Sal turned to face him. “So how we doing? You catching on?”

Raul brought his eyebrows together with an expression of sheer confidence. “With my eyes closed.”

Sarah was glad for the distraction because her phone had buzzed a couple of times since Sal started explaining everything to her and she thought it rude to check her texts so she took advantage now that he chatted with Raul.

Both texts were from Sydney. She clicked on it and read the threaded messages.

Sitting at the airport. Flights delayed and I’m bored as hell.

Then:

How are you feeling?

He’d was the only other person that knew about her positive pregnancy test. She tried to keep it from him but the last time they talked he knew something was up when she stumbled on her answer about why she still hadn’t made an appointment to see the fertility specialist. He knew her too well so she decided to just tell him, but made him promise to not mention a word to his parents until she gave him the go ahead.

She was about to text back when Sal stood up. She looked up at him. “Are we done?”

“Yep, that’s it. For the monthly stuff. I’ll come back and show you the quarterly stuff next month.”

He kissed her head and she thanked him for his patience. He and Raul walked out together into the dining room and she texted Sydney back.

Tokyo again? So far so good. But my appointment isn’t for another few days.

Sydney worked as a technical engineer for a giant computer software company whose headquarters was based in Tokyo so they flew him out there at least once a month. When he first hired on he’d actually lived out there for a few months.

She went through some of the stuff her and Sal had just done on the computer while she waited for him to respond.

Angel walked into the back; before she could even say anything he leaned in and kissed her deeply. When he finally came up for air she smiled. “Wow. What was that about?”

He shrugged smiling. “You just do that to me.” He glanced behind him. “How you feeling? Any nausea yet?”

“A little earlier, but I’m fine now.”

He seemed concerned for a second then the corner of his lip went up, flashing her his beautiful dimple. “You know you are, babe.”

“But don’t say anything yet. It’s too soon.”

“Okay, whatever you want.” He kissed her again. “You think you’re up for a ballgame this weekend? Romero and Isabel are stopping by to have lunch and he has extra tickets to the Padres game this Friday. It’s a play off game.”

Her phone buzzed and she glanced at it. So did Angel.

“Sure. That sounds like fun.”

Her phone buzzed again.

“You gonna get that?” Angel asked, pulling open the bottom drawer of the desk. He started looking for something.

“It’s just Sydney. I’ll text him back in a little.”

Angel looked up at her, his eyebrow raised. She knew he’d noticed the increase in texts from Sydney but he had to understand this was a really hard time for Syd. And they were just texts.

“What’s he up to now?”

“He’s stuck at the airport and bored.”

Angels eyes locked on hers for a second before looking back down into the drawer. “Hmm. Alright so I’ll tell Romero we’re in.”

He began to straighten out and she pulled him to her and kissed him. “Thanks for understanding about me not wanting to say anything yet.”

“You know I’ll agree with whatever makes you happy.”

She waited until he was out of the room before picking up her phone. Sydney would always be a sticky subject for them. She still didn’t understand why after all these years Angel could possibly be insecure about this. She hadn’t even seen Sydney in over a year. Sighing, she read the text and smiled.

~*~

He’s single now and he has no one but Sarah to entertain him? A married woman whose husband has never made it a secret that their relationship is not one that thrills him? How stupid was this guy?

Romero and Isabel walked in. They came up to Angel and Isabel hugged him. “I thought you said Manny and Max were coming too?”

“They are.” Romero said. “They’re on their way.”

Angel showed them to one of his bigger tables. “I’ll go get a waiter.”

Isabel took a seat but Romero followed him. Angel didn’t need to go too far. Raul was already on his way to their table.

“Izzy just order me the usual. I’ll be right there.” He turned back to Angel. “So you want them?”

Angel stopped. “Yeah, Sarah says she wants to go.”

Romero pulled them out of his pocket and handed him the tickets. He started going on about how great the seats were and he was supposed to go with Alex but the twins were under the weather and neither he nor Valerie wanted to leave them. Angel took a few steps away from the table where Isabel sat, hoping Romero wouldn’t hear Raul doing his usual flirting.

“And get this. Manny’s friend will be able to get tickets if they go to the World Series.”

Just then Raul laughed and so did Isabel. Romero stopped and glanced back at them taking in Raul from top to bottom. He glanced back at Angel. “New waiter?”

“Yeah, just started couple of weeks ago.” Angel took a deep breath as Raul started his usual, ‘you look so familiar’ routine.

The table covered Isabel’s swollen belly so there was no way Raul could tell he was flirting with a pregnant woman. And the last time the whole gang had been together, Sarah had had to endure Valerie, Isabel and Grace complain about their pregnancy woes. One of which was Isabel saying she couldn’t wear her wedding ring anymore because her fingers kept swelling up.