Page 83 of The Run Home
“Oh shit,” I muttered. “I totally forgot Gigi asked if she could host a baby shower.”
Lydia was by my side, steering me toward my bedroom. “Exactly why you need to get ready.”
“But Boon will be there,” I said numbly.
“No, he won’t,” Lydia responded immediately. “Baby showers are for women, don’t worry.”
My brain was spinning. What day was it? Had Gigi ever told me what day the shower would be? Why had I spaced on my own baby shower? But Lydia was throwing bottles of shampoo at me and a razor, telling me to reach all the bits I still could these days. She flipped on the shower and soon steam was filling the air. The door slammed shut and I was alone with my confused thoughts. I knew pregnancy brain was a real thing, but clearly I’d lost all track of time and forgotten about the baby shower. Thank goodness Gigi slid a reminder under my door.
I’d been hoping to spend the day thinking of how to approach Boon with a good enough apology for turning down his marriage proposal. Twice. I couldn’t just waddle over there and say oops. I needed a plan to explain myself and make it up to him. Except Lydia was about to break my door down, yelling at me to hurry up and that she’d blow-dry my hair while I did my makeup.
By the time we made it over to Gigi’s house, I was as put together as a pregnant woman could be in her third trimester where nothing fits and everything’s swollen. And also no closer on figuring out what to do about Boon.
Colson answered the door with that classic Wolfe smile that made every female preen. Not me though. Nope. I turned right around and tried to waddle back home. Lydia beat me to it, grabbing my arm and dragging me inside.
“I don’t bite, I promise, Shae.” Colson gave me a hug and whispered in my ear. “Although I hear my little brother does.”
When he pulled back, he shot me a wink. I glared at Lydia. “You said only women.”
Lydia shrugged her shoulders and pranced off, leaving me alone with Colson. His expression turned serious. “I’ve been watching from the window, wanting to intercept you before all the craziness starts. I know my brother can be a handful, believeme, but he’s a good man. I’ve seen him in his celebrity element. I’ve seen him with women. He’s different with you. I’ve never seen him so settled, so sure about what he wants in his life. I know you might have a hard time trusting what he says, but if you look at his actions, it’s clear what he’s about.”
“Shae!” Kinsley’s high-pitched squeal ended Colson’s speech.
I wasn’t sure if Boon put him up to it, but I’d already decided the same thing. Boon had been showing me over and over again that he loved me. It wasn’t his fault I didn’t believe him. It was all the crap in my own head, my own insecurities, that was holding me back.
Kinsley gave me a big hug, pulling me into the house while she talked a mile a minute. I lifted a hand over my shoulder at Colson, hoping he knew I appreciated his advice.
“We have so much food and it’s all organic and safe for the baby. And we have games planned and prizes. Wait ’til you see the grand prize at the end for whoever makes it to the end with their baby doll!”
My gaze scanned the living room, seeing Gigi, Warrick, Emmerleigh, and Tully. But no Boon. I pasted on a smile and tried to look like a woman who appreciated the couples shower.
“But first, you have to see the human-sized stork Dad and I made!” Kinsley was still talking, dragging me toward the garage. “Dad cut out the wood, I painted it, and then all we have to do is paint the birthweight and date on the stork’s bag once he’s born. It’s so cute!”
She opened the door to the garage, which was dark, and gestured for the step down. I entered first, hands fumbling for a light switch. The door slammed shut behind me the same moment I found the light switch.
“Kinsley?” I called out, grabbing the door handle and finding it locked.
“Shae?” Boon’s voice came from the side door where he and Tatum were coming in from the side yard.
Tatum shoved Boon inside the garage with a “Sorry, Coach!” and a dark object was thrown at Boon before the side door slammed shut and locked from the outside. Boon looked back at the door, then back at me.
“What’s happening?” I asked, out of breath and thoroughly confused.
Boon snatched the object off the floor and came toward me. It was the ring box that had been taped to my door. Suddenly his face lit up in a laugh. “I think we just got parent-trapped.”
I looked at both doors, with us locked inside. My heart rate sped up, not from fear of being locked in, but because I was being given my chance with Boon, whether I was ready or not. “I think you’re right.”
Boon came closer, looking pleased to see me, but also hesitant. I hated that I’d given him reason to be scared to approach me. He had dark smudges under his eyes, like maybe he’d spent the night tossing and turning too. The sound of several car engines starting had Boon walking over to the garage doors, peeking out the glass at the top.
“They’re driving away, aren’t they?” I asked. IknewI hadn’t spaced on the baby shower. I hadn’t even gotten the date confirmed from Gigi! This was all a setup.
Boon spun around, shaking his head. He peered down at me. “Yeah. How are you?”
I took a step toward him. “The baby’s good.”
He shook his head. “I’m glad to hear it, but I asked how areyou.”
Tears filled my eyes. He’d been showing me he loved me for a long time now, and I’d brushed each and every gesture off as Boon just flirting. My self-esteem had been so low I assumed he could never love little old me. Everyone else had let go ofthe boxes we put ourselves in in high school, but here I was clinging to mine. I was thirty-nine years old and still thinking the high school captain of the baseball team couldn’t actually be interested in me.
