Page 10 of Silent Cravings

“How soon are we talking?” I asked while my heart threatened to crawl up into my throat.

“I’m around twelve weeks now. I haven’t popped or anything, and I read it can take longer to show with the first baby. So maybe another… two months? At the most?” Her shoulders hunched up around her ears, cringing like she was waiting for me to hit her.

Two months. While it wasn’t really a surprise, I was hoping for a little more time. Would it have been so much to ask? “Okay,” I murmured, pulling up a calendar to look for dates.

“It’s impossible, isn’t it?” she fretted. “I knew it would be.”

One thing I knew about pregnant women was that it was a good idea to keep them calm whenever possible. “Hey. I’ve got this. Or have you completely lost faith in me?” I questioned.

Only a touch of the strain on her face melted away. “I know how incredible you are, but I know there’s no such thing as actual miracles.”

“You might be surprised.” Did I mean a word of what I said? No way. Inside, I was shaking, even panicking a little. Two months tops when June was the busiest month for weddings as it was. Two months to pull off something great, something worthy of the names Black and Goldsmith.

Money wouldn’t be an issue. That much I knew for sure. Ari Goldsmith would spare no expense to make sure his daughter had the wedding of her dreams. And anything hecouldn’t or wouldn’t provide, Barrett Black definitely would. I didn’t think that would be an issue, though. Not when it came to the apple of Ari’s eye. But money could only get me so far, even with the inevitable rush fees I would pay.

What I couldn’t do was free up a ballroom already taken by another party. In the end, that would be my biggest concern. Where to have the damn thing. “Are you set on Manhattan?” I asked. It wasn’t easy to sound casual, even as I crossed my fingers and hoped for the answer I needed.

“Oh, no. If anything, I would like to have it somewhere outside of town. Maybe out here, Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod. That sort of thing. I’m open to all sorts of ideas.” Tapping her chin, she added, “It sucks they’re doing work up at the estate until July, or I would say we could hold it there. That’s where my parents had their wedding.”

“Right. Something about replacing the old windows?” I asked, vaguely recalling overhearing Mom chatting it over with Olivia.

“And the roof needs fixing on the east side,” she confirmed with a sigh. “That storm we had a couple of weeks ago did damage to some of the shingles. It’s an old place.”

What exquisite timing. Even Mother Nature wanted to throw me a curveball. I smiled through my growing panic. “That’s because there’s another even more perfect place out there. And I’ll find it. I’ll have Bianca start making calls right now.” I pulled out my phone to send her a text, which would only make her blood pressure shoot through the roof. At least she could freak out while I was two hours away and might have the worst of it out of her system by the time I returned.

“Hey, I heard there’s a wedding planning meeting going on.” Colton’s deep voice rang through the room before heentered, carrying a small bag with a pharmacy logo stamped on the front. “Your nausea pills,” he announced, holding up the bag like a trophy.

“The doctor prescribed them…” Rose explained. “But I didn’t really need them filled until now. It seems like it’s getting worse.” They shared a kiss before Colton popped the bottle open and tipped a pill into her open palm. It was little gestures like that that warmed my heart.

They also left me feeling a little bit jealous, and that wasn’t like me.

Damn Evan.

Damn past.

Damn inability to move on the way I thought I had after a handful of relationships and many more casual flings that went nowhere.

“How’s it going?” Colton asked me. “What do you think? Can we pull it off?”

“I think it’s cute that you use the wordwe,” I retorted, sticking out my tongue. “But yeah. It’ll be totally fine. I know what I’m doing. Don’t you worry.”

Rose couldn’t let it go because that wasn’t how she did things. “I’m just worried there won’t be any place available. Tell me the truth. Are we going to end up having this at a Taco Bell or something?”

“I was thinking McDonald’s,” I countered. “They still have those Playland things for kids, right? With the slides and whatnot. So, we have entertainment for the young ones.”

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Colton perched on the corner of the desk, shrugging. “Why don’t we ask Evan? He is running, what, three of the family’s country clubs now? Four? I lost count.”

Funny how Evan never offered that the other night when Imentioned how stressed I was about a venue.It confirmed what I already knew. He would always make himself the priority.

Rose’s eyes lit up while my stomach dropped. If things got much worse, it would be me sitting with a wastebasket between my legs. “Sure. I could call him,” I offered, since what else was I supposed to do? Rose was pleading with me, hanging on my every word like they were her lifeline.

“I know he could make it work. He’s got what? There’s one on the Vineyard. There’s the one in Greenwich…” He held up two fingers. “Or are there two on the Vineyard? Fuck, I’ve lost track.”

“I’ll call him,” I repeated. Did I sound a little sharp? Maybe. Maybe the idea of having to talk to Evan after he snuck off on me made me feel a little sharp.

Then again, what the hell was I thinking? This was good. I doubted he would have any availability, but I would try anyway because I’d be damned if he would get away with sneaking out with no explanation.

I didn’t exactly want one. I only wanted him to squirm a little. That was the least he owed me.

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