Chapter One
Meg cursed, sliding on the ice as she walked up Steven and Suzanna’s sidewalk. All dressed up for a Christmas dinner party and she was going to kill herself before she even got there.
She wasn’t sure how well the party was actually going. She was at least fifteen minutes late and her car was the only one that didn’t belong in the driveway. Hopefully Suzanna wasn’t sitting in a puddle of hormone-induced tears. Pregnancy had not been kind to Meg’s older sister. Suzanna’s emotions were off the chart crazy and her decision-making wasn’t far behind. Who has a last minute dinner party the week before Christmas and thinks people are actually going to have time to show up? A pregnant Suzanna, that’s who.
Meg had first suspected something had changed in her sister when Suzanna got the wrong kind of cheese on her sandwich at the drive-through and sobbed uncontrollably over the missing cheddar.
Meg immediately dragged Suzanna to the drugstore, bought a stick test, and made her pee on it—all before their lunch hour had even ended.
Suzanna hadn’t stopped crying since.
Easing her way up the slippery stairs and onto the front porch, Meg made it to the door without falling on her ass. She smiled when Steven pulled the door open and nearly ran over him to get out of the bitter cold. She should have known better than to wear a skirt. Iowa was not kind in the winter.
“You need to put salt on your sidewalk,” she said.
“You didn’t fall down did you?”
She shook her head as he helped her with her coat. “I have impeccable balance. Even on ice.”
“Good.”
She lowered her voice. “Where is everyone?”
“Everyone?”
“Suzanna said you were having a dinner party.”
Steven’s gray eyes widened and his mouth opened and closed several times, reminding Meg of a fish out of water. “Uh, it’s not so much a dinner party as just…dinner.”
She looked at him in his slacks and button down shirt and then at herself in dangerously high heels and tight black dress. “Then why did we have to dress up?”
Steven sighed. “Because Suzanna said so.”
Meg grinned. “Never argue with a pregnant woman. Wise man.”
“I’ve learned.”
“She said you have a friend staying with you for a while.”
He had that look again. A panicked fish. “Uh. He’s, uh…” Steven ran a hand through his brown hair and exhaled a long slow breath.
“What?”
“Uh, you know, Suzanna is in the kitchen trying to make lasagna or something. She probably needs you.”
Meg took a moment to process Steven’s discomfort. “So am I the only guest then? Me and your friend?”
Steven stuffed his hands in his pockets and nodded slightly.
Meg closed her eyes and sighed. “Tell me you are not trying to set me up.”
His hands flew from his pockets and he held them up as if to defend himself from the impending attack. “I am completely innocent in this. I swear. Take it up with Suzanna. I’m just the man of the house, and I assure you, that means nothing here.”
“Damn her. Well, is he at least cute?”
“I think…he’s…you know…your type.”
Whatever that was. Her last few so-called serious relationships were with men as different as Chinese and Italian food. Madman, the badass biker, had let her go a bit crazy but his irresponsibility got old fast. She’d slipped out of his bed in the middle of the night and never heard from him again. Zach, the supersensitive guy, had sent her flowers and candy on a near daily basis. He also cried more than her pregnant sister did now, which was more than straight arrow Megan Carter could handle. She’d taken a box of tissues with her the night she broke up with him. He used half the box.
Then there was Ben, the hippie who preached the benefits of living off nothing but what Mother Nature offered. He’d left her when he caught her eating a Big Mac. He said he could never spend his life with someone who was so disrespectful to her body. Meg had finished her
Meg cursed, sliding on the ice as she walked up Steven and Suzanna’s sidewalk. All dressed up for a Christmas dinner party and she was going to kill herself before she even got there.
She wasn’t sure how well the party was actually going. She was at least fifteen minutes late and her car was the only one that didn’t belong in the driveway. Hopefully Suzanna wasn’t sitting in a puddle of hormone-induced tears. Pregnancy had not been kind to Meg’s older sister. Suzanna’s emotions were off the chart crazy and her decision-making wasn’t far behind. Who has a last minute dinner party the week before Christmas and thinks people are actually going to have time to show up? A pregnant Suzanna, that’s who.
Meg had first suspected something had changed in her sister when Suzanna got the wrong kind of cheese on her sandwich at the drive-through and sobbed uncontrollably over the missing cheddar.
Meg immediately dragged Suzanna to the drugstore, bought a stick test, and made her pee on it—all before their lunch hour had even ended.
Suzanna hadn’t stopped crying since.
Easing her way up the slippery stairs and onto the front porch, Meg made it to the door without falling on her ass. She smiled when Steven pulled the door open and nearly ran over him to get out of the bitter cold. She should have known better than to wear a skirt. Iowa was not kind in the winter.
“You need to put salt on your sidewalk,” she said.
“You didn’t fall down did you?”
She shook her head as he helped her with her coat. “I have impeccable balance. Even on ice.”
“Good.”
She lowered her voice. “Where is everyone?”
“Everyone?”
“Suzanna said you were having a dinner party.”
Steven’s gray eyes widened and his mouth opened and closed several times, reminding Meg of a fish out of water. “Uh, it’s not so much a dinner party as just…dinner.”
She looked at him in his slacks and button down shirt and then at herself in dangerously high heels and tight black dress. “Then why did we have to dress up?”
Steven sighed. “Because Suzanna said so.”
Meg grinned. “Never argue with a pregnant woman. Wise man.”
“I’ve learned.”
“She said you have a friend staying with you for a while.”
He had that look again. A panicked fish. “Uh. He’s, uh…” Steven ran a hand through his brown hair and exhaled a long slow breath.
“What?”
“Uh, you know, Suzanna is in the kitchen trying to make lasagna or something. She probably needs you.”
Meg took a moment to process Steven’s discomfort. “So am I the only guest then? Me and your friend?”
Steven stuffed his hands in his pockets and nodded slightly.
Meg closed her eyes and sighed. “Tell me you are not trying to set me up.”
His hands flew from his pockets and he held them up as if to defend himself from the impending attack. “I am completely innocent in this. I swear. Take it up with Suzanna. I’m just the man of the house, and I assure you, that means nothing here.”
“Damn her. Well, is he at least cute?”
“I think…he’s…you know…your type.”
Whatever that was. Her last few so-called serious relationships were with men as different as Chinese and Italian food. Madman, the badass biker, had let her go a bit crazy but his irresponsibility got old fast. She’d slipped out of his bed in the middle of the night and never heard from him again. Zach, the supersensitive guy, had sent her flowers and candy on a near daily basis. He also cried more than her pregnant sister did now, which was more than straight arrow Megan Carter could handle. She’d taken a box of tissues with her the night she broke up with him. He used half the box.
Then there was Ben, the hippie who preached the benefits of living off nothing but what Mother Nature offered. He’d left her when he caught her eating a Big Mac. He said he could never spend his life with someone who was so disrespectful to her body. Meg had finished her
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