Page 112 of Nave
I was part of a family even as Nave and I were creating our own.
It was more than I could have ever hoped for when I’d run for my life from the glass house one day.
I had Nave to thank for all of that.
For his observation skills.
For his bone-deep goodness.
For that one reckless promise he’d made all those years before. And his willingness to keep it when I showed up in his life unexpectedly.
“I can’t wait to meet her,” Luna said of Blanche. “Book club is at your place this month, right?”
My place.
I loved that more than any of them could know.
“Yep. Don’t worry. Nave is cooking.”
My horrible soup became a thing of legend around the club.
“Tell me it’s going to be pasta.”
“Would I serve anything else?”
Nave - 5 months
“This isn’t the way to the store,” Lolly said, brows pinching as I turned off the highway.
“Taking the scenic route,” I said. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the truth, either.
I figured she would forgive me once we got to the event venue.
It was honestly a miracle that the secret had been able to be kept this long. With so many people involved, it was shocking that the word hadn’t slipped out somewhere along the line.
Honestly, we could thank Gracie and her dogged reminders for everyone not to talk about it or in any way discourage Lolly from shopping for baby supplies herself, even though we were getting really close.
My job had been the hardest, leaving me to constantly have to claim the items were ordered but had fallen on backorder, but that I was assured they would all come in time.
She’d forgive me too.
Because as much as she would never say so, I was sure she was sad that she wasn’t having a baby shower. I’d caught her watching videos of them online when she thought I wasn’t around once. And when she saw me, she quickly wiped away a stray tear.
I was glad the event was finally here. It was breaking my heart to watch her think such a big event wasn’t being planned for her.
“Where are you going?” Lolly asked, watching me as I turned into a driveway.
“I just have to make a quick stop first,” I told her, reaching over to give her thigh a squeeze.
Every single minute detail of this day had been planned out. Up to and including Ariah and Ariah’s mom Kenzi making a show of gifting Lolly a beautiful floral maternity dress that they’d designed and made the day before when Lolly had been at the homestead for her usual weekly visit, knowing she would want to wear it the next day.
So that was what she had on. And she was fucking glowing. Even if she claimed she felt like her belly weighed a million pounds these days.
“This is a pretty place,” she declared, watching out the window as we drove past the perfectly manicured lawns and gardens—maintained with the idea of wedding photography in mind.
“A barn?” Lolly asked, face scrunching. Then, “Oh. Oh, is this a, you know, work thing?”
“Not quite,” I said, cutting the engine then climbing out and going around to her side. “This is more personal.”
