Page 92 of After All

Peyton couldn’t help her grin. It looked like there was a budding romance here.

“Have you tried the peanut butter cupcakes?” she asked.

“They’resupergood,” Carver said with an emphatic nod. “I love peanuts.”

His nickname was, actually, Peanut, since he’d been named after one of his father’s agricultural scientist heroes.

“I love the circus!” Kaelyn chimed in.

Peyton laughed. “Me too.” She watched as they ran off, feeling something achy in her chest.

“This really is amazing,” Tess said, looking around. “It’s perfect for Hope.”

Peyton nodded as she looked over the food, decorations, and supplies for the games later on. “Well, we all know TJ’s favorite saying is that it’s not his circus or his monkeys. He doesn’t even know how much more of a circus his life is about to be with a kid.”

When Adrianne had said that Peyton could take the party over, she’d known what theme to use immediately. She’d envisioned chocolate-dipped bananas, in-the-shell peanuts, animal crackers, cotton candy, kettle corn and lemonade, and the cake had come to her within minutes. It was a circus tent, and Hope had teared up when she’d seen it. The entire theme for the party—circuses and monkeys—was a nod to TJ, because, in all actuality, he took on lots of “monkeys”, and his life since meeting Hope and becoming Sapphire Falls’ mayor had gone from a three-ring circus to about six rings. And it was clear that he loved every bit of it. Hope had made that happen for him. She’d made his life crazier, but she’d also made it bigger and more full of laughter and love.

Hope had been teasing him by referring to their baby as their little monkey since the pregnancy test had come back positive.

Tessa laughed. “Right? I can’t wait to watch TJ with this baby.”

Peyton couldn’t either. TJ was going to be a great dad. He’d been keeping his three younger brothers in line for years, and he treated Hope like a princess. That yearning, tight feeling in her chest returned. Crap.

“I want some of that,” Tessa said, sounding wistful.

Peyton looked over. “Yeah? Babies and stuff?”

Tessa nodded. “Definitely.”

“Things are moving that direction for you and Bryan, right?”

Tess sighed happily. “Yes.”

Peyton gave her a quick hug. “I’m so happy for you.”

“And how are you doing with Scott gone?” Tess asked.

Peyton shook her head. “Not great. I miss him.”

“Of course you do,” Tess said with a little laugh. “You went from living with the guy to him being gone and totally cut off with no communication. I can’t imagine not being able to talk to Bryan for a solid week.”

Peyton looked at her friend. “You don’t feel like that’s kind of pathetic? That you can’t even go a week without talking to him?”

Tess didn’t seem offended at all. “It’s called being in love, Peyton. If I didn’t want to have Bryan around all the time and talk to him every day, then he wouldn’t be the one.”

Peyton thought about that. Yeah, she’d never known a guy that she wanted to see and talk toevery day. Until Scott.

“And when was the last time you went this long without talking to Scott? Even before you guys were together, you saw him all the time.”

She had. She hadn’t really thought about it until he was gone, but running into him on a regular basis had been easy. And something she’d looked forward to. A lot.

“I just feel so…dependent.” She gave a little shiver. “I hate that word.”

“Dependent? Why? What are you not doing that you need him to do?”

Peyton focused on Lauren Bennett, who was holding her daughter Whitney and talking with her mother-in-law, Kathy. Lauren was one of the women Peyton admired most. She was taking care of her daughter, laughing with her mother-in-law, all while looking gorgeous and totally put-together. Peyton had no doubt that Lauren’s email box was, at that very moment, full of messages from people in the White House, Outreach America—the aide organization her company IAS partnered with—along with a couple of naughty messages from her very hot husband, Travis.

Lauren was doing it all.

---