Read A Hoe Lot of Trouble for Free Online Page B

twins?" I said in shock. Already her stomach protruded right below her breasts. My secretary Tam was six months pregnant and barely showing.
    She threw a napkin at me. "I don't care if I gain a hundred pounds. I'm going to enjoy every second of this pregnancy."
    "And you should. You look wonderful. I'm so happy for you."
    Bridget's dad was Polish through and through, but her mother was a mix of Swedish and Norwegian. As a result, Bridget was a tall, big-boned girl with the most delicate, finest, beautiful features you could ever imagine. Her pale skin fairly exuded good health and happiness, yet sadness clouded her crystal-clear baby blues.
    "I'm so glad you had the day off. I needed someone to talk to so bad. I knew I could count on you."
    "Always."
    My stomach rumbled and I looked around for Gertie, Gus's daughter and also sole waitress, who was sixty if a day. She was far on the other side of the room, chatting it up with the Molari brothers. The help here was notoriously slow, but the food was oh-so worth it. "We might be here awhile."
    "I'm in no rush," she said, looking past me, staring at something over my shoulder, a mutinous expression on her face.
    The smell of sausage and sautéed peppers hovered as I swiveled, following her gaze. "What?"
    "Look at that baby, sitting there all alone. Why, someone could just walk by and take him."
    I looked at the little guy, wedged with a safety belt into a wooden booster seat, his grandmother, Dottie Laredo, not two feet away, gabbing it up with Mrs. Casperian. Besides that fact, the kidnapper would have to deal with a maze of approximately ten canes and three walkers before making it to the door. Not a chance.
    I looked back at Bridget, narrowed my eyes. "You okay?"
    She gave a shake to her head. "Sorry. I just don't understand people some times. I'd never do that to my child. Where were we? Oh yes, being here awhile. No, I don't mind."
    I barely had time to think about the emotional scars she must be carrying before she said, "With Tim out of work, I've been putting in extra hours and I'm grateful for some free time."
    "Tim's out of work? I didn't know."
    She sighed. "Remember that big death-penalty case he
    tried up in Columbus about six months ago? The one he lost?"
    I nodded. I'd followed the story in the paper.
    "His firm fired him."
    "Oh no."
    Quite honestly, I'd been glad Tim, a defense attorney, lost the case. His client had been the worst kind of bad—rotten to the core—and was now serving out his remaining days on death row. Good riddance to bad rubbish, as my mother always said. I did feel bad for Tim, though.
    "He's been out looking, getting a nibble here and there. But most of his offers have come from out of state. And we hadn't wanted to move, not with the baby, and my job going so well . . ."
    My heart went out to her. As an environmental lawyer, Bridget worked her tail off, most of it pro bono. Now with a baby coming and Tim's unemployment—
    "And with Tim's dad being sick—we couldn't just up and lea—"
    I gasped, covering my mouth. My appetite vanished. "Oh, God, Bridget, you must think I'm the worst person in the world. I'd totally blanked on Joe's death. I saw your wonderful belly and everything else went right out of my head."
    She smiled. "It's okay."
    "No, it's not. Really, it's not. How's Tim holding up? Mrs. Sandowski? You?"
    She shook her head, picked up her empty water glass, looked around. Gertie was still yapping with the eligible, octogenarian Molaris.
    "Orange juice okay?" I asked Bridget.
    "Great, but—"
    I pried the glass from her hand, made my way behind the horseshoe counter, smiled at Gus, who was flipping pancakes, and filled the glass with juice from the tap with the oranges on it and shimmied my way back to our table.
    Bridget laughed, sipped her juice. "I've missed you."
    "Same here. So, tell me about Joe. What happened to him, and what happened at the farm this morning?"
    Her blue eyes blinked, owl-like. "How did you know?"
    "Kevin.