“What if he leaves me?” I asked out loud, even though it hurt like hell to say those words.
Alexa sat on the other side of me and put her arm around my waist. “Then we egg his house.”
A tiny laugh simmered in my stomach, building slowly until I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “He lives in a condo, with security.” I sniffed.
“There are ways around security, you just leave that to me.” Alexa batted her eyelashes at me and flashed an exaggerated smile. “But … why are you worrying about what hasn’t happened yet?”
“Because she lives on the Catastrophe Cliff,” Lauren said nonchalantly.
Alexa and I both spun toward her. “The what?” Lex asked.
“Catastrophe Cliff,” she repeated. “Tommy and I learned about it in counseling. Basically, it just means that you are always on edge, waiting for the worst that can possibly happen to actually happen, though more than likely it never does.”
“Oh my God … she hit the nail on the head, Kacie. That’s exactly you!” Alexa’s eyes were wide. “Except you don’t just hang out on the edge of the cliff, you built a fucking house there!”
“Wait…” I turned my attention back toward Lauren, “Why are you and Tommy in counseling? You two are the most normal couple I know … no offense, Lex.”
“None taken, it’s true.” Alexa smirked.
“Premarital counseling. We like going there to talk our stuff out, so we’re gonna continue even after the wedding.”
“Okay, can we talk about the wedding for a while, please?” I sat up straight and cleared my throat. “We only have a few days left, enough about my issues for now. Let’s figure out what we still need to get done.”
The rest of the evening was full of pizza, nachos and gabbing … the best impromptu bachelorette party ever.
Today was the big day.
Not mine, but Lauren and Tommy’s. I was up early, running around my condo like an idiot trying to get all my stuff together. Last night, I was supposed to stay at Kacie’s but she called last minute and said she had decided to spend the night at a hotel with Lauren and Alexa. I couldn’t fault her for that and normally it wouldn’t bother me, but she’s been so distant since the Wild Kids dinner, it just seemed like another excuse not to see me. She blamed it on the wedding and trying to get caught up with school before the new semester started, but something just didn’t feel right. Regardless, I was excited to see her tonight and she did say that she was looking forward to having me stay at her place after the wedding. Maybe I was reading too far into things.
A few hours later as I pulled into the driveway at the inn, my phone chirped. I looked at the text, it was from Kendall.
K: HEY STRANGER, I’D LIKE TO TALK TO YOU. DINNER NEXT WEEK?
I deleted the message without a second thought and gathered up my things from the truck. I walked up on the front porch, surprised to see Lucy sitting on the wicker couch with her hands folded in her lap.
“Hey, kiddo. What’s going on?” I went over and sat down next to her. She had on a pale yellow dress and her normally straight blonde hair was half pulled-up in loose curls.
“I told Mom I wanted to go outside so she said I had to sit here and not move.”
“Well, you look very pretty.”
“Are you coming to the wedding?”
“Yep.”
“Are you gonna dance with my mom?”
“Um, maybe. Would that be okay with you?”
She furrowed her little blonde brow and thought about that for a minute.
“Yeah. My mom smiles a lot when she talks about you. I think she would be happy to dance with you.”
I grinned like a fifteen-year-old kid who just got told in the lunchroom by a friend of a friend that his crush liked him back.
“Hey Lucy?”
Her innocent, deep brown eyes looked up at me and I was suddenly overcome with the urge to protect Lucy and Piper, and their mom. Call it being macho, call it possessive, but these three were mine and I would tear apart anyone who messed with them.
“Do you think I can dance with you too?” I asked her.
A giant grin lit up her entire face. It was her mom’s grin, crinkled nose and all.
She didn’t say yes, but she laid her head on my arm and giggled, so I was pretty sure that was the equivalent of a smiley face on a text from her mom.
“Lucyyyy! Come in here, please.” We heard Kacie call a few minutes later.
We stood up together and she charged ahead of me through the front door. I rounded the corner and stopped.
Kacie was sitting at the kitchen table with her back to me, curling Piper’s hair. She had on a yellow dress, a little darker than the girls and strapless. She was mesmerizing, the silhouette of her sitting at the table taking care of her children was visually overwhelming.
“Quit moving, goofball,” Kacie said to Piper.
“This dress is itchy.”
“Well, you look adorable in it. I’m the luckiest mommy in the world to have to two of you,” she said as Lucy parked it in the chair next to her.