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cabinet beneath it and make some adjustments to the propane line.
A few minutes later, a roar of success sounded from the group.
    “We have fire!” the editor guy—Jack?—shouted triumphantly.
    Adrienne patted them all on the back and headed toward the
house. “I’m off to prepare the meat,” she said with a smile as she slipped
inside.
    Sabine with the purple hair quickly grew bored with the sight
of an operating gas grill and came to sit in the shade with Gwen. They hadn’t
spoken much since she’d arrived. She was sure the woman was perfectly
nice—Adrienne was a good judge of people—but Gwen just didn’t know what they had
in common to discuss.
    “When are you due?” Sabine asked before taking a sip from her
beer.
    “Mid-October,” Gwen said, although watching the other woman
made her think the day couldn’t come soon enough. Of all the lifestyle changes
she’d had to make, the hardest had been giving up her favorite beer. She didn’t
drink much, but there was just something soothing about popping the top on a
cold one after a long shift, plopping onto the couch and watching a few hours of
reality television on her DVR.
    “My son will be two in October, so I understand where you’re
at. Do you know what you’re having yet?”
    Gwen tried not to look too surprised to learn Sabine was a
mother. Imagining her own mother with purple hair was just impossible. “A little
girl. I had the ultrasound last week.”
    Susan and Robert had been over the moon in the doctor’s office.
It was hard to see the fuzzy image on the screen from her vantage point, but she
tried not to be too disappointed. This was their baby after all, not hers. They
did give her a copy of the latest ultrasound picture to show off. Unfortunately,
it was in her purse on her bed when she needed it.
    “Do you have any names picked out yet?”
    The more pregnant Gwen became, the more of these questions she
had to field. It had been easy when no one could tell she was pregnant. Now,
unless it was just a quick comment from a stranger on the subway, it was best to
tell them about her situation before they pressed on.
    “No, actually, I’m a surrogate, so the baby technically isn’t
mine to name. I think her parents are considering Caroline Joy and Abigail Rose.
Every time I talk to them they’ve changed it again. For now I just call her
Peanut, because that’s what she looked like on the first sonogram.”
    Sabine’s eyes had grown wider as Gwen talked. Apparently
dropping a detail like that and carrying on without pause had thrown her off her
guard. “A surrogate? Wow. I don’t think I could ever do that,” she finally
said.
    “Why is that?”
    “Being pregnant is such a life-changing experience. Whether or
not the child is yours, you’re going to bond with it. To go through months with
that baby inside you and then to give it away… I just couldn’t do it.”
    Gwen tried not to frown at Sabine. She probably didn’t realize
how her words would affect her. But they struck a chord. Gwen had never been
interested in having a family of her own. She’d spent too much of her childhood
being pushed aside by her mother when a new man came into her life. She wasn’t
about to do that to a child of her own. Acting as a surrogate seemed like an
intriguing opportunity. Since she’d never thought she’d have kids, she’d never
thought she would experience pregnancy.
    Never once did she consider that she’d form an emotional
attachment to another person’s child. But Sabine was right. She’d underestimated
what it was like to have life growing inside her. The moment she’d felt the
first flutter in her stomach, Peanut had become a real person to her. She’d
gotten in the habit of talking to the baby when she was alone in her apartment.
She was the one who helped Gwen pick out what she would have for lunch. The
silent child had become her main companion when her crowd of bar-hopping friends
didn’t know how to act around her