I grinned, and Thatch squeezed my knee. “How does October 28th sound for a wedding? Will that give you enough time to plan my bachelorette party?”
Part of me fluttered at the thought of walking down a multicolored leaf-covered aisle toward Thatch at sunset. I focused on Georgia instead of putting the cart before the horse. Pranking our friends was one thing, but we hadn’t even discussed this in any real terms yet. Planning it in my head might jinx it.
“Huh?”
“Will you be my matron of honor?” A few fake tears pooled at the corners of my eyes. Fuck, they must be missing me in Hollywood.
“Matron of honor?” She sounded baffled, and it made me smile more.
“Are you going to answer every one of my questions with another question? If that’s the case, it’s going to be really fucking hard to accomplish anything in this conversation.”
“Are you having a stroke?”
“Are you having a stroke?” I repeated.
“What are the signs? I think I might be,” she muttered.
“Kline really needs to stop banging you into the headboard, G. I think you’re losing brain cells,” I teased.
“I agree, sweetheart,” Thatch chimed in. “You’re not as quick as you used to be.”
“What in the hell is going on right now? Kline!” Georgia called away from the phone. “Kline! Get your ass in here!”
A few seconds later, Kline’s voice was muffled in the background. “Jesus Christ, Benny. What’s wrong?”
“I think something is wrong with Cassie and Thatch!” she continued to shout.
Thatch and I grinned at one another.
“What?” It was Kline’s turn to sound confused.
“Something is wrong with Cassie and Thatch! I think they’ve been abducted by aliens. Or possessed. Call a priest! I know zilch about exorcisms, but I know we need a priest. Get Maureen on the phone. I bet she knows a Catholic priest who can help them,” she rambled.
“Give me the phone, baby,” Kline coaxed in a calm voice.
A rustling noise echoed from the receiver, and then he was on the line. “Why is my wife looking through the yellow pages for priests right now?”
“Why does your wife have a phone book is what I wanna know?” Thatch chimed in. “I haven’t seen one of those since 2005.”
I ignored him and started a conversation of my own. “Hey, Big Dick, how’s it hanging? Thatch has a big question to ask you.”
“Fuck, honey, I haven’t decided yet,” he played along. “Can I have two best men?”
GEORGIA would like FaceTime popped up on my phone. I showed it to Thatch, and he nodded with an amused glint in his eyes.
Two seconds later, Kline’s face filled my screen. “What is happening?”
“Get excited, Brooks,” I said with a smile. “Because Thatch and I are getting married!”
Kline’s eyes narrowed, but before he could say anything, Georgia’s face replaced his. Her blue eyes were practically bugging out of her head. “Are you fucking with me right now?”
“Of course not, Wheorgie. I thought you’d be more excited about this. Aren’t you happy for us?” I feigned concern.
“No. No. No.” She kept shaking her head. “There’s just no way. I know you’re screwing with me.”
Thatch tilted the screen toward his face. “We’re not screwing with you, Georgia girl. Your beautiful best friend is going to be my wife.”
I turned the phone back to me, and I had to fight the urge to laugh when I saw Georgia’s face scrunched up in absolute shock. “How many months do you need to plan my bachelorette party? I know you’re busy at work, and I don’t want to overwhelm—”
Her jaw headed straight for the floor. “You’re serious?”
I nodded.
She looked away from the screen and took a deep breath. Eventually, her eyes met mine again. “He asked you to marry him?”
I nodded again. “Yes.”
“And you said yes?”
“Yes.”
“And you want me to be your matron of honor? Because you’re really getting married?”
“Yes.”
“How are you being so calm about this right now? This is, like, a big step, Cass. Like, the biggest step you can possibly take into a pool of lava that will swallow your soul for life.”
“Hey!” Kline said through a laugh in the background. She turned to him with a soft smirk and wild eyes. “Except us. Our marriage isn’t like that.”
Kline shook his head. “Yeah, right.”
I shrugged and bit back my smile as I went in for the kill. “You know, the marriage part isn’t scary to me. The unplanned pregnancy? Yeah, not gonna lie, that scares me a little bit. But it has nothing to do with Thatch being my baby daddy and more so with the fact that my boobs are already big. I mean, can you imagine what they’re—”
She looked like she sucked on a lemon. “You’re pregnant?”
“I can’t be one hundred percent sure yet. But—”
“You’re pregnant?”
“The wedding makes sense now,” Kline muttered in the background.