Page 75 of One Short Summer

Monica

Staringup at the big house in front of us, I exhale loudly. “All right, let’s do this.”

Gabe shifts around in his seat and turns my way. “What’s up with you today? Usually, you love social gatherings.”

“I know, I do. But this is Charlie and Hudson’s gender reveal party. It’s like an epic slap in the face, showing me everything I’m going to miss once I’m gone. They’re going to have a cute little baby in a few months, while I’ll be on the other side of the world, most likely, thousands of miles away. I know this is obviously what I want, but it still makes me sad, I guess.” I shrug my shoulders and let my head fall to the left so I can look at him. “In case you haven’t noticed, I live best in denial.”

About more than just this issue too.

The little voice in my head wants to come out and play, but I tell her to shut it. More things to freak out over is the last thing I need right now.

Gabe reaches out, squeezing my forearm. “I’m sorry. It must be weird going back after so long. I’m sure you’ll get back into your routine in no time though. Change always takes a little while to adjust to, but you’ll be as good as new once you dance your heart out on that stage. Remember, you’re very excited about it. Right?”

Despite the tightness in my chest, I sit up a little straighter at his comment. “You’re right. I’ll get over it.”

His posture is hunched as he sighs heavily. The distant look in his eyes makes me stop, but when he pushes my seat belt button a second later, with a small grin on his face, I’m sure I imagined it. “Let’s go inside. I’m sure they’re waiting for us.”

“All right. Let’s do this.” I open the door, trying to shake off this funky mood I’m in, for everyone else’s sake. I can sulk later when I’m by myself.

We both get out of the car and walk up to the house. To my bewilderment, Gabe opens the front door without knocking and walks straight in, pulling me along with him until we round the corner into the big, open kitchen.

Dozens of people all look at us when we enter, yelling, “Surprise!”

I look over at Gabe, who has a smug grin on his face. Oh, he totally knew.

He leans in and whispers, “It’s your goodbye party. Surprise.”

Whereas hearing everyone else yell surprise got me excited, hearing Gabe mention anything about my upcoming departure somehow makes my eyes burn with unshed tears. I have to swallow several times as people smile and wave, and Charlie comes rushing toward me.

She’s wearing a beautiful peach-colored dress, one that accentuates her belly—the one that “finally popped out,” she told me in utter excitement. She throws her arms around my neck and laughs in my ear. “I’m so happy you’re finally here. It’s been so hard keeping this a secret from you. You know how much I suck at that.”

I do. More than once, she’s ruined someone’s surprise over the years by spilling the beans.

Once we part, I stare up at her. Since I didn’t feel like heels today, I’m several inches shorter than Charlie. “Does that mean you won’t be revealing the gender today?”

She shakes her head, pointing her thumb behind her toward the kitchen island. “It still kind of is. We weren’t planning on doing much more than a gender reveal with the cake anyway. And since you love cake, I thought we could combine the two. I hope you don’t mind.”

“You’re crazy, you know that, right? Why on earth would I mind?” My gaze drifts downward, to her little, round belly between us, and I can’t help but touch it. It’s just too adorable not to. “You had me at gender reveal and cake. That’s all that matters, right?”

Charlie laughs loudly, her whole body, including her belly under my hand, shaking. “I guess it is. You matter too though, obviously, which is the reason I made your favorite strawberry mousse cake too, just in case it’s a boy. I was worried a blue strawberry mousse cake would push it, so I told Max to keep it simple with the gender reveal cake, and I made an extra one for you.”

Shaking my head at her, I chuckle. “Don’t act like you need an excuse to bake an extra cake.”

Her grin gets bigger. “True.”

* * *

I make myself comfortable in a quiet corner of the living room, or at least as quiet as it can be with a room full of people, a big plate with the remnants of Hudson and Charlie’s blue gender reveal cake in hand.

Little Mira is going to have a baby brother.

Everyone’s thrilled, me included, even though I don’t really care what it is. I’m just looking forward to spoiling another little one in the family.

Well, at least from afar, I guess. We’ll see how often I can make it out here once I’m traveling the world again.

The same pang of uneasiness settles in my stomach at the thought, as it has so often this last week, but I brush it aside as I watch Hannah make her way over to me.

“Why are you hiding over here?” Gabe and Hudson’s grandma sits down next to me, putting a small plate with cookies on the armrest. Her gray hair is pinned up in a stylish updo that looks like it would be way too complicated for me to ever achieve.

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