Page 63 of Silver Linings

“I wish I would have known he’d be here. I could have told Gunner to bring Sage.”

“No way! You need time away!” Mae wrapped her arm around Lily’s shoulders. “I swear, this will be a fun night. And I have Hawk on standby waiting for my text later to make sure we get you back safe and sound to your sweet baby.”

“Three Sugar Cookies.” The bartender slapped the bright pink shots onto the counter in front of them and Lily cringed. “Best of luck, ladies.”

“What did he mean?” Lily asked.

“Don’t worry about that,” Mae laughed. “Bottoms up, babes. Let’s get a head start to our buzz before the other ladies show up.”

Lily tapped her shot glass against Mae’s and then Emma’s, before tipping it towards her open mouth. Holy hell, it was sweet. And then, the burn started, causing Lily to sputter and cough as it flamed in her stomach.

“What is in that?”

“You definitely don’t want to know,” Emma laughed. “But you’ll thank me later when the buzz kicks in!”

“Did you say more people are joining us?”

“Yes! I invited my best friend, Daisy, but she just had her baby and declined. I don’t blame her. Madison is really giving them a run for their money. Poor kiddo has colic and keeps them up all night.”

“Oh, that’s terrible.” Sage had always been such a great sleeper for Lily. She really was so lucky.

“Yeah. I know she wanted to be here to meet you though, so maybe one day soon we can all get together. The two of you will hit it off, no doubt. Sunny and Sage would be so cute together, and Addie would pounce at the chance to play with them.”

“So it’s just the three of us?”

“Nope. In fact, I see trouble headed our way right now.”

Lily smiled as a woman with curly auburn hair and an air of confidence she would kill for walked up to the bar.

“Two shots of tequila, please.”

“Grace, meet Lily. Lily, this is Daisy’s cousin, Grace.”

“Oh, Lily, it’s so nice to meet you. Sorry, I’ve got a one track mind right now.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Grace.”

“What’s going on with you?” Emma asked.

Grace looked at all the ladies and sighed. “This stays between all of us, okay?”

She seemed to wait for all of them to agree, so Lily joined in on the nodding.

“Jackson and I pulled the goalie. We aren’t officially trying for baby number two, but we aren’t stopping it from happening.”

“That’s so exciting!” Mae giggled. “I love how you said ‘pulled the goalie’. Hilarious! Although maybe two tequila shots aren’t the best choice right now?”

“No, they’re fine. And needed. I just found out it didn’t happen this month, and I can’t figure out if I’m happy about it because I’ve got so much going on with setting up my real estate office, or if I’m sad because I spent so much of this month imagining Jack with a baby brother or sister and how sweet it would be to get to experience my whole pregnancy with Jackson this time.”

“This time?” Lily asked. She was being fed information at a speed she could barely keep up with, but gathered that Jackson was Grace’s husband from the amazing diamond ring she was sporting. What she didn’t understand was why Grace looked upset at the question.

“It’s a long story,” Grace offered.

“And probably none of my business. I’m sorry if I overstepped. That Sugar Cookie is going straight to my head.”

Grace’s head whipped towards Emma. “You ordered Sugar Cookies and didn’t get one for me?”

“Sorry, babe. Round two is on Lily…or rather Gunner, so order as many as you want.”

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