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It was weird staying house without either Beck brother, it just didn't feel right. I keep imagining Conrad suddenly walking in after a mid-day surf covered in sand and sea water, or Jeremiah rolling up in his father's old cruiser carrying two paper bags of crab rolls, with grease already dripping through the bottom.
Steven was leaving in a couple of days to go back to work, while my mom would be staying the rest of the summer to help me during my pregnancy. It hadn't hit me that my mom was getting older until I spotted a few gray hairs amongst her usual dark strands. She had always just been my mom. The same mom who asked too many questions, the mom who rubbed my back when I was sick, the mom who somehow knew everything without you having to say a word. All those things bugged me a child, as if forever labeling me as the baby of the family, when in reality I wanted to be anything but. My mom, the stable, unwavered, the steady rock to our strange, chaotic, summer family. And pretty soon would be a grandmother to my first born baby- which that in itself is hard to swallow as reality. In fact we all had gotten older, just with my mom it was as if she kept it hidden. And although she was still my mother, the thought that she was getting older- changing- made me sad.
For two weeks I had known my mom was planning a "surprise" baby shower for me. And for two weeks I've died trying to keep it remain a "surprise" despite my kiddish and overwhelming excitement. As as much as she tries, my mom is no Susannah. Susannah was always the A+ party planner with actual themes, matching paper plates and napkins. My mom on the other hand was an amateur at this sort of stuff. I stumbled across the balloons hidden in the closets, the pile of neatly stacked invitations in the foyer, but the fact that Susannah's well-loved Joy of Cooking sat propped, opened to vanilla sponge, was the icing on the cake, quite literally. But still, for my mom I bite my tongue, and threw away the key.
I didn't know most of the ladies my mom had invited. Apart from Taylor, her mom and Anika, many were older women; locals from Cousins. I even overheard my mother inviting Conrad over the phone. I'm pretty sure it goes against some kind of rule of no boys allowed; which Susannah would've insisted upon, but my mom had always been slightly unconventional. As much as Susannah loved both her boys, she valued her good old fashioned girl time; simple nights snuggling in with an old vhs. And I doubt the boys know their Rhetts from their Ashleys, their Darcys from their Wickhams. Over the years, the beach house had been host to many parties, festivities, a wedding (and a half), the last baby shower however was mine. Well, not mine technically but my mom's whilst pregnant with me. Susannah had thrown it for her.
Guests began arriving. Each asking how far along I was and soon breaking into another overly polite conversation. "Good weather isn't it."
"Yes dear, it's always shinning in Cousins", Maureen O'Riley replied in a gleeful voice. I hadn't seen her since the day I accidentally ran into her in that candy shop a thousand years ago. And just as it seemed like the whole neighborhood was conversing in the living room bonding over cucumber finger sandwiches I heard a knock at the front door.
Jeremiah's POV:
"Hey" I said. Her eyes locked to mine for a split second before shifting uncomfortably as if she was caught in the headlights of an oncoming train. "Wow, you've gotten..." I pretended to search for a word. "Pregnant." She tries hard to suppress her laughs, a couple leaked through. Man it was good to hear her laugh, see her smile. "Your mom invited me, I hope that's okay." She stepped closer and then just like that, we were hugging. It was uncomplicated, in that moment we were friends, despite everything that had transpired between us, we were friends.
"Hey I brought you something." I said leading her to the back seat of Nancy. That's the name Belly said I should give my car when and if I ever got one. And sure enough a couple years later I was driving around in a roadster named Nancy. Not because I loved particularly loved that name, but because I was in love with the girl who named it.
I handed her a yellow gift bag with a matching yellow bow. The lady at the cash said yellow would be my safest bet as I don't know the sex of the baby. She said it was gender neutral colour although I can't understand why, I can't imagine any little boy or girl wanting a yellow bedroom. As if a baby would understand social stigmas and preconceived gender expectations anyways. It wasn't anything expensive, overly spectacular..."Charlotte's Web", she smiled lifting the book to her chest. But I knew she would remember.
"Why did you do all this for me?' he asked. 'I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you".''You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that."