Cringing at the harsh way Kellan’s prized vehicle was being treated, I gingerly closed my door. “It will be all right, Anna. Little boys are fun.” I really hadn’t spent a lot of time around kids, male or female, so I wasn’t sure if that was true. But that’s what you’re supposed to say, right?
Apparently not. Anna glared at me. She channeled all of her anger toward the technician, toward Griffin—hell, toward the universe—into her eyes. I was sure my internal organs were starting to boil as she stared at me.
“I don’t know the first thing about raising a little boy. And look who’s going to be his role model.” She directed her stare out the window, choosing to melt the glass instead of my poor brain. “He’ll be a self-righteous, womanizing Neanderthal, just like his father.”
“I thought that’s what you liked about Griffin?” I murmured that, but Anna heard me and redirected her ire back to me. I wisely said nothing further and started the car. Whatever Anna and Griffin had together, it was best to leave it between them.
When we got back to the house, Anna’s irritation had dissipated some, and melancholy started to replace it; she even shed a few silent tears. She’d really had her heart set on a girl. Wondering if she would bite me, metaphorically or perhaps literally at this point, I put my hand on her shoulder. “You will love your baby boy just as much as you would have loved your baby girl. And don’t worry about Griffin. You know that Kellan, Matt, and Evan won’t let him corrupt his child . . . too much.”
Anna gave me a blank stare for a moment then her face broke into a tiny smile. And even though her cheeks were splotchy, her nose was running, and her eyes were red, she was still drop-dead gorgeous.
I stayed with Anna for a while after that, making sure she was okay and helping her pack. Even though Anna was only going to be in Los Angeles for the weekend, she packed more stuff than I did. As I wrestled her bag closed, she told me that she wanted to be prepared for anything. I couldn’t help but glance at her stomach after she said that. If my sister had been a little more “prepared for anything,” she wouldn’t be in the situation she was in now—about to bring a mini-Griffin into the world.
A surprise was waiting for me when I got home. Jenny’s car was in the driveway, and she was standing beside the open driver’s side door, waving at me. When I parked beside her, Rachel, Kate, and Cheyenne popped out of the other doors. I grinned ear to ear at seeing my girlfriends.
“What are you guys doing here?”
Jenny hopped over to me, a spring in her step. “We’re here to help you celebrate your last night in Seattle.”
I grabbed my head as the perky blonde wrapped her arms around me. “I think I celebrated enough yesterday,” I murmured.
Cheyenne ducked back into Jenny’s car. “Well, we’ll have a much more subdued party.” She reemerged from the car with an overnight bag. “We thought we’d all sleep over.”
Shrugging, I grinned and indicated the house. “Sounds great.”
Jenny, Rachel, and Kate grabbed their bags while I unlocked the front door. As I was trying to wrestle the key out of the lock that was starting to stick on me at times, Jenny came up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Hey, was everything . . . all right . . . last night?”
I could tell by the angle of her brow that what she really meant was, Did anything happen with you and Denny? She was nice enough to not say it directly to me, but she was wondering the same thing my sister had—if I’d cheated on Kellan. I shook my head at her, trying not to be irritated. It was my own fault, really.
“Nothing happened . . . except Denny watched me throw up in the toilet all night long.”
Jenny cringed. “Ugh, sorry we got you wasted. That wasn’t intentional.”
I smirked at her. “You don’t have to apologize for my bad judgment.” I frowned as I remembered why I’d been so quick to drown the evening in alcohol. “Leaving Seattle is much harder than I ever thought it would be.” My voice fell to a whisper and my vision hazed with unshed tears. God, was I losing it already?
Jenny hugged me. “Don’t you dare start crying on me now! If you start, then I’ll start, and we’ll both be a blubbering mess all night long.”
I laughed as I held her tight. Before long, the rest of my girlfriends enclosed us in a group hug. The moroseness of the moment made me chuckle. “Okay, enough of that,” I told them, breaking apart from the circle. “Tonight is about having fun, not wallowing.” I looked over each of them as I added, “And I’ll be back. Seattle is as much of a home to me as Athens.”
Kate ran her fingers under her eyes, then her face brightened. “I’ve got candy and popcorn.”