Page 17 of The Pocket Pair

“I’ve got it. I would do anything for your sister. I would give her anything she wants.” He meets my gaze, eyes blazing with determination. “Anything. Including whatever kind of wedding she wants.”

The man’s intensity would give the sun’s heat a run for its money. I let my gaze slide away from him, suddenly struck with a deep sadness and an itchy longing I could do without.

I can’t relate to what James just said. I’ve never felt anything like what he does for Winnie. Never had someone I’d do anything for—at least not for romantic reasons. Never believed I’m the kind of man who could be steady for someone.

I hear the faint sound of Val’s laughter rising up. I shift, finding her profile, noting the bit of paint on her cheek. Just seeing it there steadies me.

“Well?” James asks.

I force down another welling-up of emotion. Winnie—married. It means my little sister is moving on while I’m still standing still, waving as she passes me by.

My gaze finds Val again just as she laughs at something Lindy’s saying. The sight only makes that emotional heartburn in my chest and throat more painful. It’s on the tip of my tongue to say yes. Of course, I approve. Of course, I’ll say yes. But I can’t let James get off that easily.

“I’ll take it under consideration,” I tell him.

I expect James to protest. Or growl. But instead, he’s frowning down at the women below where the room has gone silent. “Well, there’s the big news,” he whispers

I totally missed it while thinking about Winnie and marriage and trying not to have a mini panic attack. I can feel the massive shift in the atmosphere downstairs. The room has gone positively still. “What is it?”

“Sounds like Mari is moving back to Costa Rica to be with a sick aunt.”

Something inside me shakes loose and falls down in the vicinity of my toes.

Mari—leaving Sheet Cake? That question is only a blip, eclipsed by immediate concern for Val. I mean, sure, Val is a grown woman. But she and her aunt are more than close—Mari is really Val’s only family. Not to mention the fact that Val lives in a garage apartment above her painting studio—at Mari’s house.

Where will Val live? How is she feeling about this huge change? If anything like the rest of the room, not amazing.

“When do you go?” Judge Judie demands.

“What about the diner?” someone else calls.

What about Val?

I glance her way, and she’s sitting unnaturally straight, like some master puppeteer has an iron grip on her strings. Even from the side profile I’m getting, Lindy and Winnie are staring with a mix of shock and outrage.

So this is news not even they knew. I thought the three musketeers shared everything with each other.

Like who’s pregnant. I push that thought out of my mind. I can only take so much right now. This whole week feels like a fleet of Mack trucks have unloaded their shipments and left the contents strewn all over what was my completely neat and organized life.

“I’ll be leaving next week,” Mari says, and there is a gasp worthy of an afternoon soap opera. “Big Mo is taking over the diner, and the new owners will close on my house in a few days.”

“What about you, Valentina?” Eula Morgan asks, her long nails looking especially witchy as they clink against her wine glass. “Are you going with her?”

Of course she’s not going. Val—going to Costa Rica? No way.

But when Val doesn’t answer right away, all the breath in my lungs evaporates. Actually, evaporation is too gentle of a word. It’s more like a cement block dropped from the top of a building landed on my chest and crushed my lungs completely.

She wouldn’t leave Sheet Cake. Would she? I mean, Costa Rica was Mari’s home, so it makes sense she’d return at some point. But Val has never been there. Her friends are here. Her life is here.

I’m here, I find myself thinking desperately, like I have any right at all to consider my role in Val’s choices.

“That’s the plan,” Val says, finally.

Pain shoots through my knuckles as I clench my fists at my sides. THAT’s the plan? That’s the PLAN?

That isn’t a plan. It’s a disaster. It’s a mistake.

“Not right away,” Val adds quickly. “In a month, maybe? I haven’t bought my ticket yet, so …”

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