Page 41 of Last Minute Fiancé

My parents would be grandparents. What would they want to be called? Nana and Papa? Gigi and DeeDee? Grandpa and Grandma? Maybe a more formal Grandfather and Grandmother? I wasn’t sure. We had never discussed it. Yes, we had always made references about future grandkids and me being a mom, but as I had never been in a serious relationship before this—not that I thought that this was a serious relationship—we had never seriously discussed any of it. It hadn’t felt real. I didn’t even know what they would want to be called. That seemed like something we should have talked about, but I wasn’t even sure how they were going to react to knowing that their only daughter had gotten knocked up by a man during a drunken one-night stand. Although, could it really be called a one-night stand anymore when we’d had sex again?

I groaned, putting my head in my hands.

Oh, it had been so much more than a one-night stand. And we were both being very good about pretending that it couldn’t be anything else, even though part of me could only think about that.

There was truly something wrong with me, and I didn’t know how to fix it. I would blame it on the hormones, but I had been having this attraction to him long before that. Hence my problem with myself.

My parents were going to be grandparents. And so were Luca’s.

I frowned in concern at that thought. Not for myself, but for Luca. I didn’t know everything that occurred in his childhood, nor Greer’s, but I knew enough. I knew that their family had been ripped from each other more than once, all because of the selfish wants of two people. Two people who hadn’t cared about their own children, let alone anyone else other than themselves. And even then, I knew they didn’t care about each other. They only cared for moments of time before they changed their mind. I didn’t know how they could do that. And I vowed right then and there I wouldn’t do that to Luca. Even if, no, evenwhenwe realized it would be better for us to only remain friends who raised a child together, we wouldn’t pit ourselves against each other and put our child in the middle. No matter what, we would make sure that never happened. Because I trusted Luca with my life, and with my future. Maybe not my heart, but that was fine. I didn’t need that. I just needed him to stay, and to not be broken in the process.

The doorbell rang, and I quickly pushed those thoughts out of my mind. I needed to tell my friends what was going on, probably with explicit detail about how it happened, because that’s who we were, and I wasn’t quite ready for that.

But there was no going back now.

I opened the door to see Paisley and Devney standing there, both smiling at me. Devney looked absolutely radiant. Of course, she usually did. That’s what happened when you were in love and happy and things were working out for you. She deserved it. After all the tragedy of her life, and trying to figure out exactly who she was, she deserved to find that happiness. I loved that for her. And I loved how absolutely stunning happiness looked on her.

Paisley stood behind her, still smiling, still radiant, but not quite as happy. There was always something about Paisley that spoke of sadness, but I could never figure out why. I may have gotten to know Paisley well over the past year or so, but I didn’t know all of her secrets. Like why she and August had divorced, or how she felt about the fact that she was forced to see her ex often, and in the face of Devney’s husband—considering that the two were twins.

There was no hiding from your past when it literally stared you in the face.

“We’re here. Sorry we’re late.”

I smiled as I shook my head.

“You’re not late. I feel like I got ready early. I can’t help it, that’s just me.”

Devney grinned. “True. But that’s fine. That’s why we love you.”

I moved back and took the dish out of Devney’s hand as Paisley came in holding a bag I assumed held dessert. We set everything out and found ourselves sitting around the kitchen island, talking about our days while I ignored the screaming inside my head.

Devney kept bouncing on her heels, looking anxious and excited all at once. I met Paisley’s gaze, who shook her head. Apparently she didn’t know what was going on either.

“I’m so glad we’re doing this. I know it’s not easy getting time away from your computer and your files to do this with us, but I’m so grateful that you are.”

I smiled again at Devney and tilted my head, studying her.

“Of course. Girls’ night is the best thing that we do. I love spending time with you guys.”

Would girls’ night continue like this once the baby came? Would things happen the way it always had or would it all implode? We’d have to find a way to make it work. That was the whole point of this, but everything was going to change. I knew that, and they would know soon as well.

I just wasn’t ready.

“So, what are we having for dinner?” Paisley asked, looking over my shoulder towards the kitchen. “Whatever it is smells good.”

I had been in nesting mode, because I had been nervous and frantic.

Luca always made fun of me for that, because when I got nervous I began to cook, even though I wasn’t really great at it. He was better, and we both knew it.

But there were a couple of things I could make really well.

“It’s a spinach lasagna, which I know sounds disgusting, but there’s so much cheese in it, five cheeses to be exact, that you can’t even tell it’s meatless.”

“That sounds amazing.”

“I also made garlic bread, and I have an Italian salad ready to go, and I have some appetizers.”

“I brought those stuffed mushrooms that we plopped in the oven, they should be ready soon.” Devney looked at her watch. “In fact, they should be ready now.”

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