Page 80 of Stay for Forever

Chapter 27

Whoever said cats are angels with fur forgot about the beady eyes and hissing.

Maverick

“You must be Ricky Ricardo.” Ashlyn winks as she opens the door to Bertie’s Recording Studio, the recording studio she owns in ‘downtown’ Winter Falls. ‘Downtown’ as in it’s on Main Street, the one and only shopping street in town.

“Sorry,” I tell her. “Old habit.”

I haven’t checked into a hotel or made a dinner reservation under my own name in more than a decade. I learned the fast way restaurant maître d’s and hotel receptionists will sell you out for twenty bucks without blinking an eye.

“No worries. I figured you wanted to keep your visit on the down-low.” She gestures toward the floor.

“Are you making jazz hands at the floor?”

She sticks her tongue out at me before asking, “Want me to show you around?”

“You seem full of energy considering your condition.”

“My condition? What century are we living in? Victorian England where saying the word pregnant is considered gauche?”

“I thought your pregnancy was secret. I didn’t want to say the p-word in case anyone overheard me.”

She throws out her arms and twirls around. “There’s no one here. You can say whatever you want. You can scream bloody murder, and no one will hear you.”

I feel a surge of protection. “Isn’t it dangerous meeting new clients by yourself? You should be more careful.”

She blows a raspberry. “Are you going to join the ‘Ashlyn can’t do anything by herself because she’s pregnant’ group? Because I have to tell you, there’s not enough bubble wrap in the world to keep me contained.”

“You appear to be feeling well,” I say instead of touching her comment. I know better than to go overprotective on a West woman. The lot of them are stubborn and independent to the nth degree.

“I’m feeling great. Apparently, I’m one of the lucky few who don’t experience morning sickness.” She skips in a circle around the reception area. “But don’t tell Ellery. She’ll be super jealous. She was sick during most of her pregnancy.” She halts. “Wait. You can tell Ellery. She’s allowed to be jealous of me.”

“Sibling rivalry. I’ll never understand it.” Although I’ve witnessed it more often than I’d prefer to in Hollywood. All those reality star families appear to have wonderful loving relationships on-screen. Off-screen, it’s a different story.

“Do you not have any siblings?”

“You don’t know my entire background? You seem the kind of person to conduct a background check on everyone. If only to use the information you dig up as blackmail material later.”

“I’m not much of a blackmailer. If someone does me wrong, I prefer to paint a clown face on them while they’re sleeping and post it on social media.”

“Remind me never to give you a key to my house.”

“As if I need a key.” She smirks. “Anyway, Lilac’s the sister who conducts background checks on people.”

I wasn’t actually being serious. “How does she manage it? Is she a private investigator as well as an environmental engineer?”

She giggles. “You’re funny. Lilac, a private investigator? Ha! Considering PIs are usually hired by husbands to discover who their wives are sleeping with, I think we can safely say Lilac is not a PI.”

“Hey! Husbands cheat on their wives, too.”

She bursts out laughing, bending over and holding her belly, for such a long time I worry she’s going to hyperventilate, which can’t be good for the baby.

“F-f-first you get all the men to dance around the maypole—”

“Hey! It was Cole’s idea to join the women. Not mine.” Truth be told, it was a blast. I don’t think you’re supposed to dance around a maypole while listening to rock music, but it worked.

She ignores me. “Afterwards, you insist men have as many infidelity problems as women. You’re all about equality. No wonder Juniper loves you.” Her eyes widen, and she slaps a hand over her mouth. “Ignore me. I didn’t say anything. La. La. La. La.”

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