Page 76 of Waiting on You

“What?” I ask, my stomach dropping.

This weekend has been damn good, filled with delicious food, great conversation, and amazing sex, and the last thing I want is for it to be ruined.

“Why didn’t you tell me your birthday is next weekend?”

“What?” I repeat.

She turns the phone around, and I read the text she just received…from my mother.

Joanne

Hey, Paige! I don’t know if Nathan told you, but his birthday is on Saturday, and we usually celebrate it here, taking him to his favorite steakhouse. I would love it if you came to Dallas with him. We miss you and would love to spend time with you.

I scroll up and see this isn’t the first text my mom’s sent her. There’s actually several. Many of them asking how Paige is doing. There’s one from Paige, sharing the ultrasound pics showing that we’re having a boy. I, of course, already shared that info with my family as soon as we found out since Paige had said it was fine to do so, but I had no idea she’d been texting with my mom.

“You’ve been texting with my mom?”

“Umm…yeah,” she says sheepishly. “She gave me her number when we visited, and after I texted her to thank her for a wonderful weekend, we continued to text. I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course it is,” I say. “I love that you’re comfortable with her enough to text with her.”

“We talk on the phone too,” she admits. “She’s so sweet, and she reminds me a lot of my mom,” she says, squeezing the fuck out of my heart. “I miss her so much, and with the baby coming, it’s been nice, being able to talk to her. She’s so excited about the baby.”

“I’m glad you have her.” I pull her into my arms and drop a quick kiss to her pillow-soft lips. “My family loves you almost as much as I do.”

“Why didn’t you tell me it’s your birthday?” she asks again.

“It honestly slipped my mind. Between the shitstorm with the hotel and you being in the hospital and then us going away, I haven’t thought about it.”

“Are you going to Dallas for your birthday?”

“That depends.” I hold her tighter, loving the way her bump presses against me. “Are you going with me?”

“I’d love to,” she says, reaching up and pecking my lips. “We can make a long weekend out of it. I have tons of PTO, so we can leave Friday if you want and stay through Monday.”

“That sounds perfect. Now, let’s check out so we can go back to the house. I’m starved.”

“You’re hungry already?” Paige asks incredulously. “We just ate lunch.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t have any dessert.”

I waggle my brows, and her eyes light up knowingly.

“Well, in that case, let’s go.”

“Holy shit,I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!” Dustin pulls me in for a hug and slaps me on the back. “How does it feel to be an old man?”

“Thirty-five is hardly old,” I scoff. “And you just saw me in our meeting yesterday.”

I might be working remotely until we figure out what to do about me leaving Bradford since I’ll be moving to Rosemary permanently soon, but my brothers and I video-chat damn near every day.

“Yeah, but it’s not the same as seeing your ugly mug in person.”

Everyone laughs, but when I glance at Paige, I notice she’s sporting a frown.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she says, plastering a fake smile on her face.

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