Page 55 of Fireworks & Forehead Kisses

Since Skylar and Luna had to move to Firefly in such a hurry after coming home to their house being ransacked, Luna’s birthday party ended up being collateral damage. My niece was turning five at the time, and her best friend’s mom had just had a baby. Luna went to the baby shower and then wanted to have a baby shower theme for her birthday party, which had been the plan.

After finding out how bummed Luna was about it being canceled, Hank surprised my sister and niece by throwing a baby shower birthday party for Luna. I think he sort of surprised theentire town since no one expected that from the strong, silent, brooding mountain of a man, Hank Comfort.

The Comfort brothers were notoriously known for the three Fs: fighting, flirting, and fucking. The youngest, Jimmy, was the flirt. Billy, the middle brother, was nicknamed Panty Dropper, so you can guess which moniker applied to him. And Hank was known to brawl in bars before he was even legally allowed to be in them. But Skylar and Luna brought out the teddy bear in the fighter. The softer side. They had him wrapped around not just their little finger, but all their fingers. Fingers that Luna painted when they played beauty salon. That’s right, Hank Comfort was known to don glitter nail polish.

“Do you know when you’re going to be able to start the art lessons again?” Caroline asked. “I know the kids miss you, and we do, too.”

Working on the clothing line had taken upso muchmore time than I’d thought it would. The learning curve had been steeper than Yosemite’s Half Dome. I’d had to give up my weekly classes with the city, but the launch was next week, and after that, I was going to have a lot of free time on my hands.

Thankfully, I’d still been able to paint. Most of my pieces over the past six months had been inspired by one muse. Even the pieces that weren’t all of him, they all had his essence. They had the feeling of that night. Whether it was colors, moods, or impressions. I’d never understood muses before my night in Atlanta, but now that I did, my work before that night just felt soulless.

“I should be able to come back soon.”

“That’s great!” Miss Shaw returned to the table where she was seated with Mrs. Birch, who used to babysit Hank and babysat Luna sometimes; Mrs. Beasley, who owned the boarding house, and Daphne’s aunt, Rhonda Moore, who co-ownedMoore Moonshine with her. The four women had a friendship that spanned over six decades.

Seeing their bond made me wonder if Nadia, Zoe, Daphne, and I would be seated around a card table someday, laughing and talking. I hoped so.

“Thank you for doing all this!” Skylar came up from behind me and wrapped her arms around me. Or as far around me as she could with her belly between us.

“You’re welcome.” I turned around to face her.

“Everyone had such a fun time!”

“I’m glad.”

Since it was a co-ed baby shower, I tried to pick games that would be fun for everyone. Thankfully, Hank and his brothers wereverycompetitive, so the more competitive games had gone down well. The three crowd favorites had been the Bottle Race drinking game. You fill up baby bottles of apple juice, and whoever drinks them fastest wins. Then we had the Pass the Pacifier, which we split up into teams. People put straws in their mouths and had to pass the pacifier up and down the row. There was Diaper Pong, where I hot glued diapers in the shape of baskets to a piece of plywood and wrote numbers on them. Each team had six ping pong balls, and the team with the highest score won.

There were some accusations of cheating, but when Luna stepped in as the voice of reason and gave everyone a lecture about sportsmanship, explaining winning isn’t everything, and sometimes it’s just as important to be a kind winner as it is not to be a sore loser, she managed to shut all the grown men up. I had never been prouder.

“How is my nephew feeling?” I rubbed my sister’s belly.

“He’s busy.” She looked down and sighed.

“How are you feeling?”

“Tired, and I have to pee constantly.” She shifted from her left foot to her right. “Like right now.”

I watched as she headed to the bathroom. Some people glowed when they were pregnant, and my sister was one of them. She was positively radiant. It was the same when she was pregnant with Luna. I hoped that I was one of the lucky ones, but honestly, I didn’t care either way. I just really wanted what she had one day.

Turning my attention back to the party, a quick scan of the dessert table revealed that we were running low on cupcakes and chips and dip. I headed into the kitchen to grab what I needed to replenish the table.

On my way, Zoe came through the front door. “Sorry, I’m late. I got stuck working a double.”

“No worries. I’m just glad you made it.” Speaking of glowing, I’d never seen Zoe happier. The man who had starred in the movie that was being made about her ex was now her boyfriend. He’d moved to Firefly Island, and the two of them were blissfully in love.

Zoe gave me hope. She’d been single for ten years before falling in love with Miles Ford. And she’d been so against the movie happening at all, and now I’d never seen her happier. It did show me that life could surprise you. Sometimes, when you think everything is going wrong, everything can actually be working for your good. No matter what you think the future holds, the truth is: no one knows what tomorrow will bring.

Nadia and Daphne noticed Zoe come in and joined us in the kitchen. I started filling the platter with cupcakes as all the girls gathered around the island after saying their hellos.

“I feel like we haven’t had a girl’s night in months,” Nadia observed.

“We haven’t,” we all agreed.

“How’s the wedding planning going?” Zoe asked Daphne.

“Good.” Daphne nodded. “Basically, everything’s done; just some last-minute stuff.”

“How are things going with the launch?” Zoe asked me.

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