Page 9 of Marry Your Best Friend

“Good for me and Gabe?”

She nods. “Yep, you all need to shake things up a bit.”

Before I can ask her what she means, Macy starts to squirm in my arms and wakes up, blinking up at me. And as she looks up at me with her big blue eyes, all I can do is stare back at her.

Haven leans toward us. “Awwww, she likes you.”

My heart is racing in my chest. “You think so?”

“She’s not crying. You have officially made the list of babysitters, Chrissy.”

I swear it feels like she just told me I won a million dollars. “Just call me. I’ll babysit anytime.”

4

GABE

I’m sitting in King’s living room with my brothers and my sisters-in-law. My eyes keep going to the door, waiting for Chrissy to get here. Did she decide to skip dinner and go straight to her date? Did she tell me the wrong day to throw me off?

I’m getting tenser the longer I sit here, so I stand up and move to the big bay windows to look out. There’s no sign of Chrissy’s car, and I turn away with a huff. Where the hell is she?

Haven comes toward me with a tray, and I take it from her. “You shouldn’t be serving us, Haven. You just made me an uncle again.” I say again because even though Cole is not blood related to me, when his mom married my brother, he became my nephew.

She puts her hand on my arm. “I swear between you, King, and the rest of them, I haven’t had to lift a finger.”

I walk with her over to an empty chair. “And that’s how it should be. Have a seat. I’ll serve.” I lean down to show her the tray. “Want one?”

She grabs a cracker with cheese off the tray and whispers, “Chrissy is coming. She said she’s running a few minutes late.”

I don’t even act like I wasn’t wondering about her because I’m so happy to know she’s still coming. Maybe I can talk some sense into her.

I nod to Haven and then move around the room, holding the tray out. When the front door opens, I stand straight up and hold my breath, waiting to see Chrissy.

She walks through the door wearing a tight dress that hugs the curves of her body. She’s smiling ear to ear as she kicks off her high heels. “Where’s my girl at?”

I set the tray on the nearest table and am about to walk toward her when King beats me to it. He’s holding Macy against his chest and puts one arm around Chrissy. “Is this the girl you’re talking about?”

She smiles ear to ear. “That’s her. Gimme, gimme.”

King kisses the top of Macy’s head and gently lays her in Chrissy’s arms. “Oh, she’s so perfect. I wouldn’t get anything done because all I want to do is stare at her. She’s perfect.”

I put my hand to my chest because I know exactly how she’s feeling. I’m perfectly content just staring at Chrissy. Holden comes up to me and elbows me in the stomach. “Close your mouth, bro. Remember, she’s still our sister.”

I groan. “She’s not my sister.”

He nods. “Yeah, but she’s like one to me, so quit looking at her like you want to undress her.”

Haven stands up and announces, “All right, everyone’s here, let’s eat.”

Everyone hugs Chrissy as they pass her, and when I’m about to reach her, she turns and walks with the baby into the dining room. She’s going to try and avoid me, but she has to know by now that’s not going to work.

She sits down between Cat and Haven, leaving me to sit across the table from her. She may try to ignore me, but she’s going to have to look at me while she does it.

She holds the baby through dinner, and you’d think she’s a pro by the way she’s able to eat and coo at the baby at the same time. There’s something stirring inside me, seeing her like this, and it’s taking everything I have to stay on my side of the table.

Dessert is about to be served, and I can tell that Chrissy is getting antsy, meaning she’s about to leave, but before she does, King stands up. “I have a surprise for everyone.”

We all raise our heads to look at him, and he’s smiling ear to ear. He points to a television in the corner of the room, and it’s not the usual décor, so it’s obvious it was brought in for a reason. We all turn to look at the black screen. King is standing next to us, and we hear ringing and then all of a sudden, our brother Ledger’s face appears on the television screen.

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