A Special Summer (Love Conquers All) by Victoria Wells

padded over to the huge walk-in closet. I know I look a hot mess. Opening the door to the closet, staring at her reflection in the full-length mirror that hung on the back of the door, she groaned, “I am so fat.” Her protruding belly making the tee shirt rise higher than normal made her suddenly uncomfortable with her expanding body. She shrugged slim shoulders. “Oh well.” Stepping back, gently closing the door, she picked up her wet clothes and headed to find Nick.
    He had changed into a white tee shirt which amplified his broad chest and a pair of jeans that clung to muscular thighs. Standing at the island in the center of the kitchen he was preparing dinner as Summer came waddling into the kitchen, entering as quietly as possible.
    Sensing her presence, Nick stopped dicing or chopping, whatever it was he was doing to look at her. Heaven help him, she was absolutely gorgeous. The tee shirt stopping mid-thigh revealing shapely legs and bare feet showed more skin than he’d seen on her in awhile.
    Summer flushed, turning crimson from Nick’s gaze. Holding out the wet clothes, she asked in a small voice, “Can I wash these?”
    “You know where everything is.” His tone was indifferent as he returned to his task.
    Moving pass him to the laundry room she proceeded to set the washer on the proper setting of water, added detergent, and then her clothes. Putting everything back in its place, Summer went back into the kitchen. Nick was still at the task of preparing dinner.
    Wanting to feel useful she offered, “Is there anything I can help with?”
    Never making eye contact or breaking his focus, blowing her off, he said, “No, I’m good. Go watch television or something.”
    Nick was not having it. No way was he going to allow Summer to get close to him. Refusing her help had hurt her feelings; he saw it all in facial expression. If he allowed her to get close, it would only confuse him even further. She would become a distraction stealing him from his thoughts. He had to maintain his priorities. The first being finding out why she had played him.
    Feeling dismissed, Summer plopped down at the foot of the king size bed. She grabbed the remote from the nightstand and flicked on the large screen plasma television. Clicking through the channels, she peeped at the digital clock on the dresser. It read3:28. Good, Martin is about to come on.
    Summer felt like she needed a good laugh to ease the stress that had been building all day. If she wasn’t careful, she possibly could start having premature contractions again. Dr. Neil constantly reminded her she needed to remain as stress free as possible. Yeah right. So far, everything was cool; as far as the contractions went, she hadn’t felt a thing except normal active fetal movement.
    Summer was cracking up; the episode of Martin she was watching was the one where Gina had killed his momma’s bird. Seeing Mother Pane act a fool made Summer remember she hadn’t called her parents or her friends.
    Looking out the window at the swirling large white flakes, she mumbled, “Oh my goodness, I know they’re having a fit.”
    Moving over to the nightstand, the red light wasn’t flashing which meant Nick wasn’t using the phone. Settling on the bed, picking up the cordless phone, she dialed the rowdy one first. Between her parents, Ava or Starr, one of them was bound to give her a tongue-lashing. Calling Ava first would make calling the others a piece of cake. Ava was the most outspoken, didn’t care what she said, even if it hurt your feelings.
    Scooting up on the bed resting against the headboard, Summer tucked her feet underneath her and began dialing Ava’s number.
    She picked up on the first ring. Oh here we go. The chile is sitting by the phone.
    “Hey, Ava.”
    “Don’t ‘hey Ava’ me. Girl why aren’t you home in all this mess?
    “How do you know I’m not home?” Summer ask weakly.
    Sucking her teeth, Ava huffed, “Caller ID, duh!”
    Busted! Summer should