Page 134 of Ruin The Friendship
“Thanks,” Hattie says. “He’s a good kid.”
“He will do great things. He’s a natural in the net,” Trigg says affirmatively.
Hattie seems lost for words as she stares across the room at Trigg, the two of them in their own world.
“Alright, I think we’re ready to screw these two pieces together,” Fletcher says after there’s a moment of quiet.
He stands, pulling the completed rail up with him. The boys put the pieces together until it finally resembles a crib.
Tears prick my eyes as the reality begins to sink in. Soon, my baby girl will be here. I glance around the room at my friends and all the hard work they are putting in for us. A single tear slides down my cheek. Before I can stop it, the floodgates open.
A constant stream of tears runs down my cheeks as I silently cry, so thankful for these people that it’s healing a piece of my soul.
“Oh no,” Calvin mumbles when he’s the first to notice me crying. “Um, Fletchy baby, something’s wrong with your girl.”
Fletcher’s eyes snap to me immediately, and he crosses the room, dropping to his knees in a heartbeat. “Hey, are you okay?”
His hands flutter over my face, then rest on my stomach, the fear in his face lessening when he feels our daughter kick.
I nod, covering my mouth to silence my sobs. From the corner of my eye, I see our friends silently leave the room.
Shaking my head, I rest my head on his shoulder as he wraps his arms around me. “I’m fine,” I blubber. “Really.”
“It doesn’t seem like it,” he whispers, rubbing a hand up and down my spine.
“I am. It all sort of hit me, y’know?” I take a deep breath—well, as much of a deep breath as I can with a baby pressing on my lungs. “Even though my mom and dad suck, I have these amazing people here to support me and our daughter. Watching you guys put up the crib, it sunk in. I mean, they‘re all spending their day off helping us put together the nursery. Who does that?”
“Good people. We’ve got lots of good people surrounding us, Lydi-bug. People who love you for who you are, and not what you can offer them.”
I inhale a shaky breath. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Fletcher leans back, locking his green eyes with mine. “Feeling better?”
I nod, swiping away the tears. “We should probably call them back in. I think I scared Calvin.”
“Apparently.” Fletcher laughs and goes to open the door before I stop him.
“Wait!”
“What?” His eyes widen.
“Can you help me up off the floor? I have to pee, and I’m scared to stand up with everyone watching me. Movement is way too hard.”
Fletcher chuckles, stepping back over to me. I hold out my arms for him, and he hooks his under my armpits, and without even trying, I’m on my feet in a second.
“Jeepers, that was much easier than when I did that myself yesterday.”
Fletcher shakes his head. “No more sitting on the floor if I’m not here. I don’t want you to get stuckdown there.”
“That’s probably a good point.” I waddle into the bathroom.
When I come back a few minutes later, the room looks totally different. They’ve pushed the crib up against the wall and put the mattress in. It has a light-pink polka-dot sheet, and the little crocheted ladybug I made sits in the corner of the mattress.
“Oh,” I gasp, covering my mouth. “You guys, it’s so cute.”
Grace finishes folding the blanket Dottie made and hangs it over the side of the crib.
I step up to it, running my hands over the soft fabric. “Thank you.”
