Page 24 of Gracefully Yours

Instead, what she said next blindsided me completely.

“I want to have a baby.”

What?My eyes shot up, meeting hers. A baby? “You…” I blinked. “Now?”

She nodded. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I’m not getting any younger. I’ve always wanted to be a mom.” Charlotte forked another green bean, not meeting my eyes as she brought it to her mouth. “What do you think? Should we get dessert?”

She was going to just brush over that like it was nothing?

“But…”

Who did she want to have a baby with? We’d slept together, but I didn’t think that gave me any right to ask to be a part of this. But the thought of her having a baby with someone else… It hit me like a sucker punch.

Because I wanted her. And I wanted her to havemybaby.

The realization hit me like a ton of bricks.

I couldn’t wait anymore. Couldn’t accept just being best friends. Because I was risking losing her by saying nothing, too.

Tilting her head, she just looked at me. “You’re not too full, are you?”

She might have looked small, but between dance classes, and her workouts to stay in shape, it didn’t phase me anymore how much she could eat.

“Listen, Char, I want to talk to you about something, and I know it might seem crazy, but hear me out, okay?” I took a deep breath. And then I said the single most important statement I’d ever said in my entire life.

“We should get married.”

CHAPTER5

Charlotte

“We should get married.”

“What?” My eyes widened, food completely forgotten in front of me.

“We should—”

“That’s what I thought you said.” I frowned. “But—” My brain was running a thousand miles an hour.What?

Okay,sure, I’d just brought up having a baby, but I meant doing on my own. I wasn’t asking him to do it with me. Even before we’d slept together at the wedding, I’d been thinking about it. And the last month, I’d been researching it.

I was an independent woman. I could have a baby on my own if I wanted to. Sperm banks were a thing, after all.

Still, his spur-of-the-moment proposal, if you could even call it that, was a surprise. I hadn’t expected that.

“We said we’d get married if neither one of us had met anyone by thirty, right? We’re almost there, anyway. I turn twenty-nine in a few months. Why don’t we just get married now?” Daniel shrugged, like it was the most casual statement in the world.”

“Just like that?” I stared at him. “You’re cashing in on our marriage pactnow?”

Damn, we should have ordered dessert. I could really use the distraction right now.

This man—my best friend, the one who stuck by my side for all my years of college, one I’d never really looked at likethat,because his friendship was always too important to me—he just stared back.

“Yeah, just like that. Charlotte… you’re my best friend. I care about you. Besides, we’re both still single. Now that Hunter and Gabbi are together, we’re the only single ones left, and god knows they’ve all teased us enough about it over the years.” He said it with such certainty and clarity. Meanwhile, my brain was still trying to process what exactly was happening here. “And we already know we’re good together.”

“Hold on. What exactly are you saying right now?”

“What if, you know… we let them think we wereactuallytogether?”

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