Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
HARPER
“ B ut are you feeling better today?” Ava asks as we stow our purchases into the back of my car. “You seem fine.”
“Yeah, I’m much better. It was the weirdest thing.
” My best friend and I have made our way up and down the main street in Bitterroot Valley, buying things from Pocket Full of Polly, the flower shop, and the bookstore.
You name it, we probably bought it today.
Now, we’re headed over to Sage & Salt to grab dinner before our book club meeting.
“I was hiking along, and suddenly, I was just so tired. I felt achy and just generally not good. But then I rested at home, and a few hours later, I was fine.”
I shrug as we push into the restaurant. I love that it’s already busy in here. I want Juliet’s restaurant to be here for a long, long time.
“Maybe it was the bike ride,” Ava says with a nod. “Too much sun and all that jazz. ”
“Probably.” We step up to order, and my stomach growls so loudly, Juliet laughs.
“You’re my kind of customer. What can I feed you, friend?”
“Apparently, I need all the food you have.” I chuckle and check out the board. “Oh, I’ll take that fish and chips special. That sounds good.”
“Make it two,” Ava says, passing over her credit card before I can. “It’s on me tonight.”
“Hey, thanks.” I kiss her cheek, and we go find a place to sit. “I didn’t realize I was so hungry until we walked in here.”
“We worked off a lot of calories this afternoon,” she says, leaning on her elbows. “Now, tell me everything that’s going on. I know you moved in with Blake, but we haven’t hung out in way too long, and I feel like I’m missing everything.”
“I know. It all happened so fast.” I lean back in the chair, suddenly feeling tired again.
Man, I really do need some protein. “Blake and I are great. It was getting to be torture, spending so much time apart because of our work schedules, and then only catching glimpses of each other here and there.”
“So naturally, the next step is to shack up,” Ava says, her voice dry as sand.
“When the sex is that good?” I nod at her. “Hell yeah, that’s the answer.”
“There’s no need to be a bitch and brag about your hot boyfriend,” she says as Juliet arrives with our food .
“I have some vinegar here and some tartar sauce. Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Looks amazing,” Ava says, and I nod in agreement. When Juliet walks away, Ava continues right where she left off. “Is his house nice?”
“Yeah, it’s great. I’ll have you over. You can come home with me later if you want.”
“Hell yeah, I want.”
“And how’s everything with you?” I ask her before biting into my fish and sighing in happiness. “Holy shit, that’s good.”
“So good.” She nods and then sighs. “I’m working my ass off.
Connor Gallagher hired me to work on the new condos at the resort that are going up next, and it’s a huge deal, Harps.
The biggest account of my life. Most of the condos are up for sale, and they want them to be designed and staged for listing.
The ones that are already sold, well, he’s recommending me to the owners so I can design according to their specifications. ”
“How many total condos are there?” I ask her.
“Forty-six.” A smile spreads over her face. “That’s a whole lot of work, friend. And Billie and Connor asked me to start with their super-fancy penthouse.”
“Holy shit, that’s incredible.”
“I know. I had a nice long chat with Billie when we were all up at the resort, and I think I can do a good job for them.”
“I know you can. And you will. You’re a badass bitch, and you’ve got this, babe.”
She grins, nodding slowly. “Yeah, I got this. I also kind of love that our circle has widened since you moved here. The Blackwell girls are pretty fucking awesome.”
“Right?”
“I guess it’s good that we like them, considering they’re all related to your boyfriend.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “What are you saying?”
“Just that if his family was full of assholes, I might not be so excited for you to be with him.”
“He has a single older brother,” I remind her, but Ava shakes her head.
“Nah. I mean, Brooks is great, and let’s face it, hot as shit, but there’s no spark. I don’t want or need a man right now. I’ll be busy with this resort project for a while, and it’s too good of a boost to my career to get distracted by a man.”
“I can see that.”
“The only romance I’ll be getting is in the form of smutty books.” Ava smiles at me. “But add a vibrator, and that combo works just fine.”
“It’s no substitute for the real thing.”
She shakes her head. “Depends on what kind of real thing a girl’s getting. If it’s vanilla Joe? No thanks. You have the sexy doctor.”
A slow smile spreads over my face.
Fuck yeah. I have the sexy doctor.
I think it’s fair to say that aside from sexy time with Blake, Spicy Girls Book Club has become my favorite way to spend an evening.
I’ve always loved being in a bookstore, but Billie takes it to another level.
She always has the most delicious snacks and drinks, and Jackie spoils us all with sweets from her shop.
The girls actually read the book, so the conversation is lively and fun, and I would do this all the time if I could.
My favorite, though, is after the meeting, when most of the girls have gone home, and it’s just a few of us left.
Tonight, that’s Billie, Ava, Dani, Skyla, and Dani’s twin sister, Alex.
The six of us sit in a circle, drinking wine and giggling our asses off while we finish the lemon bars Jackie brought with her.
“I didn’t say this with the others here,” Ava says, “and maybe I should have, but I don’t love a surprise baby book.”
“Oh my God, I’m glad I’m not the only one,” Dani says, shaking her head. “Because that would just be stressful . Not sexy.”
“I mean, the author made it sexy in this case,” Billie reminds us. “I like it in fiction because we know we’re getting an HEA and all is well. But in real life? Fuck that. Hard pass.”
“So I have an idea.” Ava bites her lip and opens the tote bag she brought in from my car earlier. “Just hear me out. I know, I’m a little crazy, but this could be fun. I saw this on an Instagram reel a while ago and thought it was funny. ”
“Oh God.” I press my fingers to my eyes. “This could be literally anything. ”
“What if we all take a pregnancy test, toss the tests in a basket so we don’t know whose is whose, and then we see if any of them are positive?”
We all stare at Ava in horror, but then Billie covers her mouth and laughs. “I’m down.”
“Wait,” Alex says, holding up a hand. “Is anyone here knowingly already pregnant?”
We all look at each other and shake our heads.
“I’d better not be pregnant again so soon,” Dani says, sounding pissed off at just the thought of it. “Bridger and his superhero sperm can just calm the heck down.”
“What if one of them is positive,” Skyla asks. “And then we don’t know who it is?”
“Then we all have to take it again and hang on to our tests,” Ava says. “But for all we know, they’ll be negative.”
Mine had better be negative. There’s no way I’m pregnant. My birth control method is almost flawless. I don’t have any symptoms.
There’s no way.
“Let’s do it,” Dani says, standing and holding her hand out for the test. “I’ll go first. And if the chief got me pregnant again already, he’s sleeping on the couch tonight.”
“Oh, like you’d let him sleep anywhere but with you,” Skyla says, shaking her head and laughing.
“Fair, but he’ll get a stern talking-to.”
“I’ll grab a basket,” Billie says. “And ignore the fact that most of you are fucking my brothers. Because no. That’s horrible. When you’re finished taking it, put your test in this basket on the counter back here, and no peeking. ”
“Why am I suddenly nervous?” Skyla asks. “I know I’m not pregnant.”
“Because you just never truly know,” Ava says with a wink and smiles smugly at me. “I love these girls. They feed into my crazy.”
One by one, we take turns in the bathroom at the back of the store, then deposit our test in the basket, results-side down.
We wait for five minutes, all of us hovering over the basket like it holds the secrets of the universe, and then Ava says, “Okay, let’s check them.”
“I’m going to mix them up first,” Billie says, giving the basket a little shake.
“I’m sweating,” I mutter, flapping my arms like wings, trying to get some air to my armpits. “Book Club is supposed to be fun, Ava. Not stressful.”
Ava giggles, and Billie pulls out the first stick.
“Negative.”
We collectively breathe a sigh of relief.
“Next one,” Billie says, “negative.”
“Thank God. I hope that was mine,” Skyla says.
“Positive.”
We all freeze at that one word uttered from Billie’s perfectly painted lips.
“Fucking hell,” I grumble, shaking my head.
“Negative. Negative,” Billie continues, but now we’re all eyeing each other as if we can tell who's knocked up just from looking in each other’s eyes.
“Positive.”
“Wait.” Alex holds up a hand. “Are you fucking telling me that two of us are pregnant?”
Unease slips through my gut. I can not be pregnant. Neither Blake nor I want kids. We’ve only been together for like six minutes.
No.
“Okay.” Ava doesn’t sound so sure of herself now. “I guess we’re all taking another test.”
“I hate you,” Dani says to Ava. “Like, not really , but I hate you right this minute.”
“I think we all do,” Alex agrees, and then we file into the bathroom, one by one, as if we’re walking the plank to our doom.
This time, we hold on to our tests.
Dani breathes a sigh of relief when hers is negative.
Skyla does a little dance in her seat. “Not it.”
“Alex?” Billie asks, and Alex shakes her head.
“Not me,” Alex says.
Billie checks her test and then goes stone still.
“No,” she whispers, shaking her head. Her eyes fill, and her eyes fly up to Dani. “Are you kidding me?”
“Finally!” Dani jumps up and claps her hands, then attacks her best friend in the tightest hug, holding on tight. “I told you it would happen. You just had to give it time.”
“We’ve been trying.” Billie wipes at her tears. “And we were going to go see a specialist because it wasn’t working. But it worked. ”
“I’m calling my brother right now,” Skyla says, wiping at her own tears. “Hello, brother. You should come to the bookshop to see your wife.”
“Is she hurt?” we hear him ask.
“No, she’s not hurt. But she could use a wee hug from her man.”
“I’m on my way. If someone hurt her feelings, they’re going to pay.”
We all chuckle at that, and while everyone is distracted, Ava swaps her test with mine. I frown at her, and she winks at me.
“Okay, who’s the other pregnant one?” Dani asks, looking over our way.
“Me,” Ava says, holding up my test.
Oh my God.
Oh my God, no.
“Ava, are you okay?” My friend is bombarded with questions, and she just shrugs and deflects, acting as cool as a cucumber while I silently freak the fuck out.
Connor storms in, and everyone is distracted by the incredibly handsome billionaire sweeping his wife off her feet and kissing the hell out of her.
“What’s wrong, a ghrá ?” He hooks her hair behind her ear and nuzzles her nose, as if none of the rest of us are even in the room.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she says through fresh tears. “But I have news.”
“We’ll be fine, bumble, no matter what it is.”
Billie smiles and rests her forehead against her husband’s, and my own eyes fill with tears.
They’re so sweet together.
“You’re going to be a daddy, billionaire.”
Connor blinks at her, then lifts her right off her feet, hugging her so hard and so close.
“Jesus, that’s beautiful,” Ava mutters, wiping a tear from her eye, and all I can do is nod.
I have to talk to Blake.
Because I’m going to have a freaking baby.
And it’s official. I’m really not a fan of a surprise baby.