Page 40 of The Complication with the Best Man

I don’t know why I get nervous reading his message, but I do. I wonder how Tamra took the news.

Want to come to my place?

I know that Maven will be working late tonight, so we’ll have the place to ourselves.

That works. Text me the address. See you then.

I send him my address then scroll through the rest of the messages, determining if there’s anybody else I want to answer. When I see my brother’s name in the list, I click on his message.

What the fuck, Harp? I have to hear that I’m gonna be an uncle through fucking Buzz Wheel? Jesus Christ. Call me back.

I go to my missed calls and see that he did indeed call me three times last night.

I’m close with my brother, but I hate when he treats me as if he’s my father. I roll my eyes and reluctantly hit his name on the screen, wanting to get this over with.

“What the hell, Harp?” he answers.

“Hello to you too, East.” I roll over on my side and put the phone on speaker.

“You’re pregnant?”

“Save the lecture,Dad.”

“I’m not gonna lecture you. But I am gonna ask why the hell I had to find out from Buzz Wheel.”

I groan. “I don’t know. Because that stupid blog outs everyone’s crap?”

“True, but…”

“I was going to tell you after I told Mom and Dad today. Buzz Wheel did that for me though. I talked to them last night.”

His laugh rings out through my room. “How’d they take the news?”

“Shockingly well.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“You’re not?”

“Are you kidding? Mom and Dad are dying to be grandparents. Maybe now they’ll stop bugging me about finding a nice girl to settle down with.”

I laugh. “I can’t wait until you find your girl. I’m going to constantly remind you how often you said you’re never settling down.”

“Yeah, yeah. So, I’m gonna be an uncle, huh?” The pride in his voice makes me smile.

“You will.”

“You could have planned this better, ya know?”

“It wasn’t planned at all.”

He laughs again, and it makes my heart ache, missing him. “You’re going to have my niece or nephew when I’m in season. Not cool, Harp.”

“Maybe when you have your own little one, you can plan to have the baby in the offseason.” Although I’m giving him shit, it makes me happy he wants to be such an integral part of my baby’s life. Sometimes Easton feels so far away, always on the road and living halfway across the country.

“Nice try. Tell me about the guy. Do I need to take a short trip home?”

He’s just as overprotective as my dad.

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