Page 101 of The Scars I Bare
He laughed, shrugging into his gray suit coat with ease. “Pretty sure we’ve broken just about every rule there is. Nothing wrong with a little stress relief before the big walk down the aisle.”
I shook my head, still messing with my damn tie. Why they had to make these things so damn complicated, I had no idea.
And tight.
God, it was tight.
“Pretty sure you haven’t broken all the rules. Sure, you might live together, but it’s not like you knocked her up or any—”
I caught his shit-eating grin bouncing back at me in the mirror.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“We found out on Friday. We hadn’t even been trying. How’s that for irony? The town doctor who actively tells his teenage patients about the importance of birth control gets his soon-to-be wife pregnant before they’re even wed.”
“Well, it’s not like you need to tell anyone.”
“Are you kidding? I want to shout it from the rooftops. I’m so damn happy. But Molly says we need to be cautious.”
I pressed my lips firmly shut, trying to keep from laughing. My highly trained doctor of a best friend had had to be schooled by his soon-to-be wife on Pregnancy 101.
I could already tell this was going to be fun.
“So, were you even supposed to tell me?” I asked, watching him plop down on the bed to tie his shoes as I finished up my tie.
“Yes,” he replied. “She gave me a list. I’m allowed to tell you, your mother—”
“Whoa, I wouldn’t,” I said. “You tell that woman anything, and it will make its rounds through the whole town within hours. Plus, she’s dying for a grandchild, and at this point, she’s not picky on where it comes from.”
He laughed. “Duly noted.”
“Who else?”
“Oh, um…well, Cora. Or at least, you could. We didn’t think it was fair for you to keep a secret from someone you, uh…you—”
“Love?”
“Yeah, that. So, you do love her?”
“I do. More than I thought I could love anyone.”
I met his approving gaze in the bedroom mirror.
“And the ex-husband? How does he fit into things?”
I let out a discouraged huff of air. “I don’t know,” I said. “He’s been here all week, attending meetings at the school with Cora and going out to dinner with the two of them. I’m trying to be as supportive as I can, but when I see him with them, laughing and joking around, as if nothing happened—”
“You want to kill him?”
“I want to kill him,” I confirmed.
“When she applied for the position, I never asked what had made her decide to move down here. But I always had a feeling she was running. From a past that obviously caught up with her at that birthday party.” He exhaled a long breath as he gave a warm smile in my direction. “I happen to know a thing or two about outrunning your past. It always has a way of catching up to you.” He stood up and placed a solid hand on my shoulder. “Remember that.”
“I’m not running from anything,” I argued.
“Running, ignoring, avoiding—it’s all the same, Dean. Take it from the guy who spent twelve years trying to forget a girl.” He held his arms out wide with that same devil may care grin plastered across his face. “Look where it got me. Now, let’s go get me married. What do you say, best man?”
His joy must have been contagious because I found myself charging toward him like a damn fool, faking one of those one-armed pick-ups Cora loved so much but instead going for an over-the-shoulder bear hug.
