Chapter 26
Friday
Brooklyn
Another week went by, and there was still no word from my dad. My wedding was in one week. And I really didn’t think he was going to make it.
I put my hand on my stomach. “It’s okay,” I said out loud. “That’s what pictures are for.” But I knew it wasn’t the same.
Focusing on the baby, the wedding, and worrying about my father just so happened to be the perfect mix of distraction. I was…happy. I couldn’t help but laugh and smile every day. But that was mostly because Matt was always by my side. And I was worried about tonight. I didn’t want to fall asleep without him. I was worried I’d reach out to empty covers and panic.
Some nights I still rolled over, expecting Miller to be sleeping beside me. It was always worse in the quiet. And Matt always chased away the shadows on my soul. He always hugged me as I cried.
And as much as I liked my friends, I didn’t think they’d understand me waking in the middle of the night sobbing over Miller when I was about to marry Matt. What would they say to him if that happened? What would they think of me?
I put my hand on my stomach again.
“Is he kicking yet?” Matt asked as he walked into the kitchen.
“You know the baby is too small for all that.”
“I know no such thing.” He leaned down and put the side of his face against my stomach. “I think I hear him.”
“Or her,” I said.
“Or her.” He listened for another second and then kissed my belly before standing up. He must have seen the worry on my face because he lowered his eyebrows. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, Mr. Best-Coach-in-the-City. I’m so proud of you.” I looped my arms behind his neck. Empire High had won their last game of the regular season last weekend. And they’d be playing in the championship game the weekend after our wedding. They already knew they’d made it to the championship game, but it was still fun watching them all celebrate their final regular season win.
“Thank you. But…what’s wrong?” he asked again.
I sighed. He could read me so well. “I don’t need a bachelorette party,” I said. “I don’t even want one. I just want to hang out with you. And you refuse to tell me where you’re going. You won’t even tell me what you’re doing.”
“I did tell you. You.”
I groaned. He kept saying that. “You’re impossible. I’m going to be worried all night.”
“How much trouble can we get into? We’ll be with Jacob.”
It was really sweet that he was bringing Jacob along. But also…what the hell were they doing? “That’s part of why I’m worried. All my favorite men will be out of the house.”
Matt smiled. “I think you’ll be plenty distracted.”
“I don’t think so.” I pressed my lips together.
“Tell me what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours.”
“You know I have nightmares some nights. I…” my voice trailed off. “I don’t want the Untouchables’ wives to see that.”
“Can I tell you a secret?”
I nodded.
“You were the first woman in the Untouchables’ lives. It’s not about them liking you. It’s about you liking them.”
I laughed. “That’s not how anything works. I don’t just get to come back after 16 years and pretend I’m the queen of all the Untouchables’ wives.”
“That’s exactly how that works. And they’re good people, Brooklyn. If you wake up in the middle of the night, Penny will hold you while you cry. Daphne will know just the thing to say to make you feel understood. And Bee will make you laugh.”
I smiled. He was probably right about that.
“And Kennedy knows you almost as well as I do. You’re going to be okay. Besides, you’ll see me sooner than you think.”
“Gah, what does that mean? What are you doing?!”
“You,” Matt said.
I shook my head. “I texted Mason about this. And he said we were doing this a week early because you’re going to get so shit-faced.”
“He said that? Huh.” Matt shrugged.
“Well, is that what’s happening? Or…”
Matt shrugged again.
“You can’t take Jacob to a bar.”
“He’d be a really good little wingman though, don’t you think?”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
Matt laughed. “I promise I’m not taking the kid to a bar. That would be very inappropriate.”
“So where are you guys going?”
“Mommy, Mommy!” Jacob slid into the family room. “I’m going to boys night!”
I lifted him into my arms. He’d tell me the truth. “And what are you doing at boys night?”
“Boy things,” he said.
“Like what?”
“Boy things. Right, Coach?” He looked up at Matt.
“Right,” Matt said.
Wait, had they practiced that? Matt!
“Like what?” I said again.
Nigel walked into the family room wearing black leather lederhosen. “Strippers and hos!”
Oh God.That’s what I was afraid of. And I didn’t realize they made lederhosen that looked like that.
Nigel cleared his throat when he saw Jacob. “I mean…bidders and grows!”
“What’s growing?” Jacob asked.
“The…bidders?” Nigel said and shrugged. “I don’t know. Pretend I didn’t say anything.” He turned to Matt. “Are you ready, big boy?”
“Don’t call me that,” Matt said.
“Ready little man?” Nigel asked. “I feel like that’s more suited for the child. But if you insist. I understand wanting to be the cutest boy in the room.”
Matt shook his head and turned to me. “We should be going.”
I put Jacob down and he ran to the door and put on his sneakers.
“Going…where?” I asked.
Matt smiled. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Yes. I desperately want to know.”
He placed a quick kiss against my lips and turned around.
“Matthew Caldwell, tell me what you’re doing tonight.”
“You,” he said with a wink. And with that, the three of them walked out the front door.
I sighed. Luckily I didn’t have too long alone to think about what the hell was happening. Because there was a knock on my door almost immediately.
Kennedy walked in holding a bunch of balloons. “For the record, it is really hard figuring out what to do for a bachelorette party when the bride can’t drink.”
“So you landed on balloons?” I smiled.
“I did my best,” she said with a laugh and tied them to a chair. “How are you feeling?”
“Good. Excited. Nervous. No, just excited.”
Kennedy smiled. “Has Tanner been able to get ahold of your dad yet?”
I shook my head. “Not that I know of.” But I knew Tanner was capable of amazing things. He’d gotten me to give Matt another chance. He’d been a big part of the reason why I was here right now. I had hope that he’d pull through on this too.
“If anyone can pull off a miracle, it’s him. He’s like, really lucky.”
I wasn’t so sure about Tanner being lucky. He’d had a really hard life, from the little he’d told me. It was one of the reasons why we got along so well. It felt like he understood me. He gave me hope that you could go through all the pain and make it out on the other side okay. Mostly at least. Sometimes when he thought no one was looking, he still looked sad. Tanner threw himself into his business to deal with the pain. Like I was throwing myself into wedding planning. Maybe his billions involved a little luck. But I think they were the result of a lot of pain. And needing an escape from it.
“Speaking of lucky…” Kennedy said. “You’re sure you don’t want to hit a casino or something?”
“A casino?”
“I’ve never planned one of these things before!”
There was another knock on the door. Penny, Bee, and Daphne had arrived.
And their smiles and hugs made me realize I had no reason to be nervous. Not because I was the OG girl that had joined the Untouchables. But because they were all so nice.
“I know you can’t drink,” Daphne said, “but I’ve pumped enough milk for a few days and I’m going wild.”
“Same,” Penny said. “Also, Daphne says the funniest things when she’s drunk.”
“Count me in too,” Kennedy said.
The three of them walked into the kitchen. And Bee just stood there by the door, fidgeting with her coat she was hanging up.
“You okay?” I asked.
“What? Oh, yeah.” She smiled and looked over at the three of them. And then leaned in a little closer to me. “Mason and I are actually trying to get pregnant. I didn’t really want to tell everyone. But they’re going to be suspicious if I’m not drinking, right?”
I smiled. She’d told me though. “Just take a glass and pretend,” I whispered. “They won’t notice a thing after they’ve downed theirs.”
“You’re probably right.” She exhaled slowly. “Thanks, Brooklyn. Wouldn’t it be amazing timing if I got pregnant soon too?”
I smiled. “The best timing.” That would be wonderful. That was my dream back in high school. For all the Untouchables to have kids that grew up together, just the way they did. Except no one’s parents would be like Mr. and Mrs. Hunter.
“I always felt a little behind since Penny and Daphne each have two kids. But maybe I was just meant to have kids at the same time as my new sister.”
I started blinking fast. “Bee.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“You’re fine,” I said. “Pregnancy hormones, I swear.”
“For a second, I thought you were horrified by the thought.” She laughed.
“Not at all. I would love that. I’m so excited for the two of you. Fingers crossed.”
Bee nodded. “Fingers crossed.”
Kennedy handed Bee a glass.
“Thanks,” she said and didn’t take a sip.
“I feel like we should be drinking out of penis glasses or something,” Daphne said.
“Ah,” Kennedy said. “Penis glasses probably would have been better than balloons.”
“Did someone say penis glasses?” Justin asked as he walked into the house without knocking.
He must have picked that up from Nigel.
“Because I have all the penis things, honeys.” He lifted the box in his arms. “It’s not a party without that D.”
I laughed as Kennedy pulled out a giant foam penis.
“Pin the splooge on the tip,” Justin said.
“Oh, of course.” Kennedy nodded and picked up a foam picture of what looked like the squirt emoji. “We need to hang this up.”
“Is there a clock somewhere?” Penny asked while Kennedy and Justin looked around for a perfect place to hang the foam penis. Did she want to hang it over a clock for some reason?
“Um…yeah.” I pointed to the display on the oven. “Why?”
She stared at it for a moment. “No reason.” But she was smiling ear to ear.
“What’s going on with you?” I asked.
“Nothing, what’s going on with you?” she said way too defensively and took a huge sip of champagne.
I shook my head. “You know something, don’t you?”
“Me? No. Never.”
I laughed. “You totally do. Tell me what the guys are doing tonight. I’m dying here.”
“Drinking too much, probably,” she said. “Actually, maybe I should call James. Just to check in.” But she didn’t look nervous at all. It seemed like she was acting. She made a big show of pulling out her phone and calling him.
It probably would have worked, but I knew how happy James was with her. He wasn’t drowning like he had been in high school. He wouldn’t be drinking too much tonight. He would never risk his life with Penny and his family.
Penny shook her head and laughed. “Mhm,” she said into the phone. “Sure you are.” She pointed at her phone and rolled her eyes. “Men,” she mouthed silently.
Yeah, that was acting. Bad acting. I grabbed her phone from her.
“No, don’t…” she started, but I already pulled the phone to my ear.
“Yeah, we’re just setting everything up,” James said. “I’ll see you soon, baby.”
“Setting what up?” I asked.
There was a long pause.
James cleared his throat. “Brooklyn?”
“Yes. Now tell me what you guys are doing.”
“Um…” he coughed. “Nothing.”
“You just said you were setting something up.”
“I didn’t say that,” James said.
“Yes you did.”
He laughed. “No. I don’t think so.”
I heard muffled voices on the other end.
“Is that Matt? Can you put him on?”
“Matt’s a little busy,” James said.
“Doing what?”
There was another long pause.
“Hey, baby,” Rob said. He must have stolen the phone. “I knew you and James still had something going on. But you’re choosing the wrong Hunter brother.”
“Rob, can you please put Matt on the phone?”
“No can do, baby.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“You only like when my brother calls you that? Interesting. Noted though.”
“No, I don’t…” my voice trailed off. There was no use arguing with him.
“I prefer Sanders anyway. Although it’s not super sexy when you’re riding me. I’ll figure it out. But in the meantime, now that I have you, we do need to talk.”
“We do?” I asked.
“Yes. About that favor you owe me…”
“I don’t owe you a favor.”
“We’ve already been over this,” Rob said. “We don’t need to debate this again. You owe me a favor. And I know what I want.”
“Which is?”
“Well, I was saving it just in case you were on the fence about marrying Matt. I was going to use it to make you walk down the aisle. But you love him for real or whatever, so I don’t need to waste it on that.”
Part of what he’d just said was really sweet. Would he have actually used it for that? I smiled. “Okay, what do you want?”
“I’m circling back to the prank idea. On Thanksgiving.”
“You don’t need to remind me.”
“I’m not talking about the prank 16 years ago. I’m talking about this Thanksgiving. Your rehearsal dinner. I want you to help me pull a prank on Tanner.”
Was he serious? Tanner was being so sweet to let us have the rehearsal dinner at his apartment. “Rob, no.”
“No means yes.”
“No, no means no.”
“You have to do what I ask. That’s how deals and favors work, Sanders.”
“Absolutely not. It’s my rehearsal dinner.” All my friends were staring at me. “No pranks.”
Penny laughed and shook her head. “Rob.”
“You don’t really get a say here…” Rob started.
“I thought we were friends,” I said.
“Friends, lovers, potatoes, potahtoes.”
“We were never lovers, Rob.”
Daphne shook her head. “He’s being extra Rob-y tonight, huh?”
I nodded.
“Only in your dreams, Sanders,” Rob said.
“I’m not pulling a prank with you on Thanksgiving. That’s not even funny. You know what happened last time.”
“That’s why it’ll be so epic. No one will see it coming. I’m glad you’re in. Because I’m gonna need the blueprints to Tanner’s place.”
I shook my head. “How would I even get them?”
“I don’t know. But I’ll make the pudding.”
“No pudding.” I groaned.
“So much pudding. It’s a classic Hunter-Sanders mess around.”
“Robert Hunter, no.”
“Brooklyn Sanders, yes. You owe me. And you waited 16 years to give me my favor. So it has to be very extra. And it has to be this. No negotiation. I’m taking Tanner down on his own turf. He won’t even see it coming.”
I thought about the hole in the ceiling 16 years ago. He was going to ruin Tanner’s apartment. And probably blame it on me. The night before our wedding. “No,” I said more firmly.
“I feel like you should be spanking me right now,” Rob said. “Or at least calling me daddy.”
“Grow up.”
“Never.”
“This is ridiculous.” But for some reason I was smiling.
“No, it’s perfect. And so are you, baby. Love you. Gotta go. Let me know if you change your mind about that threesome. In the meantime, Matt needs help with the poles.”
“Poles? Like stripper poles?”
Rob made a fake static noise with his mouth. “Sorry, you’re breaking up.” He made the noise again and then the line went dead.
What. The. Fuck.I looked up at my friends. “He’s going to ruin the rehearsal dinner.”
“I won’t let him,” Daphne said.
I wanted to believe her. But no one could control Rob when he was planning a prank. I knew that first hand. Luckily I had several days to figure out how to stop him.
Penny glanced at the clock again.
Seriously, what the fuck is happening?