I’m stacking plates in the kitchen when Adrianna slips up beside me.
She smells like vanilla frosting and pregnancy glow.
“You didn’t have to do all this,” she says softly.
I roll my eyes.
“Please. I live for this stuff. You’re lucky I didn’t alphabetize your gift pile.”
She laughs and then, without warning, pulls me into a hug.
A real one.
The kind where she squeezes tight and rests her cheek against mine.
“Are you okay?” she murmurs.
And I know exactly what she’s asking.
Because she sees everything, and she knows me too well.
“Totally fine,” I say quickly.
Too quickly.
She pulls back just enough to give me that look. The one that says she knows me better than I know myself.
“I know it’s not my business, Larry, but maybe don’t be so careful,” she says quietly.
My stomach flips.
“Nice! With what?” I scoff.
She smiles in that secret, knowing way that makes me want to both hug her and shake her.
“With your heart. I know Eric was a dick, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t believe in magic,” she says instead.
Ugh. She went there.
She brought him up.
Eric Dufresne.
My ex-fiancé and total dickless wonder.
“Yeah, well, you’re biased because you’re just living out a Hallmark movie here,” I murmur and glare without any real heat.
Of course not. I mean, I’m happy for her. She deserves this.
Nate. Bella. A baby. Her own HEA.
“I know, but Lar, sometimes magic shows up when you least expect it.”
Before I can respond, Nate appears like a giant, protective shadow behind her.
“That’s it,” he says, sliding an arm around her waist. “I’m putting this one to bed before she overdoes it again.”
“I am not going to bed. You can’t make me,” she protests, even as he scoops her up like she weighs nothing.