Page 52 of This Means War

“I can’t believe Jamie and Luke just woke up.”

“Hey, they had a late night,” Lydia begins to defend them, then catches my eye and we both burst out laughing.

“This calls for ice cream,” Lydia declares as our laughter dies.

“It’s only 10:45,” I say incredulously.

“Yes, but the ice cream place I want to go to is thirty minutes away, so it’ll be after eleven by the time we get there. And eleven o’clock is ice cream’s five o’clock.” She cocks her head. “And also, I’m pregnant, so basically any time of day is ice cream time. What do you say?” She chews her lip. “Or do you have to get to work?”

I really do need to go to work, but instead of saying that I shake my head with a chuckle. “How can I say no to such a convincing argument in favor of ice cream? Let’s go.” I lead her towards thedriveway, where I moved my truck back to late last night after the wedding guests had vacated it. Work is going to have to wait.

“Hop in.” I give Lydia a leg up into the truck, studiously ignoring the thrill that runs through me as her fingers brush mine. Lydia settles into her seat as I start the engine and back out of our driveway. She flips through her phone for directions then attaches it to the mount on my dashboard.

“Shakes’N’Cones has the best caramel shakes,” she tells me as I drive. “And the best part is I’m pregnant, so I can finally get a large.” She smiles happily, her defenses down for once. “You should see the size of these shakes,” she goes on. “Basically, a small at Shakes’N’Cones is a large anywhere else. So you can imagine how big the large size is, and now I can finally order it.” She pats her bump contentedly.

I laugh, my eyes landing on said bump, causing me to burst with pride. “Well, whaddaya know, sleeping with me has finally come with its advantages,” I quip. There’s a beat of silence before Lydia laughs, and I don’t miss the slight blush that creeps across her cheeks. I stifle a grin. Gosh I want to kiss her. I’ve been fighting so hard against it ever since our dance at Jamie’s reception. Well, for longer than that actually, but holding her in my arms only intensified the feelings.

“Did I thank you again for saving Jamie’s wedding,” she says, fidgeting with the edge of her skirt and looking anywhere but me.

“Only about a hundred times,” I laugh. “Seriously,I’m glad I said yes to you about hosting. Jamie and I got off to a rough start, but I think hosting her 100-person wedding in my backyard may have won her over. Not to mention pulling clean-up duty on top of all that.”

Lydia laughs again, and I relish the sound. “Oh, turn here.” She indicates the intersection ahead, which I’d been about to miss thanks to the distraction of her presence.

“How do you know about this place anyway?” I ask when I’ve recovered my wits.

“From the weeks I spent in Grand Haven every summer. We used to go to this beach nearby called Rosy Mounds. We’d climb the dunes and swim for hours. Then afterwards we always went to Shakes’N’Cones.” She gets a dreamy look on her face at the memories. “I loved those days.”

“Rosy Mounds, I’ve never heard of it.”

“What? You can’t be serious!” she exclaims. “We have to fix that. I’ll take you after ice cream. It’s where I go whenever I need to think or be alone. It’s so beautiful there.”

I smile over at her, touched she wants to take me to her special spot. I’m about to tell her so, when my phone rings, and I see my dad’s name scroll across the screen.

“Go ahead and take it,” Lydia says with a little sigh. “I know how your dad gets when you ignore his calls.”

I send her a grateful smile and answer his call, hoping to get off quickly so I can return to the happybubble Lydia and I have temporarily constructed. Unfortunately, he’s in business mode and talks my ear off about how he needs me to review the billboard ads his team put together before he can submit them to the billboard company. I finally manage to end the call just as we pull into the parking lot of Shakes’N’Cones.

“Sorry about that.” I give Lydia an apologetic smile.

“No problem,” she tells me, but some of our earlier comradery has vanished. Silently cursing my dad’s timing, I scan the parking lot for a spot. It’s packed, but I get lucky and snag a spot someone is just leaving.

“Wow, this place is busy,” I comment as I step out of the car and survey the outdoor seating. “I don’t think there are any free tables.”

“I told you—their ice cream will change your life,” Lydia says seriously. “Oh look, someone’s leaving!” She stretches onto her tip-toes and points to a picnic table near the back where a family is tidying up their cups and napkins to go. “Why don’t you go grab our shakes, and I’ll save the table. Remember I want a large Caramel Magic shake.Large.” She repeats the word for emphasis, but doesn’t wait for my reply, too busy booking it to the table. I head inside, laughing to myself as I see Lydia reach the table at the same time as another woman. She rubs her belly and pulls a pained face. The other woman immediately backs away and lets her have the table.

My phone rings as I step into the line and, seeing that it’s Ashley, I pick up. I still feel a little bad I left her alone to deal with the hiccup with our client’s merger deal. Then again, she’s done the same to me before with clients and there was no way I wasn’t making it to Jamie’s wedding. Lydia had been depending on me.

“Hey Ashley,” I greet her, “what’s the latest?”

Lydia

Cole re-emerges fromthe ice cream shop fifteen minutes later, my shake in hand, his cell phone once again glued to his ear. He makes his way back to our picnic table, sliding the shake across the table to me just as I hear him say, “Yeah, I know, and that’s what I told him, Ashley.”

Of course, he’s talking to her. He’s always talking to her. I grab the shake, disappointed

by the size but still ravenous. I stick the straw in and bring it to my lips.

Cole ends the call and eyes me with amusement. “I did ask for a large you know,” I mutter before taking a sip.

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