Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
MIA
“ S o, how did you like the house?” Kate asks as she pushes the front seat forward.
“It was actually amazing—like, absolutely perfect for us,” I croon and climb out of Felicity’s Mini, knocking my head on the roof as I go.
I look back at the tiny car and then across at Felicity as she shuts the driver’s door.
“What?” she asks, pressing her fob and locking the car.
I look over at Kate as she smirks back at me. “I just see now what Kate was saying and why Luna didn’t get a ride with us.”
“Mmhmm,” Kate hums from beside me, pointing at Felicity’s car. “It’s hard enough, getting in Martha when you aren’t carrying another human—or two.”
Felicity props her hands on her hips and sighs. Looking down at the green Mini, she mentions that Jon has tried to trade it on more than one occasion. “Yeah, to be honest, it might be time to say goodbye to the old girl.” She reaches out and rubs a hand over the roof.
Kate looks like she’s been shot as she shoots backward in the parking lot to the boutique we just pulled up in. “Sorry, come again? You want to get rid of her?”
Felicity eyes her best friend. “Would it be a problem if I traded?”
Kate hooks her bag onto her shoulder, flicking her blonde hair back over her shoulder. “I mean, no. I guess it would be the end of an era, but … I’m just shocked, is all.” She tries to sound unaffected, but the sadness in Kate’s tone is unmistakable.
Jessie has told me all about Martha and that Felicity brought her over from England when she moved to Seattle several years back. According to my boyfriend, everyone, especially Jon, pretends like Martha is a ridiculous choice of car for a busy US city and the biggest inconvenience, but really, she symbolizes their friend group.
Clearly Felicity is all-too aware of this as a smile breaks out on her face, and she turns and walks off in the direction of the boutique. A sense of triumph in her step.
Tipping her head over her shoulder, she dangles the keys from her fingers, swinging them merrily. “My husband was delighted when I told him I’d decided to trade Martha in for a new car. He even booked us an appointment at Range Rover for the day after tomorrow.” She pauses as her smile turns kind of evil-looking. “I just need to find the right time to tell him that I have, in fact, ordered another Mini.”
“WHAT?!” Kate shouts, laughter breaking free.
“But!” Felicity announces. “I have decided to go slightly more practical, which I know will please him. I’m getting a convertible. Perfectly practical for the upcoming summer months. It’s also perfect timing since it will be arriving on my driveway in around”—she looks down and checks her watch—“oh, two hours.”
My hand flies to my mouth. “Nooooo! Jon will go nuts!”
“Whoa, whoa.” Kate points at Martha with a look of relief. “I thought you said you traded her?”
Her best friend shrugs. “Meh, minor detail. I planned to, but when it came down to it, I just didn’t have it in me. My daughter can use it when she comes over to visit, which is getting more frequent.”
“Oh, Darcy will love that, she’s wanted Martha for ages.” Laughing hard, Kate loops her arm through Felicity’s, and they giggle like a pair of witches plotting their next move.
“Hey,” Kate shouts over her shoulder as I catch up to them, striding across the parking lot. “Where’s my other girl?”
Propping her other hand on her hip, she holds her arm away from her side. “Bring it in,” she says, and I loop my arm through as our trio makes for the bridal store.
“Okay, where is the blushing bride?” Felicity announces as we step into the all-white store.
Bright crystal chandeliers fill the long space above us with two rows of dresses lining the length of the room.
The assistant steps out from one of the dressing rooms, a measuring tape hanging around her neck. She smiles at us and moves to one side.
“I couldn’t wait, so I started,” Luna announces from behind the curtain.
“We aren’t even late,” Kate replies, taking a glass of champagne from a tray another assistant holds out to each of us in turn.
Felicity waves off the drink. “I’m driving, thank you.” She picks up one of the glasses and passes it to me, smiling. “Here you go, babe. Have one for me.”
I take a sip, and the bubbles dance on my tongue, warming me as I swallow them down.
“I know; I know,” Luna says. “But it’s just so damn pretty. I got here, like, a half hour early, and I couldn’t wait. It’s been an entire three weeks since I last tried it on. Then I came in after work twice this week just to stare at it. I think I have a problem.”
Kate looks at one of the assistants, and she rolls her lips together in response, her amused look confirming that Luna isn’t lying.
“So, how many times have you tried this dress on now?” Felicity asks.
“Ummm … only a couple. I just look at it mainly. But I wanted you all to see me in it before I commit to it fully.”
“I’d say it’s the one, babe,” Kate replies.
“But you haven’t seen it yet.”
Kate shakes her head even though Luna can’t see. “Doesn’t matter what we think. It’s all about how it makes you feel. I’m just here for the bubbles.”
“Same,” Felicity agrees.
“Me too,” I pipe up, taking another sip.
The fizz nearly leaves my mouth as I fight to keep it from spraying across the room when another assistant pulls back the curtain, revealing Luna in a Grecian-style ivory dress.
“Christ on a freaking cracker,” Felicity announces, sinking into the plush white couch behind her.
Pink rises on Luna’s fair complexion, staining her cheeks. “What do you think?” She looks around at the three of us, all motionless.
Kate moves first, setting her champagne glass down on a table. Walking across to Luna, she steps up onto the platform her friend is standing on and takes both of her hands in hers.
Luna’s dress is long and flowy with a thin white band that sits just below her breasts; the flawless material cascades over her baby bump and falls all the way to the floor, where it pools around her feet. The deep V neckline features the only detail on the dress, crystals lining either side of the V, leading all the way up to the thin white straps that tie around her neck.
She looks like a true goddess.
“You know how I said that it doesn’t matter what we think?” Kate says to Luna.
In response, she nods. “It’s how I feel?”
Releasing one of Luna’s hands, Kate swipes under her left eye. “Well, I take that back. Because you absolutely need to know that I have never ever seen a more beautiful bride in my entire life.”
Luna throws her arms around Kate’s neck. Her auburn hair falling over her shoulders.
“What do you think, Felicity?” she asks.
Felicity cocks her head to the side in a way that reminds me of the first time I met her in Riley’s Bar as her green eyes shine bright. “Tell me, do they have good health care in Barbados?”
I turn to look at her, completely confused.
“I mean, I think so,” Luna answers. “Zach has researched the shit out of it just in case I go into labor, like, two months early.”
Felicity nods. “Well, let’s just say, it won’t be you needing the medical treatment because he will be in full cardiac arrest when he sees you in that. And I can absolutely see why you’ve been stalking it these past few weeks.”
Smiling at Felicity, Luna then looks at me. “What do you think, Mia?”
I continue to stand there, transfixed by her beauty. “I think there’s a fair chance Felicity is right. Stunning. Absolutely stunning.”
JESSIE
“So many memories in these four walls,” Kate says as the girls enter our favorite Italian restaurant, Luigi’s.
She takes a seat next to Jensen. He plants his arm behind her and leans across to kiss her on the cheek.
“I think a personal highlight has to be you breaking the pregnancy news here,” Felicity adds, sitting next to Jon.
Kate winces. “Oh my God. The sheer panic I was in.”
“Why?” Jensen laughs.
Side-eyeing her husband, she points over to the table where I assume they were sitting. “I’d found out a couple of days before, and I was convinced when I told you, you’d run for the hills.”
Jensen brings his lips to Kate’s cheek again, and this time, he runs a hand across her stomach. “And what actually happened, Princess?”
Although she tries hard to hide it, it’s obvious she’s flustered. Turning to him, she smiles coyly. “The opposite happened.”
He runs his hand over her stomach one more time as the noise in the restaurant cranks up, and I can barely hear what they’re saying, but I swear he mouths, Just let me know when.
Mia comes to sit beside me, and I lean across and kiss her on the side of her neck.
She looks around at everyone, taking in the huge table we always book when we come here. “You have a lot of friends, Jessie.”
Tonight, there are even more of us.
Jack takes the remaining seat next to his mom. He pulls off his college team cap and shakes out his brown hair before grabbing a menu. “Did we order yet?” he asks as conversations continue around the table. “After that practice, I’m going for one of everything.”
When I catch sight of Zach palming Luna’s stomach, a flush of something that feels like permanence shoots through me.
Family.
I turn back to Mia, who’s scanning the menu. “Yeah, I guess I do have a lot of friends.” Underneath the table, I rest my hand on Mia’s upper right thigh. “They’re your friends now too, Sweetheart.”
I’m busy gazing at my girlfriend as she chooses her entrée when Kate picks up her empty wineglass and stands, tapping her fork against it lightly.
“Okay, okay. I know we all came here to eat, but first, Luna has a special announcement.”
In response, Luna’s cheeks turn the color of her hair as she glares at Kate and then looks around the restaurant to check who’s watching.
She takes a sip of water, clearing her throat. “So … I found the one!”
Zach brings his fiancée in for a kiss. “Tell me, what is it like?”
“It’s big and white,” Jack interjects, earning an eye roll from Felicity. “She can’t reveal that, bro,” he finishes.
“Jack’s right; I can’t give you any details about my dress. It’s bad luck.” Luna agrees.
“Just know this, Zachary: you are going to lose your shit,” Kate confirms, crunching on a breadstick.
“Congrats, Luna,” I say, raising my soda. “Only three months to go now, right?”
“One hundred days exactly,” Jon chimes in. “I assume everyone has their flights booked?”
Mia’s head whips up as she looks at me and mouths, Flights?
Squeezing her thigh again under the table, I lean down until my lips touch the shell of her ear. “I booked them last week.”
As she closes her menu, she turns her head slightly, and I watch the way the delicate skin on her neck pebbles at my proximity. “Them?”
“Yeah. It’s only a few days. You can get some time off work, can’t you? College is finished for summer break.”
I feel her shift under my touch. “I can. I just didn’t want to assume I was invited.”
The temptation to tell her that she isn’t just invited, that she’s actually a bridesmaid alongside Felicity and Kate, is strong. Instead, I keep that secret to myself and give Luna the honor of asking her when she’s ready.
“You’re definitely invited, Sweetheart.”
“Okay,” she replies. “How was therapy?”
While the girls were with Luna for a dress fitting, we had a morning skate, and then I had my fourth session on a new course with the team psych, Ashley. In reality, over the years, I’ve had way more sessions with her, but we agreed that with the new course I’d be taking, we’d take things right back to the beginning. Opening up to her has been as hard as I expected it to be.
“Better,” I reply. “I don’t have a huge headache, for one.”
“When does she think you’ll be ready to begin the course of therapy she’s recommended?”
Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, I remind myself that I’m not only doing this for me, but I’m also working through everything for us too. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR for short, is something Ashley and I are preparing for, but to carry out this course of treatment, it takes some initial groundwork to identify what areas of my memory we want to explore and recall.
“In a week or so. I need a couple more sessions first,” I reply.
When she takes my hand in hers under the table and squeezes it, I know whatever my mind unearths over the next few months, I absolutely have my girl by my side.
“Have the owners accepted your offer yet?” Jon asks me across the table, bringing all conversations to an end, including mine and Mia’s.
I shake my head and take a sip of soda. “The signed offer was sent to their agent a couple of days ago. Still waiting to hear.”
“Oh, it’s in the stars, trust me. I’m so excited for you both,” Luna squeaks. “I just know in a few months, we’ll be all sitting in your yard, having a barbecue, while the kids are in the swimming pool.”
“Oh yeah, that reminds me to thank you, babe,” Kate replies. “That sitter you recommended?” She gives a chef’s kiss. “Perfection. Will and June love her. She’s already sent me, like, three videos since we got here.”
Luna holds up her phone and plays a video of Aster knocking down a huge tower of building blocks, his laughter ringing out across the table. “Me too,” she replies. “We have fantastic sitters.”
Pulling out his phone, Jon taps the screen a couple of times. “Yeah, we can all get live updates of our babies; I have around-the-clock footage of my new Porsche.”
It’s as if time stands still when his eyes blow wide, his brain catching up to whatever’s on his screen.
“What is it?” Zach asks, slightly concerned.
Pointing to his screen, he opens his mouth, but words clearly fail him for once in his life. “Uh … there’s, uh …”
“There’s what, baby?” Felicity asks, her lips shaking with obvious laughter.
His head whips to her as he continues to point at the phone in his hand. “There’s a brand-new fucking Mini Hatch in our driveway.”
Completely unfazed, Felicity leans across to look at his screen. “Technically, no. It’s actually a convertible.”