Not Quite Perfect (Not Quite Series Book 5) Read Free Page A

break?”
    “No my water didn’t—” Dakota didn’t finish her sentence. They both looked down at the same time.
    “Oh, shit.” This time it was Mary cussing. And Mary didn’t cuss out loud.
    “Ma’am?”
    “Uh, yeah. Her water . . . yeah, she’s in labor.”
    “How far apart are her contractions?” The monotone questions coming from the operator sounded as if they came from a computer and not a person.
    “How far apart are your contractions?” Mary repeated the question.
    “How the hell should I know?” Dakota barked.
    Mary tilted the receiver to her mouth. “She doesn’t know. It all just happened. Is an ambulance coming?”
    The operator confirmed the address and told her the paramedics would be there within four minutes. When Mary tried to end the call, the operator continued to ask questions. Are the contractions coming fast? Was the baby crowning? Mary’s eyes moved to the wet spot on Dakota’s pregnancy pants.
    “What are you staring at?”
    “They want to know if the baby is coming out.”
    Dakota shook her head as the sound of an ambulance rang closer.
    “Thank God,” Mary muttered as she left Dakota’s side and moved to the front door. As soon as she saw the lights, she thanked the operator and hung up.
    The small fire medic truck pulled into the drive just as the full-size truck rounded the corner onto their street.
    The medic stepped from the truck without rushing.
    “She’s inside.” Mary forced her breathing to slow.
    The fortysomething man offered a nod and followed her in while the second medic went to the back of the truck to grab some kind of box.
    Another siren filtered into the mix while neighbors started to emerge from their houses.
    Within the course of ten minutes the medics had cut Dakota’s pants away, splinted what did appear to be a broken leg, gotten up close and personal enough to know the baby wasn’t flashing the color of its hair, and had loaded her friend onto a gurney.
    After a brief argument as to which hospital the medics were going to take her to, Dakota finally met Mary’s gaze.
    “Call Walt.”
    The medics extended the gurney and started to roll her out of the house.
    “And grab my purse. My overnight bag is by Walt’s side of the bed,” she yelled.
    “I got it.”
    “And lock the door.”
    Mary smiled. “I’m right behind you.”
    “Call my mom . . . but don’t tell her about the fall.”
    She’s going to find out eventually. “Okay.”
    “Mary?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Hurry.”
    “Right behind you!”
    Dakota let out a long string of expletives as the medics bumped the gurney over the threshold of the home.
    “It’s going to be a long day!” Mary whispered to herself.

Chapter Two

    Thank goodness someone had the sense to invent the hands-free car phone. By the time Mary had packed up all of Dakota’s things, she was a good ten minutes behind the ambulance. It didn’t help that Mary had to run across the street and tell Leroy the plumber to lock up when he left.
    Instead of calling the ER directly to catch Walt, she went for his personal cell phone. He answered on the fifth ring. “Dr. Eddy.”
    She’d been practicing this call for a good five minutes in her head. “Who is going to be a daddy today?”
    Silence met her ear.
    “Walt?”
    “Mary?”
    “Well, now that we have the names straight, I thought you might like to know that Dakota’s in labor.”
    She heard him suck in a breath before blowing it out.
    “Labor?”
    Mary felt a smile teasing her lips. “First there is sex, then there is conception . . . nine months of baking . . . then labor. Didn’t they teach you this in medical school?”
    “Okay . . . yeah . . . all right. Labor. Okay. I’ve gotta . . . damn it . . . is she there? Let me talk to her.”
    “Nope, she’s in the ambulance. I’m behind her by ten minutes.”
    “Ambulance? Why? Was she delivering?” Poor Walt was working himself up.
    “No.” Mary looked over her shoulder and