She opened her mouth to say something else that might excuse her from any further association with these two enigmatic—albeit very attractive and not a little intriguing—men, but Donna returned with their coffee, elbowing Mindy gently out of the way.
“You go sit,” the other waitress said. “Get off your feet for a little while. I’ll keep an eye on your tables. The dinner rush is about over, anyway. And you gotta take care of that little bun in your oven.”
Mindy felt herself color at the other waitress’s comment. She wrapped her sweater even more tightly around herself, crossing her arms over her lower abdomen as if she might protect the life growing there, even though there was really no threat to that life at all—not at the moment, anyway.
Because she was so small, and because this was her first time being pregnant, she still wasn’t showing that much, even though she was five months along. She had hoped the average observer wouldn’t notice her condition yet but she supposed she was kidding herself in that. Not that she hadn’t told her co-workers at Evie’s about it—hey, they deserved to know she’d be incapacitated for a few weeks come April, after all. But she didn’t want anyone else, especially total strangers, to know the particulars of her private life.
“Donna,” she muttered. “You don’t have to broadcast my…condition…to the whole world, you know.”
But Donna only shrugged as she dumped a handful of creamers onto the table. “It’s okay, Min,” she said. “These guys know all about it.”
Mindy closed her eyes and felt her cheeks flame brighter. “Donna…” she said again. Because these two men probably hadn’t noticed her condition before now. The reason they knew about her pregnancy was more than likely because someone—someone like, oh, say Donna—had told them about it. And seeing as how once you got Donna started, it was really hard to turn her off, Mindy could only imagine what else the other waitress had let slip.
“Oh, come on,” Donna said. “It’s no big deal, being knocked up and homeless. It happens to a lot of women.”
Mindy raised a hand to cup it over her eyes and closed them tight. “I was not knocked up,” she said. “Sam and I made a conscious decision to have a baby. Can I help it if he…” She sighed heavily, dropped her hand back to her side and strove for a bright smile that she was certain fell short. “Never mind. Just…try not to spread around the particulars, okay? Please?”
Donna shrugged again. “Sure thing, Min.” Then she turned to the two men seated at the booth. “Forget I said anything about Mindy’s…you know…situation, okay, gents? And please do point out to her that I never told you about what a big drunk her husband was, did I? Or how he slept around on her the whole time they were married? Or how, in my opinion, she’s better off without him anyway?”
“It’s true,” Dr. Mahoney agreed. “She never did tell us about that.”
Donna nodded, smugly, Mindy thought. “See? That was private, so I kept that part to myself.” She turned back to her two customers. “Your sandwiches should only take a few more minutes.”
And with that, Donna spun around and headed back toward the kitchen, leaving Mindy to fend for herself.
“Oooh…” she said, lifting her hand to her forehead again. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Here, sit down.”
She felt two strong hands cup her shoulders and softly urge her forward and was surprised, upon opening her eyes, to see that it was the dark-haired doctor who was doing the gentle cajoling. It seemed like a gesture that would have been more appropriate coming from the man who’d identified himself as Dr. Mahoney. Or perhaps not, she thought further as she let Dr. Atchison sit her down at his place in the booth. He remained standing, hooking his hands on his hips, but he glowered at his friend.
“Now look what you’ve done,” he said.
“What I’ve done?” the other doctor exclaimed. “I didn’t do anything. What are you talking about?”
“You’ve embarrassed her,” Dr. Atchison said. “How could you embarrass her like that?”
Dr. Mahoney gaped at him. “I didn’t do that. Donna did that.”
“But you’re the one who started this whole thing, so you’re responsible.”
“Yeah, but—”
“You should be ashamed of yourself. Taking advantage of a pregnant woman. Just where do you get off?”
“Reed, what the hell has gotten into you? I never—”
“She obviously wants to be left alone, so we ought to just leave her alone.”
“But, Reed, she’s—”
“A nice girl. You said so yourself. So we should both definitely—”
“Excuse me!”
Mindy had to raise her voice when she interrupted, so animated—and loud—had the two men become in their argument. An argument that she seemed to be at the heart of, an argument she didn’t for one moment understand, an argument that everyone in Evie’s Diner seemed really, really interested in hearing. Thankfully, though, both men ceased at her outburst. Unfortunately, they both turned to stare at her in openmouthed surprise, as if she’d just jumped up onto the table to dance the. cha-cha with a rose stuck between her teeth.
She pushed her way out of the booth and stood next to Dr. Atchison, trying not to feel overwhelmed by the fact that he towered over her by at least a foot, and probably weighed twice as much as she did. “If you’ll both excuse me,” she said, “I have work to do.”
“We’ll talk later,” Dr. Mahoney told her as she turned to go.
“No, we won’t,” she assured him.
But without missing a beat, he assured her right back, “Oh, yes, Miss…Mindy…we will.”
“Okay, let me get this straight,” Mindy said an hour later as she enjoyed dessert with the two doctors who had suddenly become the center of her universe. She still couldn’t quite figure out how she’d been talked into joining them for dessert and coffee—or in her case, dessert and warm milk—after they’d finished their dinner and she’d concluded her shift. Seth—and when had she gotten past referring to them as “Dr.”?—had just been so convincing. So charming. So sweet. She hadn’t been able to resist him.
Actually, she thought, that wasn’t quite true. The one she hadn’t been able to resist was Reed. Because in keeping with their utter opposite-ness, as charming and sweet as Seth had been, Reed had seemed—and still did seem—so quiet and withdrawn. Not in a negative way, just…in a thoughtful way. In a resigned way. As if he were contemplating some matter of great importance. Seth, on the other hand, seemed to find the matter—whatever it was—kind of amusing. But it was Reed’s utter concern for something that had drawn Mindy into whatever mystery the two men had created.
But now that mystery was solved, and in solving it, Mindy’s confusion was only compounded. So she reiterated what they’d told her in an effort to make some sense of it.
“So, you two made a bet at work earlier that you’d see someone perform a gesture of goodwill this evening,” she went on. “Is that right?”
“That’s right,” Seth confirmed.
“You,” she went on, pointing an index finger at him, “thought that the two of you would witness a person performing a gesture of goodwill toward another person. Am I following right?”
“You’re following right,”