The Best Of Both Worlds

Carter laughed. “It’s still early. I’ve still got time.”

“Translated, that means no date. What was it you said about losing the edge? As for me, I don’t even remember having one. It’s been a while since I played the dating game.”

Carter flung his sports bag over his shoulder and followed his friend out the front door. “You don’t remember it because it never existed. You and Hannah have been together forever.” He looked at David questioningly. “Kidding aside, Roth, do you ever regret not playing the field?”

David hesitated. “There was this one time, after Hannah and I had an argument. I went to a bar. The woman was a stranger, no more to me than a face in a crowd. She was a nurse, I think. Worked at Danbury Hospital.”

Carter looked at his friend with surprise, not just because of what David had said, but because he’d never mentioned it. Then again, Carter wasn’t exactly an open book himself. Some things he preferred not to talk about; others were best left unsaid. Like the events surrounding his divorce. Or what happened between him and Becky.

Although he was reluctant to probe, curiosity got the better of him. He didn’t want to believe that David could cheat on Hannah. “What happened?” he asked, hoping the answer would be what he wanted to hear.

“Nothing. We had a few drinks, and that was all. But sometimes I find myself wondering about that night, about how things might have changed if something had happened. But nothing did, and I never saw her again. Do I regret not playing around? No, I can honestly say I don’t.”

Carter felt a moment of envy. One guy in a thousand had what David had. In this day and age, David and Hannah went against all the odds. Not that Carter was looking for something permanent. He wasn’t a man who bet against the odds.

Suddenly he didn’t feel like going home. “You feel like a beer? We can talk about the old days—I’ll fill you in on everything you’re missing.”

“Sorry, Pres, I have to get back. I promised Hannah I’d paint the back room.”

Carter shook his head. “You really are married.” Without warning, the emptiness he felt whenever he returned from a business trip hit him like a punch in the stomach. As much as he hated to admit it, these days he and emptiness were becoming old pals.

“Like I told you,” David said, “you should try it sometime. Again, that is.”

“No thanks. I’m not looking to become a half couple. Two’s a crowd.”

“You’ve got that wrong. Three’s a crowd. Not that I’m complaining.” David broke into a wide grin. “I’m talking about a family, Pres. Hannah’s pregnant.”

Carter stopped walking and grabbed David’s arm. “That’s great,” he said, giving his hand a hearty shake. “Congratulations. So when do I get my cigar?”

“Not for another six months. A half year away, and already she’s preparing for the arrival. This week it’s the nursery, next week she wants to shop for baby clothes—soon she’ll have me going with her to one of those breathing schools. Did you ever hear of anything so bizarre? There are classes that teach you how to breathe.”

“Admit it, you love this whole baby thing. You were made for it.”

David began walking again, and Carter followed, waiting for David to make a snappy comeback. When he didn’t, Carter asked, “What is it? Hannah’s okay, isn’t she?”

“She’s fine.”

But Carter could tell that something was wrong. When they reached David’s car, David turned around and said, “I know I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I’d rather you hear it from me than from any of this town’s wagging tongues, and trust me, they’ll be wagging like signal flags. It seems that Hannah’s not the only one about to increase Middlewood’s measly population. Looks like I’m going to become an uncle.”

Carter’s whole body stiffened. “Run that by me again.”

“You heard me the first time. Becky’s pregnant.”

Carter knew he looked ridiculous standing there in the middle of the parking lot, his mouth wide open. Pregnant. As in baby. A baby that couldn’t be his—she would have told him if he were the father. Looks like little Goody Two-Shoes Becky wasn’t so Goody Two-Shoes, after all. Here he’d been feeling sorry for the way he’d treated her, when all the while she’d been running around. Apparently, she’d used the old “I’m so depressed, why don’t you console me” on someone else, as well. He had to hand it to her, it was usually the man who played the role of fisherman, casting out lines with smoothness and skill.

Immediately Carter chided himself. With his past, who was he to judge her? And then anger set in, surprising him. Why should he care that after being with him she had run straight into the arms of someone else?

Maybe it was pride. Or maybe he was just a little bit hurt.

He dismissed both possibilities from his mind. “I’ll bet your mother is beside herself,” he said, redirecting his focus. He could just imagine Gertie’s reaction. In many ways Becky’s mother was just like his. Both women were more concerned about what other people thought than about the happiness of their children. Yet they both gave the old “What will the neighbors say?” a new slant, since neither one of them even spoke to their neighbors.

“That’s putting it mildly,” David answered. “She called me this morning, demanding that I come right over. The way she sounded on the phone, I was sure something had happened to my grandmother. When I got there, she sent me upstairs to talk to Becky, but then Becky came down the stairs with Starr DeVries—she’s that space cookie who owns the B and B on the corner of Elm and Old Mill. Becky, so it seems, is going to live there, of all places. My mother got hysterical and tried to stop them from leaving. She kept repeating, ‘A girl needs her mother in times like these.’ She stood in the doorway, blocking the exit, but Becky pushed past her.”