Surrogate by Maria Rachel Hooley

Author:Maria Rachel Hooley [Hooley, Maria Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-06-24T22:00:00+00:00

The parking lot of Ann's Kitchen was packed--there was only one spot left, and Robbie was barely able to nose the pick-up in between two shiny new SUVs, which probably explained why the spot was still open in the first place. Still, he managed, and once he was parked, he quickly got out, made his way around and opened Carrie's door, a simple gesture he'd always made, and Robbie was holding fast to all the simple routines, hoping they'd eventually prove that the fear lining the pit of his stomach would vanish.

Robbie offered his hand so Carrie could ease down from the truck without problems because she couldn't see where she was walking, considering the way her belly stood out. More often than not, she'd said she felt like a beached whale, and he could understand that. It was only getting worse with each week as the baby headed into his--or her--final growth spurts.

As they walked up to the front of the building--a simple structure that had been in this small, rural town longer than Robbie had been alive--he slipped his arm around Carrie and pulled her closer. She stiffened slightly and then eased up, which was a good sign. The last thing Robbie wanted to go back to was the distance between the two of them.

As they stepped into the cafe, Robbie glanced around, taking inventory of the patrons--all of whom he knew. No one even seemed to look at them as they made their way to the back of the restaurant, but soon, more and more of them turned and watched. Although Robbie wasn't looking at every one of them, he didn't have to. He felt them staring, and that told him everything he needed to know.

He clenched his jaw and tried to tell himself it was nothing. In a small town, there were no secrets, and he shouldn't have been surprised that word of Carrie's wreck had spread throughout the community. Then again, it wasn't just word of the accident that bothered him. Really, he was a little unnerved at what the residents of this small town would have to say about Carrie's miraculous survival. If Robbie could count on one thing about the accident, it would be the way the story would snowball into something bigger than what he was already dealing with, not that the original story wasn't bad enough. Still, even he was smart enough to be unnerved by all the blood lost, which should, by all rights, have been enough to kill his wife, yet here she was with barely a scratch on her.

He glanced around the room, starting to feel like one of the animals at a zoo. Frustrated, he turned to his wife, checking to see if she were feeling the brunt of all the attention coming their way, but no, he didn't think so. She kept her head down, her eyes focused on the floor, one hand resting on the swell of her belly where the baby was probably nestled against her side.

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