Page 37 of Not My Finest Hour

“I’m not considered a guest?” Brett asks.

“No. You’re practically family now,” Fern says, giving him a nudge. She turns her attention toward me next. “So, is someone going to explain how the two of you ended up together when Dahlia was supposed to have been on a date with a totally different guy?” She phrases this like she’s asking both of us, but really, she’s asking me.

While she and Brett make breakfast, I explain everything to them and show Fern the picture of Wesley. She doesn’t ask about the status of Justin and me, but I hope she can tell by the way I’m acting around him, and by the closeness that we’re sitting, that we’re back together.

Once she and Brett are almost finished preparing our breakfast, I make myself useful by filling everyone’s mugs with a refill of coffee. Justin lends a hand by taking everyone’s plates to the table. In front of us are pancakes with bacon and some blueberries to sprinkle on top.

“This looks great. Thanks for letting us crash your breakfast,” Justin says.

“You weren’t crashing anything,” Fern says. “You’re always welcome here.”

Brett takes a few bites of his breakfast, then looks over at Justin. “So, Justin, what do you do for work?”

“I’m in the process of completing my residency to be an ob-gyn,” he says.

“What made you decide to go into that field of medicine? It’s such a women-dominated field, I would think that would make it harder for you to find a career,” Fern says.

“It wasn’t just one thing. When I was doing my rotations, the moment I stepped into the birthing center, I knew. Being in the presence of so much new life was an amazing experience, and I wanted to be a part of it,” Justin explains. “And women make great patients because they don’t wait forever when something is bothering them.”

“Do you want kids of your own someday?” Fern asks. I’m glad she asked because I want to know too.

Justin nods. “I do—when the time is right. I’m way too busy, and have too much on my plate to want to have kids now. It wouldn’t be fair to the child.”

“Our mom always said there’s no perfect time to have kids, and you don’t always get to choose when it happens,” Fern says, basically repeating our mom word for word. It’s something our mom has said for a while, and whenever we’ve asked, it’s the line she used to explain why she and my dad had kids when they did. Fern and I weren’t planned—we just happened.

“I agree with that, but I’d like to be able to plan for it if possible. I just think it would be better that way,” Justin says.

“Agreed,” Brett says, chiming in on the matter. “You know people are going to expect us to have kids soon after we get married,” he says to Fern.

I chuckle. “Mom’s been pushing for you two to have kids for a while now. I’m pretty sure she hinted at it during Christmas dinner last year.”

“You’re right,” Fern says. “I remember that. She was talking about how she can’t wait to have a house full of grandkids.”

“If she wanted a house full of grandkids, she should’ve had more children. I don’t think the two of us are going to produce a boatload of kids,” I say.

“Do you know that a woman came into the clinic the other day, and she said she was on her sixth pregnancy.Sixth.And she was barely showing at three months,” Justin says.

Fern raises a brow. “That’s impressive. I’ll probably be massive whenever I get pregnant—which won’t be for a while. Let me make that clear.”

“You know I’ll still love you even if you’re massive,” Brett says, then leans in for a kiss. Fern obliges with a quick peck on the lips.

The two of them are so cute, and I want what they have with Justin. But I know it’s going to take time for Justin and me to get to their level. We’ve only just gotten back together, and I need to be patient.

“Enough talk about babies,” Fern says. “Do you two have plans for the rest of the day? If you don’t, Brett and I are going to take the ferry to Whidbey Island to spend the day there if you’re interested.”

Justin turns toward me and asks me with his eyes what we should do. I give him a shrug in response. I think it’s nice of Fern to let us tag along on their outing, and I think it would be a great way for Justin to get to know her and Brett. But on the other hand, the idea of having an empty house all to ourselves is hard to pass up. I’m going to let Justin decide this one since I decided his evening for him last night.

Justin smiles warmly back at Fern. “Dahlia and I would love to go along with you. Would it be okay if I went home and changed clothes first?”

“Absolutely,” Fern says.

ChapterFourteen

Yesterday went so well, I’m sad that it wasn’t a three-day weekend, and I have to be back at work today.

We started the afternoon visiting Deception Pass State Park, and even walked across the Deception Pass Bridge. I’m usually not afraid of heights, and it wasn’t so much the height that bothered me, it was the closeness of the cars on the bridge that was unsettling. One false move from one of them and we were toast. We then got some fish and chips in Oak Harbor, and ended the day in Langley where we hoped to catch a glimpse of gray whales. We didn’t see any whales, but we had a great time browsing the shops. Justin and I parted ways once we got back to my house, and vowed to talk as often as possible during the week, and set up a date for this weekend.

As I sit here at my desk, catching up on all the voicemails left over the weekend, Alexis rushes in, leaving an icy cold breeze in her wake. She doesn’t bother to say anything to me and heads right back to her office. Fine by me. I don’t want her to ruin my good mood this morning.

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