Waking Up in Charleston by Sherryl Woods Page B

shifts?” Willie Ron suggested. “He doesn’t care as long as the place is covered and he doesn’t have to cut us a check for any more money. Besides, what makes you think I want that flu bug you’ve got?”
    “I suppose you’re right,” she said at last. If he was going to cover for her, then he had a right to know the whole story. He’d be the first person outside the family and Reverend Webb she’d told. “Willie Ron, there’s something you should know. I’m not going to get better, at least not anytime soon. I can’t keep asking you to sub for me.”
    His dark brown eyes widened as understanding dawned. “You telling me this ain’t the flu? You got a baby coming, Mary Louise?”
    She gave him a weak smile. “Seems that way.”
    “Well, praise the Lord, if that ain’t the best news I’ve heard in a long time.” He shook his head, looking dazed. “A baby. You and Danny, huh? He must be pretty excited.” At her lack of a response, his gaze narrowed. “He is excited, isn’t he?”
    “Not exactly.”
    He regarded her with undisguised indignation. “That boy ain’t going to marry you?”
    She shook her head. “No, but I don’t want to talk about it, okay? This is for the best.”
    Willie Ron looked as if he had a whole lot more he wanted to say, but he must have seen something in Mary Louise’s expression that stopped him.
    “Well, the man’s a fool, that’s all I’ve got to say,” he huffed at last. “And no matter what you want, I intend to tell him that if he shows his face around here.”
    She smiled at his indignation. “Thanks for the support.”
    “You need anything, you come to Willie Ron, you hear? I’ll fuss over you,” he promised. “Your parents okay with all this?”
    “They’re getting there,” she said. “Actually, they’ve been pretty great. I know they wish things were different, but they’ve stopped giving me those awful pitying looks and my dad’s not talking about getting out his shotgun anymore.”
    Just then her stomach rolled. “Oh, hell, here we go again,” she moaned.
    “Go,” Willie Ron said. “I’ll have some nice cold ginger ale for you when you come back.”
    Mary Louise sprinted for the bathroom. Inside, once the heaving stopped, her eyes filled with tears. Why couldn’t Danny have been the one waiting out there with ginger ale? Why did she have to go through this pregnancy with only her folks and Willie Ron in her corner? And Reverend Webb, she amended.
    Then she thought about how generously her folks had rallied on her behalf, how solidly Reverend Webb had stood by her when she’d had to face her folks and how sweet Willie Ron had been just now. Maybe she should stop feeling sorry for herself and count herself lucky for having four decent, strong people on her side. There were lots of girls in her shoes who had no one. Whenever she got low, she needed to remind herself of that.
     
    Caleb was pretty proud of himself for finessing that deal to get Amanda to help out with the church’s youthgroup. It was going to be good for all of them, her included. She needed to prove to herself that she had something to offer the world. He was convinced that at some point in the future she could go back to school and get a degree in psychology, if she felt so inclined.
    Then again, maybe she’d prefer to put to use those business courses she’d taken before dropping out of school. He had a hunch she’d downplayed those courses during her job hunt so folks wouldn’t think she was overqualified to be a clerk in a boutique and working a register out at the new superstore. Maybe he’d take a look at the classifieds himself and see if there weren’t a few jobs out there that would help her bring in more than minimum wage.
    In the meantime, knowing that he’d be seeing her on a regular basis on his turf was a side benefit, as well, even if it was going to add to his frustration. He wanted so many things when he was with her, but some of them were simply