Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Most days, Slater loved his friends and their wives and significant others.
Tonight, he resented the hell out of them.
Having to drag himself and Evie out of his bed earlier so they could shower and freshen up for dinner had been the worst thing he’d ever done. If they were anywhere else—you know, away from all his friends—he never would have let her put clothes back on until it was time to leave for the airport.
And he would have spent every damn minute worshipping her and letting her know how much she meant to him.
Even if he was too much of a coward to say it out loud.
Lunch with the guys had put a lot of things into perspective for him, but there were also things he needed to work out before he could even think of making a commitment to Evie.
It wouldn’t be fair for him to go into it without some kind of plan.
He knew she was an incredibly organized person, and it would drive her crazy if he just tagged along and hung around until something fell into place.
And that wouldn’t be a great way to start a real and solid relationship. Too much pressure and instability.
There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the guys were going to push him for some answers tonight, but they were all going to be wildly disappointed. It wasn’t ideal, but he could handle it. For the first time in his life, he was thinking of someone other than himself, and he wanted to do it right.
Right now, they were riding up in the elevator to Axel and Maisie’s suite, and he wondered if they were going to tell everyone tonight about the baby. He shook his head even as he felt himself smile.
“What’s that smile about?” Evie quietly asked as she looked up at him.
Looking down at her literally made his chest ache. She was smiling and was so damn beautiful, and the thought of not seeing her every day was almost more than he could bear.
“Slater?”
“I was just thinking about something Axel told me earlier, and I’m curious if he’s going to tell everyone tonight.”
“You mean about the baby?” she whispered.
His eyes went wide. “You know?”
Nodding, she said, “Yup. I ran into Maisie yesterday and she swore me to secrecy. She was so happy, and I really hope they say something tonight because it’s killing me not to talk about it!”
Tugging her close, he hugged her. “Same.”
The elevator doors opened, and they both reluctantly broke apart to step out. The door to the suite was open, and voices carried out into the hallway, letting them know they were probably the last ones to arrive.
And it was confirmed when they walked in.
“Hey, look who’s finally here!” Connor called out with a laugh. “Now we can finally put food out!”
After that, it was a borderline party with everyone wanting to talk to Evie and telling her how much they were going to miss her.
Walker handed out drinks, Harlow and Nora placed platters of appetizers on the massive dining table, Lexi was sitting and talking to Jonah and Annabeth, while Axel and Maisie were whispering to each other in the corner.
Once everyone had a drink, he figured they’d do it; they’d announce their baby news. But Milo tapped his glass to get everyone’s attention first.
“Hey,” he began. “I know we do this sort of thing a lot—getting together for dinner—but I think tonight there’s a lot to talk about.
” Nora stepped up beside him, wrapping her arm around his waist. “First, I want to thank Evie for being willing to uproot her life for the last month to be here helping me get this remote office up and functioning. I couldn’t have done it without you. ”
Slater’s arm went around Evie as she whispered a thank you to Milo.
“You have been a constant in my life for the last several years, and it’s going to be strange to walk into the office on Monday and not see you there. I know you’re only a phone call or video chat away, but I hope you know there’s a place for you here always.”
He felt her head rest a little heavier against him as she thanked Milo again.
“And while I still have the floor, Nora and I would like to let you know that we have set a wedding date.”
Everyone started talking at once, but Milo held up his hand to stop them.
“We talked about it a lot and looked at schedules and discussed logistics, and we ultimately decided that we’d like a destination wedding. Sort of. No offense to the resort,” he quickly added. “But we’re going to get married on the West Coast.”
“I have a pretty big family,” Nora said. “And there’s a church back home that I kind of always wanted to get married in Sacramento, and Milo’s been sweet enough to indulge me.”
“That sounds amazing,” Lexi chimed in. “But what’s the date? Is it soon because…” She motioned to her pregnant belly.
“We are going to do it the second weekend in December,” Milo replied.
“We wanted to make sure we were through with Thanksgiving and the fall season here at the resort so Nora could take time off and relax. Plus, we’re going to go on an almost two-week honeymoon and come back in time to spend Christmas with our families. ”
“So, mark your calendars and start booking your flights!” Nora said excitedly. “We want everyone there!” Then she looked at Slater. “You may need to come back and cover for me, so when you leave this time, there better be a forwarding address.”
He laughed and shook his head. “As one of the owners of the resort, I will always be reachable so you don’t have to worry. And if I can’t be here, I’m sure you’ll train someone to handle everything while you’re gone.”
Naturally, everyone started talking again, but a few minutes later, Axel tapped his glass and loudly cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.
“First, we want to say congratulations to Milo and Nora. That is awesome news. Even though you’re not getting married here—which would have been amazing—we totally understand.
” He smiled at Maisie before addressing everyone again.
“But we may not be able to go with you.”
“Axel, if you’re worried about the resort, don’t be,” Walker assured him. “We have a great team here that can handle things if you go away for a week.”
“It’s not that,” Maisie said softly, her hand resting gently on her stomach. “But…I might not be allowed to fly at that point.”
You could have heard a pin drop before Lexi excitedly jumped up. “Because you’re having a baby?! Oh my God! That’s it, right? You’re pregnant?”
Both Axel and Maisie nodded, and then it was chaos. Everyone was hugging them and congratulating them, but Slater and Evie stayed back for a moment. When he looked down at her, he saw a few tears slowly streaming down her cheeks.
“Hey,” he whispered. “Are you okay?”
Without looking at him, she shook her head.
Carefully, he stepped in front of her. “Talk to me.”
But she ducked her head first, composing herself.
When she looked up at him, the sadness in her eyes nearly gutted him.
“I’m happy for them; I truly am, but…” Another head shake.
“When is it going to be my turn? Just once, I’d like someone to be congratulating me.
I want…I want what pretty much everyone in this room has.
I want someone to love. Someone to love me and share a life with—have babies with and then have all my friends around to celebrate. ”
“Evie…”
“Please don’t,” she said. “I know we’ve talked about this, and I guess I’m just super emotional because I’m going home tomorrow. And, let’s face it, this is a pretty emotional moment for everyone here with wedding and baby announcements, so…”
It would be so easy to tell her he could give her everything she wanted, but it was one thing to commit to moving; it suddenly seemed like so much more to be talking marriage and babies.
What the hell am I thinking? How can I possibly give her all of that when I have no idea what that level of commitment even looks like?
Sniffling, she gave him a small smile. “I’m going to go and freshen up in the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
He watched her go, but Milo quickly came over, looking majorly annoyed. “What did you say to her? I thought after everything we all talked about today…”
“I didn’t say anything,” Slater murmured. “And that was the problem.”
“What does that…?”
“Listening to all of you talk about weddings and babies made her realize that’s what she wants, and it keeps happening for everyone else and not her.”
“So why didn’t you say…”
“Because that got heavy real quick,” he snapped quietly. “I was just coming to terms with moving to Seattle and then it’s marriage and kids and…” He raked a shaky hand through his hair. “I panicked.”
The look of disappointment on Milo’s face spoke volumes, and when Walker and Connor came over and heard what happened, they looked at him the exact same way.
“I told you guys I’m not good at this,” he said, but there was very little heat behind his words.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Evie walking across the room and going right over to hug Maisie. She was immediately embraced by all her friends, and it just made him feel worse about everything. He might not be as callous as his old man, but the end result was the same.
Dammit.
No one argued with him or tried to change his mind, but mainly because there wasn’t time.
A timer went off in the distance, and Connor excused himself to check on whatever was cooking, and it seemed like a good time to rejoin the rest of the group.
Evie surprised him by walking over with a smile and resuming her earlier position right beside him.
“Um…”
Looking up at him, she clearly saw the panic on his face. “I’m fine, Slater. Relax. It was just an emotional moment, okay?”
Actually, it wasn’t, and he wanted to talk to her about it, but suddenly everyone was moving toward the table while Axel and Maisie continued to gush about their excitement about the baby.
Evie went to move with the group, but he gently grasped her arm and held her back.
When she looked up at him curiously, he knew he needed to say… something.