[Pritchett House] [Pool] [Early Afternoon]
The Pritchett backyard had settled into the kind of lazy afternoon that usually happened after everyone had eaten too much and collectively decided there was nowhere else worth going.
Jack floated near the deep end of the pool on a large inflatable lounger, sunglasses over his eyes and a juice box resting against his stomach. Luke drifted beside him on a smaller float, holding his own juice box with both hands.
Luke had been quiet for almost a full minute, which Jack had learned usually meant he was working through an idea that would eventually become somebody else's problem.
Luke glanced over. "So when the baby comes, are you gonna teach it movie stuff?"
Jack pushed his sunglasses up slightly. "I was thinking I'd start with walking and talking before getting into whatever the kid wants to learn."
Luke nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, but you should probably teach it sword fighting while it's young."
Jack turned his head. "Why would that be the next step?"
"Kids learn faster."
"They also stab themselves with crayons."
Luke considered that before taking another sip. "Then foam swords."
Jack stared at him for a second. "You're putting a concerning amount of thought into this."
Luke smiled. "I'm gonna be an uncle."
Jack pointed his juice box at him. "You're going to be supervised."
A few feet away, Phil, Cam, Jay, and Mitchell had claimed the lounge chairs beneath the umbrellas.
Phil had sunglasses on and his hands folded behind his head, looking far more relaxed than someone who'd spent ten minutes earlier asking everyone whether sunscreen could expire. Cam had arranged his towel beneath his neck three separate times before deciding it was finally comfortable. Mitchell had brought a book outside under the optimistic assumption that he'd get to read it. He hadn't made it through two pages.
Jay sat at the far end with Stella sleeping beside his lounge chair. Jay had already moved her water bowl twice because the first two spots had gotten "too much sun."
Phil looked over at Stella and smiled. "She really likes you."
Jay didn't open his eyes. "She likes the premium food I buy."
"Agree to disagree, my friend. Dogs have a sixth sense. They see the soul, Jay. Dogs know people."
Jay cracked one eye open. "You saying people don't?"
Phil thought about that. "Well, sure, people know people. Classics like 'People Who Need People' come to mind. But dogs? Zero judgment. Pure, unconditional fan club."
Jay closed his eye again. "That's because dogs can't talk."
Phil nodded slowly. "Which is probably why most marriages between humans and dogs work so well."
Jay opened both eyes now. "What marriages?"
Phil lowered his sunglasses slightly. "Partnerships! Human-canine bonds. Platonic life-shares. Definitely didn't mean legally binding holy matrimony."
"You said marriages."
"I heard it. The second it left my mouth, I heard it. Bad word choice. Moving on!"
Jay stared at him.
Phil pushed his sunglasses back into place. "Just… soak in the serenity. Stella's having a five-star spa day."
Jay shook his head and settled back against the chair. "Sometimes I don't know how Claire does it."
Phil smiled. "Nineteen magical years of mutual respect, teamwork, and high-fives."
Jay grunted. "I was talking about raising the kids."
Phil's smile disappeared.
Cam started laughing beside them as he noticed Lily.
Near the patio table, Lily sat with a plate in her lap and a slice of chocolate cake that Cam had cut for her before realizing he'd given her far more than he'd intended.
There was already frosting near the corner of her mouth.
Cam noticed how quickly the cake was disappearing and sat forward. "Lily, sweetheart- dainty bites! You're shoveling it in like a roustabout at a county fair."
Lily swallowed. "Why?"
"Because lunch is almost ready, and you're going to ruin your appetite."
"I know."
Cam looked at the half-eaten slice. "Then perhaps we save some room."
Lily took another bite.
Mitchell lowered his book. "Cam, you gave her a piece of cake before lunch. I'm not sure you still have authority over how she eats it."
Cam turned toward him. "She looked at me with those big, tragic eyes and said she was starving, Mitchell! What kind of monster denies a famished child?!"
"She always says she's hungry when she sees cake."
Lily pointed her fork toward Mitchell. "Because I am."
Mitchell looked at Cam. "See?"
Cam sighed and turned back toward Lily. "All right, fine, but that is your final crumb until lunch."
Lily looked down at her cake. "This is my first piece."
Mitchell immediately raised his book again, using it to hide his smile.
Cam narrowed his eyes at him. "Oh, do not undermine my parenting from behind the safety of your little paperback, Mitchell!"
"I didn't say anything."
"You're smirking! It is a distinct, treasonous Tucker-undermining smirk and you know it!"
"I can't control my face. She looks adorable."
"Oh, you control it just fine when my mother is here! Your face turns completely into a sheet of Missouri limestone!"
Mitchell's smile disappeared immediately.
Cam gave him a satisfied look. "Ha! Caught red-handed, Counselor."
Inside the house, Claire was at the kitchen island slicing vegetables while Gloria moved between the stove and counter preparing enough food for considerably more people than were actually present.
Alex sat at the island with a book open beside a glass of iced tea. She hadn't turned the page in nearly five minutes. Haley sat beside her with one leg tucked under herself, slowly twisting her engagement ring around her finger.
Claire had noticed.
She'd also noticed that Haley had been strangely quiet since coming inside.
That usually meant one of three things. Haley wanted something, Haley had done something, or Haley was thinking about something she didn't know how to say yet.
Claire kept chopping and waited.
Haley eventually looked toward her. "So, Jack and I were talking about taking a trip."
Claire stopped with the knife halfway through a bell pepper. "What kind of trip?"
"Just a trip."
Claire stared at her.
Haley frowned. "Why did you say it like that?"
"Because historically speaking, Haley, whenever you say 'just a trip,' it turns out you bought non-refundable plane tickets to Cabo with money from an account you didn't know was overdrawn."
Haley replied, "We were thinking we should go somewhere before the baby comes."
That changed Claire's expression. She put the knife down for a moment. "Oh."
Haley watched her carefully. "Good 'oh' or Mom 'oh'?"
Claire picked the knife back up. "I am listening. Fully listening. Go on."
Gloria smiled while stirring something on the stove. "Ayyy, I think it is so romantic! You should go somewhere beeyootiful before you get too pregnant and big like a balloon to enjoy anysing!"
Claire glanced at Gloria. "Super comforting, Gloria, thank you. Let's frame that on a nursery wall."
Gloria shrugged. "Pregnancy is beeyootiful, Claire. But it is also exhausting, uncomfortable, so swetty, and sometimes you want to murder everybody just for chewing too loud!"
Haley leaned forward, encouraged. "Exactly, because right now I still feel mostly normal, except sometimes I cry because a commercial has a puppy in it, and then I get angry because the puppy looks too happy."
Alex looked over the top of her book. "You also cried yesterday because Jack finished your orange juice."
Haley frowned. "I wasn't crying because he finished it. I was crying because he said he'd buy more, and that was really sweet."
Alex went back to her book. "Much more normal."
Haley ignored her. "Anyway, we thought we should enjoy the cry-free months before everything gets worse."
Claire kept working. "Honey, you wept on Tuesday because a dog in a Subaru commercial looked, and I quote, 'too dignified for a hatchback.'"
"Yeah, but I still know why I'm crying most of the time."
Gloria smiled.
Haley leaned forward. "And pretty soon I'm gonna get huge, and my moods are gonna get worse, and I'm gonna start wanting Sour Patch Kids at three in the morning."
Claire nodded. "Okay, well, that part is actually spot-on."
"Or raw eggs or something disgusting."
Claire immediately looked at her. "No. Absolutely not. You are not eating raw eggs, Haley; salmonella is not a pregnancy milestone."
Haley blinked. "I don't even like eggs."
"Great. Crisis averted. One point for common sense."
Gloria smiled sympathetically. "Pregnancy makes your body want crazy things, mi amor. When I was pregnant wis Manny, all I wanted was green mango wis hot sauce, lots of crushed ice, and salt."
Alex slowly lowered her book. "Together?"
Gloria nodded proudly. "It was delicioso!"
Alex's expression suggested she had acquired information she wished she could return. "Honestly, how difficult is it for the endocrine system to just do its job without staging a culinary coup?" She mumbled.
Gloria pointed a spoon at her. "You make fun now, Alex! But one day, pum, you will understand!"
Haley's smile suddenly wavered. "Oh my God, what if I get really weird cravings?"
Claire continued slicing while keeping one eye on her. "Then you send Jack across town at two in the morning to find waffle fries. Believe me, your father once drove to three different 7-Elevens because I convinced myself I needed a blue slushie or our child wouldn't have fingernails."
Haley laughed, though her eyes were already becoming glossy. "He would totally do that."
Claire noticed the emotional shift immediately.
Haley touched the side of her hair and frowned. "Wait, does pregnancy make your hair fall out?"
Claire set the knife down carefully.
Haley's fingers moved through her hair with growing alarm. "Because I read something somewhere about hormones, and what if I lose all my hair?"
Alex looked toward her. "You probably read about postpartum shedding."
Haley's eyes widened. "Postpartum what?"
Alex immediately realized she'd made a mistake. "You know what, I'm going back to my book."
Haley's breathing changed as she looked down at herself. "And I'm definitely going to get stretch marks."
Claire walked around the island before the spiral gained any more momentum.
Haley laughed again, although tears suddenly appeared at the corners of her eyes. "This is so stupid because I know stretch marks aren't the end of the world, but what if I get them everywhere, and then my boobs change, my hair falls out, and I can't fit into my clothes, and I look like a giant bald watermelon?"
Gloria looked over. "Ayyy, Haley, please! The boobies getting bigger is a blessing!"
"Gloria," Claire said.
"What?! I am being helpful!"
Haley then started laughing too, which only made the tears fall faster. She wiped beneath her eyes with both hands. "Why am I laughing?"
Claire put both hands gently on her shoulders. "Because you're pregnant and your hormones are having a party."
Haley sniffed and looked up at her. "Do you think I'll be ugly?"
Claire's face softened immediately. "Haley, listen to me. Your body is doing something huge and insane and miraculous. You're going to change, yes, but you are never, ever going to be ugly."
Haley stared at her for a second before another thought hit with absolutely no warning.
Her eyes widened. "You're not disappointed in me, are you?"
Claire went completely still.
Haley searched her face, all the joking disappearing at once. "Are you?"
For one second, she didn't answer. The question hurt more than she had expected. Haley must have seen the hesitation because her face fell slightly.
Claire pulled the stool beside her closer and sat down.
"No. No, no, no. Oh, honey, absolutely not."
Haley searched her face.
Claire took her daughter's hand. "Am I terrified? Of course I am. I'm your mother, Haley, panic is my default setting. I panicked on your first day of kindergarten, I hyperventilated when you backed the minivan into the mailbox, and I lose sleep whenever you decide to turn on the stove."
Alex raised her hand slightly. "That was most of them."
Claire looked at her. "Thank you, Alex."
Alex lowered her hand and returned to her book.
Claire looked back at Haley. "Would I have picked nineteen for you? In a perfect world? No."
Haley's gaze dropped.
Claire squeezed her fingers. "No, probably not."
Haley gave her a wounded look.
"Haley, look at me. I'm not going to sit here and give you some sugar-coated TV-mom speech just because you're upset."
"I know."
Claire softened her voice. "You are very young. And between the engagement, your jobs, the press, and your insane schedules, you already have an entire lifetime of chaos on your plate. Throwing a baby into that mix is terrifying because it would bring anyone to their knees."
Haley stared at their hands.
Claire's thumb moved gently across her daughter's knuckles.
Then she smiled a little.
"...But I've been watching you. Really watching you."
Haley looked up again.
"You've actually been reading those parenting books. Without me hiding your phone."
"Some of them."
"You scheduled your own prenatal visit. Nobody had to nag you. You just... did it."
Haley's mouth twitched. "I can make appointments."
Claire gave her a look. "You once missed a dentist appointment because you thought Tuesday was after Wednesday."
"I was ten."
"You were fifteen."
Haley frowned. "That feels unnecessary right now."
Claire smiled and continued. "You're stepping up. You're terrified out of your mind, but you're showing up for it. And Jack is right there with both feet on the ground, doing it with you."
Haley swallowed.
Claire looked at her daughter for another second, and for a moment she could still see the teenager who used to come downstairs in outfits Claire hated, roll her eyes at every piece of advice, and somehow turn every argument into a discussion about whether Claire trusted her.
There had been years when Claire had worried Haley would never slow down long enough to think about what came next.
Now she almost wished she could slow things down for her.
Life hadn't bothered asking Claire what schedule she preferred.
Claire reached up and brushed a loose strand of hair away from Haley's face. "Do I wish you could have just been nineteen for a little longer before the entire world landed on your shoulders? Yeah. Yeah, I really do."
Haley's eyes watered again.
Claire squeezed her hand. "That doesn't mean I'm disappointed in you."
Haley blinked quickly.
"Not even a little bit. Haley... I am so, so proud of you."
That did it.
Haley leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her mother.
Claire hugged her tightly, one hand settling against the back of Haley's head.
For all the fights they'd had over the years, all the slammed doors, questionable clothes, missed curfews, and conversations where Claire had wondered whether either of them had understood the other, Haley still came to her when something really scared her.
Claire hoped that part never changed.
Haley sniffed against her shoulder. "I'm gonna ruin your shirt."
Claire glanced down at the damp spot already forming. "It's washable."
--
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