I had breakfast AND lunch. Thanks a lot for checking, Dad.
I realized my mistake just after I hit sent.
I meant Dean. Sorry. Maybe I should wait to call you that until our child is born.
Dean
You can call me Dad when I’m being overbearing. Daddy is better overall, though.
My face was flaming.
Any chance you’ll forget that happened?
Nope.
“Are you sure you’re still up to this?”
I was in Jade’s car and we had just pulled up to Mollie’s farmhouse. As the owner of Bennie Grove Farm, she had one of the nicest houses in town. And a couple of weeks ago, she had invited us to a girls’ night, the first one since she’d had her baby. At the time, I didn’t know my life was going to blow apart, so I said yes.
Now I was regretting it.
“No idea,” I said. “I have no clue if I can even pretend thingsare fine.”
“Still no word on the glucose test?” she asked.
I blew out a breath. “Nope. It feels like this is the only thing that’s on my mind. I have no idea if I’ll be any fun today.”
“I could make up something for you and drive you home,” she offered.
I immediately knew I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to see my friends. I wanted to have fun.
I also wanted to see Mollie in action. She’d just had a baby a few weeks ago. Would watching her be a peek into my own future?
“No, I wanna stay.” I looked at the house, which had the lights on. Inside, I could see two figures setting things up. “Would it be the end of the world if they knew?”
Jade’s eyebrows raised, but she didn’t immediately turn it down. “It’s your secret. You can tell who you want.”
“Mollie just had a baby,” I said. “And Wren knows Dean better than the rest of us.”
“You don’t have to justify it to me. I think it makes sense. I know next to nothing about all of this. Expanding your support group is never a bad thing as long as you trust them.”
I bit my lip, but nodded. “Will you defend me if they get weird?”
“To the death, girl.”
I let out a sigh of relief and got out of the car. The door opened as we got to the porch.
“You got Grace to come!” Mollie looked great for someone who just had a baby. She was glowingstill. I wanted to be like her when I had mine.
“I did. Now, where’s Jasmine?” Jade wiggled her fingers. “I haven’t gotten to hold her yet and I’m dying to.”
“Cain took her to give me a break,” Mollie replied. “Which was very sweet, considering no one would have been upset if she were here, but he said he wanted baby time.”
“Has he been helpful?” I asked as we walked in.
“Cain’s been the best,” she said. “But don’t worry about him. I won’t bore you all with baby talk. I promise I still have a life.”
“She never stops,” Wren said. “It’s makingmetired.”