CHAPTER 46
Olivia
“ P lease, they’re huge.” CeCe holds up her foot.
Her ankles are so swollen at four days overdue and she looks so damn uncomfortable.
“At least with my swollen feet I won’t have to cook for the next few days.
” CeCe gives me a wink. If it wasn’t also possibly my fate, I would be laughing with her.
To give her the best possible start, I spent the better part of my afternoon before shopping with Cassie making her a tray of freezer lasagna and shepherd’s pie that she can just heat and serve after the baby finally makes her appearance.
“It’ll all be worth it when you hold that little love muffin,” Mama Jo says.
CeCe, Ginger, Cassie, and Mama Jo are sat outside on Asher’s back deck and Ivy is at home with Billi, who is teething and miserable. We’re eating snacks and talking shit, and Cassie was right, it’s exactly what I needed. For the first time in two weeks there is life here, and I welcome it.
“You’re next.” CeCe points at me when I laugh.
“Right now I feel pretty good.” I shrug. “No more morning sickness.”
“That’s because this is the honeymoon part of your pregnancy.” She smiles at me. She’s so round and adorable right now. “You’re in the ‘my boobs are a little bigger, my ass still looks great, and all I want to do is eat and fuck’ phase.”
“Darlin’.” Jo scrunches up her face.
“Sorry, Mama, but it’s true.”
“How long does that last?” I ask as I pet Duke’s big head. He hasn’t left my side since the girls arrived. “I’ve almost resorted to sleeping with my vibrator,” I admit and they all laugh, but it’s true. Lately, I can’t get myself off enough.
All I can think about is Asher—the way he looks at me with that burning desire, and how desperate it makes me to have him. I keep picturing the way he digs his hands into my thighs and hips, and how his dark brows furrowed as he fucked into me, over and over.
“She’s thinking about it right now.” CeCe hikes her thumb over her shoulder at me and pops a chip in her mouth, snapping me from my vision. Ginger, Mama Jo, and Cassie all laugh.
“For me it was until about seven months,” CeCe continues. “After that, I was just tired and growing bigger by the day. Now I feel like a beached whale.”
“Well, you’re the prettiest beached whale I’ve ever seen.” Ginger grins.
“When’s it your turn?” Cassie turns to ask Ginger, who looks around at all of us.
“Um … well … actually,” she starts sheepishly. All our heads snap to her. “We just found out.”
Screaming ensues around the table as we stand and hug Ginger one by one.
Tears stream down my cheeks. “We’re all pregnant at the same time?”
“Cole wants our kids to be as close in age to Mabel as possible. She’s almost ten already, so …”
“Kids?” Jo asks. “How many are you two planning?”
Ginger shrugs. “I don’t know … a baseball team full?”
CeCe sits up, lifting her feet to rest in Ginger’s lap. “Our babies are gonna be such good friends. Not Angels next gen.”
“I’m due in the spring, so I’ll be right behind you.” Ginger pops some Skittles into her mouth with a smile as a vision of our kids growing up together washes over me. Hell, I must be getting sappy in my hormonal state because I can’t stop the tears from gathering in my eyes again.
We spend the next hour in easy conversation, talking baby stuff, what music Cassie is writing, how Mama Jo is going to cope with three grandbabies in tow. I show them photos of my house now that it’s nearing completion.
“Shane thinks it will be only another three weeks or so before it’s done.”
“And then what?” Ginger asks, piling her unruly curls into a big messy bun. “You seem pretty cozy here.”
I sigh. “I don’t know.”
I take a sip of my homemade mocktail, a strawberry daiquiri made from a Pinterest recipe. The girls seem to like it.
“You’ll know when he gets home,” Jo chimes in. She’s been helping us solve boy, and then man, problems since we were fifteen. “Those first few seconds with him will solve everything. I’d bet my last dollar on it.”
As if on cue, my phone buzzes in my lap.
A
Looks like you and little bear are gonna have to get used to having a roommate again.
I smile down at my phone as a thousand butterflies take flight with just the sight of his name on my lock screen.
ME
You’re coming home?
A
Filling out the paperwork as we speak.
My heart hammers in my chest with anticipation.
ME
Are you okay?
A
I’m wrecked.
A
But I can’t fucking wait to see you, Liv.
My stomach drops with his honesty. God. I really miss him.
“If he looks at you anywhere close to the way you’re looking at your phone, I’d say it’s written in the stars,” Jo says as she fills her bowl back up with potato chips.
I look around at my best friends, so damn grateful for them. “Total gaga.” CeCe laughs and the rest of the girls follow. But I let them, because the excitement rushing through my blood and the smile I’m wearing isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Daddy’s coming home, little bear.