Page 102 of Trigger's Forever

“Holy cow, there are a lot of cars here,” Winnie comments.

I look around the parking lot. Winnie’s right. There’s a shit ton of cars here for a Saturday afternoon.

“What the fuck?” Winnie gasps.

“What?”

“Is that Logan?” I follow Winnie’s line of sight and my eyes widen when I see Bull sitting at a picnic table on the other side of the lot with Trigger and Ghost. I thought he was in Japan? How the fuck is he in Arizona?

“What in the world,” I say under my breath as I notice more people standing around to the side of the building. “Is there a party going on that we weren’t invited to?”

“That’s what it looks like. Come on,” Winnie says, getting out of my car.

I follow behind her to the doors of the clubhouse and let out a shrieking scream when no less than one hundred people yell, “Surprise!”

I look over to Winnie who has tears streaming down her face. I turn to the crowd of people watching us and notice a large sign on the back wall of the clubhouse that says,Welcome to the Family Babies Poppy, Cole, and Cade.The clubhouse is covered in pink and blue balloons and various baby shower decorations litter the place.

Large hands wrap around my shoulder from behind and I turn swiftly. “Who did all of this?”

Trigger’s beams a large smile as he nods over my head. He wraps his arms around me and I turn my head to the side, seeing Brenna, Lyric, Lilah, and Claudia standing behind us.

“Congratulations!” the girls cheer.

I’m vaguely aware that Bull has Winnie clutched in a bear hug on the other side of us. I tuck my face into Trigger’s chest as I control my emotions. I can’t believe these women did all of this for me. For us.

Sophia says I have perfectly valid excuses and reasons for my actions for the months following my attack, but I can’t help the feelings of regret for the way that I treated all of my friends and family. I truly feel that I should have let them in instead of pushing them all away and, if I had, I wouldn’t have had to carry all of my burdens alone. I have so much support from all of these people around me. My eyes burn and my throat constricts with the emotion of that realization.

Once I’ve collected myself, I turn in Trigger’s arms and smile to myself when I feel him follow me, not letting go.

“Thank you, guys!” I address the girls, leaning forward to give them all hugs.

“I can’t believe you guys did this!” Winnie blabbers through her tears. “How did you guys get my parents home? How did you get Bull home?”

Claudia raises her hand from the end of the line. “That would be me.”

“I thought you were supposed to be in Japan?” I ask Bull as he stops behind Winnie in a position similar to Trigger. I smile as his hands land on Winnie’s shoulders.

Yep. He’s got it bad.

“Got approved for a three-day leave. Have to be back in the office at nine a.m. on monday.”

“How in the hell?” Winnie turns to him. “It’s saturday?”

Bull frowns down at her. “My flight leaves in the morning at seven.”

“He just got in last night at midnight too,” Claudia adds.

“You came all this way for a baby shower?” Winnie asks, dumbfounded.

“Came all this way foryourbaby shower, beautiful,” Bull says gruffly.

Just then, Lyric jumps up and down. “You guys have to come look at everything we did!”

I’m smiling and laughing as the girls walk us through the entire clubhouse and out to the courtyard that has been transformed into a baby shower oasis. Two large wicker chairs are surrounded by piles of wrapped gifts covered in blue and pink and all kinds of baby animals. Tables surround the place and are full of more food than you can imagine. I burst out laughing when I notice the watermelon carved in the shape of a baby carriage sitting in the middle of one.

“Not too much longer, sweetheart,” Maggie says, pulling me into a hug as we stand near the hors d’oeuvre table.

“I’m thirty-four weeks now, but they won’t let me go full term. I don’t have too much longer,” I say, rubbing my swollen belly.

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