Page 120 of Lyrical

Well, Chase, you see, I was so stressed out the week you were gone that my body decided the environment was a little too hostile to bring a baby into it. So you know, the egg decided to hide out a while until you came home and made it all safe again to come out. That’s all. So, really, it’s your fault for making me feel so damn good and happy, except it’s my fault too for being such a headcase and not paying attention to all the shit I’ve been so good at paying attention to for the last ten frickin’ years—

“Jillian.” Chase interrupted my thoughts, which was fortunate. I was starting to scream so loudly in there it was starting to pound.

“Men are idiots,” Perry said, flopping down on the chair beside us, and we both looked over. “No offense, Chase. I’m mainly just talking about one, anyway. Today, at least.”

“Maybe you should step away and have a few cookies. That’ll cheer you up,” I said.

She waved that off. Seriously, no cookies? Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen her mouth on the sugar canister as often as usual. She narrowed her eyes, glancing behind her. “I’m losing it here, guys. Stephen’s not even agreeing with me anymore.”

I chuckled. “Do you know when the officiant’s getting here? We should really do that walk-through before it gets dark.”

“Soon, I think. You know, we should just get married today and be done with it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just a spur-of-the-moment thing. Why not? We have our license. We’ll just have the guy marry us now, and then that’ll be it. We’ll pack up and go home.”

“Very funny, Perry.”

“I’m being serious.”

I stared at her. Holy shit, shewasserious. “Okay, I know you’re not yourself right now, but no. Just no. You can wait another day.”

She jumped up. “Think about it, Jills. Our parents are here. The wedding party is here. It’s not even supposed to rain tomorrow. At all.”

“Right. That goes in the plus category, Perry.”

“No, it’s bad luck if it doesn’t rain on your wedding day. And it already rained this morning.”

“For two seconds. And you’re not superstitious.”

“Still counts. And it’s not superstition—it’s fact.”

“Then what about seeing each other right before the ceremony? You’re not supposed to do that either.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s a silly superstition, Jills.”

I sighed. “All right, I give up. But you’re still not getting married today. After all this, after all the guests coming tomorrow… just no. You’re having the wedding as scheduled.”

“Fuck, you’re bossy.” She patted Chase on the shoulder. “I feel for you, buddy.”

She tromped off towards her aunt’s house.

“I hope this thing between you and Perry isn’t contagious.” He chuckled.

I slugged his arm. “I’m not that bad.”

“No, but something’s up. Let’s go take a walk around by the wildflowers.”

“I can’t, Chase. There’s so much to do still and—” I choked up a bit but quickly reeled it in. I was not going to start getting emotional. I had to keep moving until I had the time to figure out what was happening inside me. As if deep down I didn’t already know.

He gathered me into his arms. “You’ve been running around nonstop since you got here. Others are helping out too. You can afford to take a short break. Let’s spend a little time working on our forever.”

Our forever.

That’s when the center of our tent caved in.

Two hours later and I was still wondering if that was some type of omen. Perry was rubbing off on me way too much.

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