a
backward?”
    She gripped the steering wheel tighter. Of course he didn’t understand that it was backward, his mother was a woman who believed in moving ahead in life. Forging to the top of corporate ladders and raising fine children. Her mother was too worried about what the neighbors might think if things
 
    w eren’t just right. “There is to Trudy Jacobs.”
    Gabe looked at his watch then crossed his arms over his chest. “How do we handle wedding talk?”
    Holly blew out a breath, irritated with his attitude toward the whole thing. No matter what they planned, her mother was still going to