“Hey Amy, do you want a window seat or an aisle seat?” Mel and I were sitting in front of the computer the condo the four of us were sharing in Orlando (Chrissy had moved to Tampa with Nick) buying our plane tickets to fly home for Christmas.

“Neither, actually. I’m not going.”

“You’re not going home for Christmas? Why?” I spun around to find her standing behind us with her hands on her lower back.

She placed a hand on her growing belly. “Well, I have a doctor’s appointment on the 27th, so I’d only be there for couple days, and besides, my parents, well.... they really aren’t happy about the baby. I don’t think they even want me to come. Mom says I’m a terrible influence on Andrea.” Her little sister, Andrea, was 16 at the time. “She’s probably right.” Amy sighed and plopped down on the couch behind us.

“At least you didn’t get married in Vegas at 19. Chrissy’s parents are coming to Tampa for Christmas. Surely your parents will come around.” Cassie was trying to be helpful, but Amy wasn’t hearing it.

“Yeah, well, Nick owns a beach house on Tampa Bay. At least they’re getting a little vacation out of it. And Chrissy isn’t having a baby out of wedlock. Plus , their whole marriage is still a big secret. We know, and their parents know, but to the rest of the world, they’re still young, beautiful, and single pop stars.”

We begged and pleaded with her to come back to Kentucky with us for Christmas and tried our best to reassure her that her parents would want to see her, but in the end, we relented and left her in Florida. She drove to Tampa on Christmas Day and spent Christmas with Nick, Chrissy, and Chrissy’s parents, who were kind of like second parents to her anyway. After a couple days in Kentucky, I was worried about leaving my pregnant best friend alone for too long, so I went back to Orlando early, planning to go to her doctor’s appointment with her the next day. She was 21 weeks along, and would be having her big gender ultrasound. I planned to tell her I needed to know if I was right about “Kevin Junior.”

I never expected to walk into our condo and find Kristin Willits in my kitchen. “Um....
hi.” I eyed her cautiously as I hung my jacket on the coat rack by the door and dropped my keys into the “catch-all” bowl on the kitchen counter.

“Hi!” She smiled brightly and held her hand out to me. “I don’t think we’ve ever been formally introduced. I’m Kevin’s girlfriend, Kristin.” I shook her hand and stared at her, still trying to figure out why she was in my house. “Kevin’s in Amelia’s room getting her settled into bed,” she said casually. “You’re, Emily, right?”

I glanced over at the digital clock on the microwave. 7:30. “Why is Amelia going to bed at 7:30? Any why are you and Kevin here? Is everything okay?” I panicked as I began to put the pieces together.

Kristin frowned. “You mean she didn’t call you?”

“No....”

“She called Kevin this morning freaking out because she was having some cramping and bleeding. We were at his mom’s in Kentucky, but he got a flight down here as fast as he could.” I gasped and slammed my hand over my rapidly pounding heart. “Everything’s fine.” Kristin placed a reassuring hand on my arm and smiled. “She just overdid it scrubbing the bathroom floor. Probably nesting.” She laughed, and in the back of my mind I was kind of hoping that it would be one of those shrill laughs that grated on my nerves, but it wasn’t. Instead it was warm and friendly. “The doctor wants her to take it easy for a few days, but she and the baby look great. It’s a boy, by the way.”
“I told her I’d be happy to help her nest as soon as I go back into town. She’s stubborn, that Amelia.”

Kristin laughed at my remark. “Poor kid doesn’t have a chance then. Kevin’s like an old mule sometimes.” I smiled and turned towards Amelia’s room, realizing that I liked her. I really liked her. Crap.

I tapped lightly on Amelia’s bedroom door, which wasn’t shut all the way, and let myself in. Kevin was fluffing her pillows and smoothing out her comforter. He grabbed a glass of water off her nightstand and held it out to her. “Drink this,” he instructed. “Dr. Adler said dehydration can cause contractions.”

She rolled her eyes and took the glass, then took a sip. “What are you doing here?” she asked after she swallowed.

“I was going to go with you to your doctor’s appointment tomorrow.” I sat down on the edge of her bed and put my hand on her covered knee. “Why didn’t you call me today?

“Kevin was going to be here for the ultrasound tomorrow anyway, and I thought he would want to know what was going on, just in case....” She trailed off and let out a sob.

I patted her knee as Kevin bent down to kiss the top of her head. “He’s fine, Amy.” He ran his hand through her hair and wiped away a tear from her cheek before turning to me with a big grin. “It’s a boy.”

I smiled back. “I know. Kristin told me.”

“I’m so sorry we had to bring Kristin into this, Kev.” Amelia lamented.

Kevin put his hands on his hips and shrugged. “I’m not. If I’m going to be part of her life, then you and this baby are, too.” He had a point there.

“Still...I’m sorry I cut your Christmas vacation even shorter than I was already going to.”

“Amy, it’s fine. I wouldn’t miss the ultrasound for the world.” He sat on the bed beside her and his hand brushed up against mine. “Kris and I were going to stay here with you tonight and I was going to take you to your appointment in the morning.” He turned to me. “The doctor wants to see her in the morning anyway just to make sure everything still seems okay.” It was like he was reading my mind. I had been wondering why they were seeing the doctor in the morning if they’d already seen her today. “ Since Emily’s here, is it okay if we go back to my place, and I’ll pick you up tomorrow at eight?”

Amelia nodded. “Please do.”

I nodded in agreement. “We’re good here. It’s early enough that you might even be able to go to dinner or something.”

Kevin got up and gave Amy a quick kiss on the cheek. I nearly melted because of how sweet he was being with her. As he walked by me in the doorway, I placed a hand on his bicep to stop him. “I like her, Kevin. I really do.” I have no idea what had come over me.

He pursed his lips then gave me a crooked smile. “I like her, too.”

Amelia’s eyelids were getting heavy, so I decided to follow Kevin out. When we got back into the kitchen, Kristin turned from where she was standing at the sink washing dishes, wrapped her arms protectively around his waist, rested her chin on his shoulder and smiled. Man, she was tall-- and gorgeous. I was a little intimidated just looking at her. “I think we’ll head out,” Kevin told me.

Kristin’s arms dropped from his waist as she twirled around to face the sink again. “Give me just a minute to finish these, Kev.” She pushed her hands back down into the sink. Two thoughts came to mind. The first was that even up to her elbows in dirty dish water, she looked graceful. The second was that I loathed doing dishes and I so badly wanted to just stand there and let her finish them. Instead, I insisted that she and Kevin go on their way. Just as I was drying my hands, the doorbell rang. I sauntered over to the door and glanced through the peephole. Howie stood there with his arms full of Tupperware containers. I hadn’t told anyone except for my family that I was coming back to Florida early, and it was starting to feel like he had some sort of sixth sense when it came to me. Honestly, the thought both excited and scared the crap out of me.