32. Wendy Darling’s Baby Shower
Chapter 32
Wendy Darling’s Baby Shower
Bonnie
By the time I make it to the park, half of my siblings are already there, hanging curled streamers over the gazebo.
“Hey, lazy,” Cassidy greets me.
I manage a smile. “You look stressed.”
Cassidy’s curls are normally bouncy, but now are out of control. I bet corralling a two-year-old while anticipating his second child any day now is stressful. But Cassidy is all smiles and always has been.
“Marina’s having weird cravings this week. Ketchup with doughnuts. Don’t recommend,” he says.
“You know you don’t have to eat her cravings too, right?”
He waves me off. “Whatever. Anyway, where have you been?”
I cringe. “Sorry, I probably should have looked at the group text.”
I was so wrapped up in Rafe this weekend that I didn’t even consider it. I even missed this past Friday’s family dinner with the excuse of having work in the morning. I didn’t explain that “work” meant going to an art show as a booth bitch . I wonder if they can sense my illicit weekend.
“Ma’s been blowing up the group thread for hours,” Milo says.
“She has?” I ask. “Since when is Ma in our group thread?”
“It’s a new one,” Cass answers. “She made it Friday specifically for this party. Very over the top.”
The tension in my chest curls tighter. “Oh … why am I not part of it?”
Cassidy claps a heavy palm on my shoulder. “She didn’t want to bother you. We know you’ve been busy lately.”
I force a smile. “Well, I’m sure Ma is just excited.”
As if on cue, Ma bustles across the park to show Dad how to arrange the food table.
Cassidy leans his head back to laugh. “Wendy’s having a baby! Of course she is. She’s been waiting for this day for years. Even before Jasper.”
“Right. True.”
Mom originally hoped this would happen with Peter, but none of us say that out loud.
“Let’s not make it weird,” Milo says to Cassidy, pulling me in for a side hug and murmuring, “Is work all right, Bon?”
“Yeah, never better.”
“Good.”
For a second, it seems like he’ll ask more questions— he knows —but Harriett calls to him from across the park, lugging a sloshing gallon of orange juice in both hands.
“This is heavy, Milo !” The last two words sound like an accusation.
I’m thankful when he rushes to help her and can’t ask me about anything else.
I spend the rest of the morning setting up tables with blush-pink tablecloths or arranging party favors full of candles and soap shaped like a stork. At one point, Ma shuffles over, pulling me into a hug before gently shifting the party favor bags from my arms to hers.
“I can do this,” I insist.
She laughs. “Decor was never your thing. See if Cass needs help with the streamers.”
I swallow and smile. “Yeah. Sure.”
By mid-morning, the park is crowded. Jukes provided mini shrimp po’boys, and Bobbi set a carafe of her signature licorice coffee near the dessert arrangement. While Moira’s gift is neatly disguised, Noodler’s messily wrapped disaster, coated in layers of tape, is clearly the outline of a stroller.
I’m not surprised this is what a Wendy Darling baby shower would look like. She’s friends with everyone and adored by all. It’s practically a town event.
Izzy walks down the sidewalk with Marina and Melody in tow. My niece immediately darts to her daddy. Cassidy bends down and swings her onto his hip, moving her wrist to wave at Izzy.
“Say, Thank you, Miss Isabel, for taking care of Mommy while Daddy worked .”
“Thank you,” Melody says simply.
Izzy smiles, but it’s stilted. I’m shocked when she beelines to me.
“Is our tattooed friend coming?” she murmurs.
“Yes. Should be anyway.”
Lulu turns up shortly after, also joining our party of two. Her eyes instantly find Milo and Harriett.
“Is that her? I didn’t think she’d be here,” Lulu says.
“Yeah. Didn’t help the entire time we were here,” I explain.
She spent most of the time gossiping with Ma. I don’t know if she thought that was being helpful or earning her points, but she didn’t pick up hints that Ma was too busy to chat.
Izzy snorts. “According to Cassidy’s texts, carrying orange punch was her biggest contribution.”
“That was punch?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Adults need something to do at a baby shower too.”
“Good. I’d like some punch,” Lulu says. “I was studying all night.”
“Have at it,” I say.
Lulu walks off, only to be replaced by Peter. Our corner of the park seems to be musical chairs.
“Hey, when’d you get here?” I ask.
He ignores me, leaning down to Izzy and asking, “Can we talk?”
She crosses her arms, and there’s a weird, tight-lipped silence before she says, “Fine.”
“Thank you,” he says on an exhale, placing a palm on her back and escorting her over to the water fountain.
Finally, Wendy arrives like the guest of honor she is, wearing a blue sash over her shoulder. Jasper escorts her in, and Sam presents her like a royal steward, bowing in front of her and waving her forward. She laughs as she passes, and Jasper fist-bumps his son.
Ma immediately brings Wendy into a hug. I shift from one foot to the other.
“She’s pretty,” Lulu observes, now holding a small glass of punch. “To be a Davies, huh?”
I laugh. “Technically, Jasper hasn’t married her yet.”
“Yet.” She tips back the whole glass, gulping it down with a wince.
I lift an eyebrow. “You okay?”
“I need another drink.”
“Lu?”
But she walks off before I can stop her.
“Is Lu all right?” Milo asks.
I jump.
“God, people are just popping up left and right,” I say.
“Does Lu normally drink this much?” Harriett asks.
Both Milo and I cut her a side-glance.
“No,” I answer. “And it’s not that much anyway.”
She sniffs. “Seems like she has a problem.”
“Well, she doesn’t.” I roll my eyes. “I’ll be back,” I say, but it’s just an excuse to leave. I have nowhere to go. This party is getting too crowded.
Where is Rafe?
I glance through the crowd, but it’s just a blur of familiar bodies. Someone pops a balloon. People laugh.
No sign of black hair or tattoos.
I think I find a quiet place to hang out, but sitting on a lone white plastic chair nearby is my dad.
“Hey, Honeybee,” he says. “Too loud?”
“Always. You?”
“If I could be home, I would. No offense to Wendy, of course.”
“Of course,” I say with a smile.
I might not carry his DNA, but I like to think nurture overpowers nature any day. We’re too similar for it not to.
“Saw Rafe this morning,” he says.
My back stiffens as I take the creaking seat next to him.
“Oh, yeah?” It’s not as casual as I’d like.
“How’s that internship going?” he asks.
“Good,” I answer.
“Just good? You’ve been busy a lot. Must mean something is really good or really bad.”
“Yeah, I mean … I’ve been really good actually.”
I’ve been happy. This is one of the best summers I’ve ever had, and yet … I watch Ma across the park, doting over Wendy next to the present table. Marina picks up Melody with a smile when she tries to take a gift, and Ma pinches her granddaughter’s cheeks. My brothers talk in a circle a few feet away from them, bursting into full laughter at something Cassidy said.
I twist my lips to the side. “I guess I haven’t spent much time with everyone.”
“We understand,” Dad says.
“Yeah …” But the word fades out. “I’ve just been spending so much time at the shop …”
“He doesn’t talk much, that Rafe,” Dad says.
I huff out air through my nose. I can’t help but smile to myself. “He can talk forever, if you give him the chance.”
I think about Rafe’s mom, how she overpowered every bit of conversation he was willing to give. How, despite all the pressure I feel, I’m thankful for my family. For my niece and nephew running through the park. For my teenage brothers—Levi on his phone and Liam aiming his camera at a bird like the budding photographer he is. For my older brothers, huddled together like gossiping old biddies.
I’m not sure what will happen in a month, when I have to say goodbye to Rafe. Part of me—the wistful side—wonders if this summer will be the start of something we can look back on fondly. If it’ll be a story about how Rafe and I officially became a couple. I wonder if he’ll be here at a future baby shower, sitting next to me and my dad under a tent.
I shift uncomfortably in my chair.
Or maybe I’m just being hopeful.
I lean my head on Dad’s shoulder. He rests his arm around me.
We continue to sit in companionable silence as people mingle.
Somewhere in the mix, Charles strides in. I’m surprised he’s late. He’s got a stern look about him. Maybe he’s looking for his daughter, but Marina is too busy sitting in the shade, rubbing her massive pregnant belly. No, Charles strides over to Peter, Cassidy, and Jasper, talking near the gift table.
“Man on a mission.” Dad snorts.
I smile in response, but then I see him— him —and I feel a bigger grin start to form.
Rafe walks down the street in his pants and work boots and black sunglasses, carrying a small gift in his palms. His jaw tics back and forth. I’ve never seen him chew gum before now, but that—plus the sunglasses—is really doing it for me.
“I should go, uh, yeah …” The words fade, but Dad lets them, patting my back as I get up to leave.
Except the moment I start to walk toward Rafe—with his beautiful smile growing at just the sight of me—I notice the rest of my brothers striding in our direction too.
And when they’re a few feet away, it’s Peter that snaps.
“What the hell did you do with my sister, Rafe?”