Free Turn My World Upside Down: Jo's Story by Maureen Child Page A

tuck it into a small paper bag. Sliding it across the counter, she asked, “Nothing for Mike or Sam?”
    “Not today,” Jo muttered, reaching into the bag to break off a corner of the roll. Popping it into her mouth, she closed her eyes and sighed at the glorious taste. “Mike’s on bed rest, making Lucas nuts, and Sam can’t even smell coffee without turning green.”
    “Poor thing,” Stevie said as she wiped down the metal tubes and clicked a plastic lid atop Jo’s coffee cup. “Thank God I don’t have
that
worry. Don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t at least
make
coffee while pregnant.”
    Hard to keep up, Jo thought. Not just her sisters were in the middle of a population explosion. It seemed that all of her friends were also on the mommytrain. Pretty soon, she’d be the only woman in town without a gang of kids hanging off her body.
    She took a sip of coffee and even the glorious taste of the perfectly done latte couldn’t completely wipe away the bitterness blooming inside. But what did she really have to be miserable about, anyway? It wasn’t as though she were interested in having a man in her life.
    Shaking her head, Jo pushed the stray thoughts out of her mind and focused on Stevie instead. “So when’re you due again?”
    The blonde stepped out from behind the espresso machine, put one hand on the small of her back and shrugged as she glanced down at the mound of her belly. “A couple of months still,” she admitted, then added, “And Carla’s not letting me forget it that she beat me to the baby finish line.”
    Carla Candellano Wyatt. Another old friend. Now a married mom to a newborn boy and stepmother to a darling little girl. “How’s she doing, anyway?”
    “She’s fine, the bitch,” Stevie said wryly. “Already getting her figure back and making sure she tells me at least once a day that I’m still fat and she’s not.”
    “Oh, evil,” Jo agreed, “but on the bright side, neither one of you is as big as Mike.”
    “Good point!” Stevie crowed. “I feel better.”
    “Happy to help.”
    “So, how’s Cash working out?”
    “Huh?” The abrupt shift in subject had Jo’s mind rattling.
    “Cash. He’s been working for you a lot lately since Sam and Mike have been out of the picture.”
    “Get that gleam out of your eye,” Jo warned, leaning in across the glass counter and lowering her voice sothat the people behind them couldn’t hear her. “There is
nothing
, repeat,
nothing
going on between me and Cash.”
    Stevie chuckled. “Who said there was?”
    Jo stiffened. “Cute. Very cute.”
    “So my husband tells me.”
    Jo sagged a little and tapped her fingertips against the top of the cool glass case. “He’s being . . .
helpful
.”
    “Well, God,” Stevie said, in mock horror, “call Tony and have him arrested.”
    She took another sip of her latte and let the heat sweep through her, as the caffeine gave her system a much-needed kick. “I just don’t get
why
he’s being helpful,” she said, choosing to ignore Stevie’s limp attempt at humor.
    “Maybe he likes you.”
    “He likes
all
women.” And that was exactly why she was so determined to keep her distance. She’d fallen for a smooth-talking guy once before and all it had gotten her was years’ worth of nightmares.
    “Used to,” Stevie said, then glanced to a corner of the room and shouted to a customer wanting a refill, “Coming!” Turning back to Jo, she said, “Word is, Cash has been living like a monk for months.”
    Jo’d heard that, too. She just didn’t know if she believed it. Or if she believed it, what it might mean—if anything.
    “Doesn’t matter,” she said firmly a second later. Because she wouldn’t
let
it matter. She picked up her coffee and cinnamon roll and said, “You’re busy and I’ve gotta run anyway.”
    “Sure,” Stevie said, lifting a coffeepot and headingaround the edge of the counter. “But, um, let me know if there’s anything
to
know.”
    “There