Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Evie
“I knew it!” I screeched.
I pulled Avery into a giant hug and June and Madi joined us, jumping up and down. I felt like I was flying. I was crying, I was laughing, I was so happy. So happy for Avery.
Mateo leaned against the gallery doorway with a goofy smile on his face, watching the four of us. Watching Avery. My vision blurred as I wiped away more tears.
“I knew it,” June said. “We all knew it.”
“The throwing up,” Madi said. “Dead giveaway.”
“I should have realized,” Avery laughed. “But we’ve just been so busy, and I thought my stomach has just been grumpy. But Bandit and Bonnie have been sticking so close to me. Especially Bonnie. She won’t leave my side.”
“I bet,” Madi said, grinning through the tears. “I’m so happy for you, Avery. I’m so happy.”
“We’re going to be aunties,” June sobbed. “Fuck, I’m so happy. Oh god, Laura is going to be so excited too.”
June’s niece was going to lose it when she found out. I needed to be there for that.
“I can’t wait to tell her,” Avery said. “Austin and Dallas know. I just went and told them. Austin happened to be at my mom’s, so the timing just worked out. I think he was going to tell Nick and Matthew too.”
All eyes swiveled to me and my cheeks warmed. “That doesn’t surprise me. Knowing him.”
Avery smirked, then let out a happy sigh. “I’m really excited. I stopped the birth control a few months ago, but then kind of forgot I did that, you know?”
“We may have asked Levi at the hospital,” I admitted. “When you started crying.”
“Oh my god.” Avery’s gaze immediately went to Mateo. “That’s why he was so fucking weird that day.”
“That makes so much more sense,” Mateo laughed. “I think he’s had three existential crises since you told us. He’s so excited and scared. I’m not scared.”
“No, not at all, that’s why you cried for two hours on the floor last night.”
Mateo stuck out his tongue. “I’m a man who’s in touch with his emotions, that’s all.”
Avery grinned. “Yeah.”
Madi smiled. “We’re going to buy the cutest clothes.”
“Oh my god,” June cried. “Baby clothes are so small. They’re so tiny.”
“We’ll throw the best baby shower, too,” I said. “This is going to be perfect. I’m so excited for y’all.”
The four of us spent another hour talking and crying, and by the time I got back over to my bakery, I was on top of the world. I checked my messages from Austin, Matthew, and Nick as I leaned over the counter and started laughing.
All three of them had sent the eyes emoji in the chat.
Me
I’m FREAKING OUT
I’m so excited
I just cried so much. I’m so happy for them. I’m so happy for Avery. Oh my god, Austin, you’ll be a great uncle
Austin
You’ll be a great aunt
Tears blurred my vision again and I sniffled.
Nick
I’ll be a great aunt and uncle
Matthew
You can’t competitively uncle, Nick
Nick
I can try
Austin
We’re having a get together tonight at my place. Everyone should come over. We’ll cook food and enjoy each other’s company, and it’ll be perfect
Nick
Me too?
Austin
Yeah, fucker, why do you think I’m texting you?
I started laughing. God, they were idiots.
A side text from Matthew came through.
Matthew
Do you think they’ll figure it out soon?
Me
I hope so LOL it’s getting painful
Matthew
Are we placing official bets or is that tacky?
Me
I’ll place a bet. I give it a month
Matthew
I give it two weeks. If they haven’t fucked by then, I’ll owe you $100 and fancy night out
Me
Deal
I shook my head and slipped my phone in my pocket. I headed to the back of the bakery and pulled on my apron. It was hard to think about work when all I could think about was Avery’s announcement, but I had pastries to prepare. Pecan pies weren’t going to bake themselves.
I turned up the music and fell into the familiar rhythm of making the filling and pie crusts. These pies had gotten me a lot of attention over the years. I loved it, especially around the holidays when folks came in from out of town just to get a pie for their family.
Once they were in the oven, I cleaned up, then sat down in the chair in the corner of the kitchen. I rubbed my eyes, my mind still going a thousand miles a second.
I was really falling in love with three people, and it was starting to scare the hell out of me.
The last few weeks, it’d been easy to get swept up in the excitement and energy between us. But the longer we went on, the more real it felt. And all the little doubts I had in the back of my mind started getting louder.
What if I didn’t deserve this? What if I hadn’t earned this sort of love? I knew that was silly to even think that. I’d heard the same words from June and had given her so much hell about it.
I lived in a small Texas town where everyone really stuck to the motto why not. Maybe growing up here, I’d embodied that energy. Even so, the more real my relationships became with Austin, Matthew, and Nick—the more I wondered what the future would actually look like for us.
Would we move in together like my friends had with their partners? Would we spend holidays together? Did any of them want kids? I wanted kids, but it wasn’t just a decision between two people anymore, it was four.
Maybe knowing Avery was pregnant was just giving me baby fever.
There was no rush, I had to remind myself. No rush toward marriage or moving in together or putting roots down or having children.
But, the thing was, I knew we had the sex part down. The chemistry, the desire, the lust.
But what about the life part? What about the love part?
Austin still had to figure out how to handle his burnout. I was worried about him, per usual, and I just wanted to see him let some things go. This week alone, he’d been all over town, constantly on the move. He only ever stopped when he was with us.
Matthew had a rough week. The good news was that we’d called and talked early this morning about everything, and he’d requested the same thing Nick had.
I’d apologized, but then we ended up talking through what to do next time Phil came around.
Matthew even suggested I take self-defense classes, so this had clearly scared him more than I’d even realized.
Then we’d ended up talking about his work, and I didn’t know how he handled it.
I was glad he was a doctor, of course, but I wanted to support him more. Somehow, some way.
Then there was Nick. Perhaps the deepest fear I had was that he’d eventually think moving back to Whynot was a mistake.
He’d worked so hard to change his life and become someone who wasn’t trapped by a small town, so to come back .
. . What if he woke up one morning a year from now and realized he didn’t want to stay?
It would tear me apart.
I wanted him to stay. I wanted Austin and Matthew to be happy.
The oven timer went off and I sighed, glancing at my arm. It was all but healed, although the line was still red and shiny. I’d have that scar forever, but there was a sort of fondness for it that had bloomed knowing that was the moment they’d all crashed into my life.
And maybe, if I was lucky, I’d get my happy ending with the three sexy, gorgeous, funny, sweet men I’d fallen for.