Gia settled herself at the wide expanse of varnished wood and went to work.
For two hours, she focused on the article drafts first, while making notes on ideas for future pieces. Summer took and made several calls, including one to her friend Niko.
Gia’s phone signaled and she opened the pictures Carter sent her. Aurora, in a pink helmet, grinning from the back of a white and gray pony that Joey led around the ring. Then Evan looking so serious while he walked around the ring on a larger bay.
They were growing up so fast, Gia sighed. She remembered the six-year-old little boy who had introduced her to his teddy bear when she met him. And it was hard to reconcile the squalling infant with the little redhead who now feared nothing.
Family. It was the heart and soul of everything. And here in Blue Moon her family was thriving.
Summer pushed her chair away from her desk and stretched. “Okay, enough sitting.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Want to walk over to the stables? And then we can find lunch. Lots and lots of lunch.”
“Babies hungry?” Gia laughed, packing up her notes and slipping them into her bag.
“Starving. All the time,” Summer rolled her eyes.
“Good, because I brought massive quantities of eggplant parm with us,” Gia told her.
Summer shot her fist into the air. “Yes! And we have about a gallon of vegetable soup left. Let’s haul ass to the stables and forcibly drag everyone back to the house for lunch.”
Gia reached into her bag and pulled out a granola bar. “How about a snack for the road?”
She snatched it out of her hand. “Bless you. Bless you!”
Summer snacked while they headed around the barn on the beaten dirt path toward the stables. “Oh, hey, listen,” Summer said, with a mouthful of almond butter and craisins. “The dresses are done and ready for fittings. Can you go with us next weekend?”
“Oh, um. I’d have to see about the kids,” she said. Guilt crept in. She already had Carter and Joey watching them today. And her father and Phoebe had taken Aurora last weekend. Not to mention that she depended on Evan to watch Aurora on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. They were her kids, her responsibility.
They started up the slow incline toward the stables.
“It’ll be you, me, Joey, Phoebe, and my mom. I’ll be trying on my wedding dress, too,” Summer chattered excitedly. “I figured we could leave after your morning classes and have lunch, of course.”
There was no way Gia could drag Evan and Aurora to a dress appointment. They would wreak havoc on the store. She winced, imagining Aurora exploding a grape juice box on a dozen pristine, white dresses.
She spotted Beckett’s SUV outside the barn and felt a rush as her pulse quickened.
“I’m nervous about the fitting. The dress is just incredible and Sashi’s worked out this ingenious way to hide the bump that hopefully won’t be huge by Thanksgiving. A week after the wedding I’m allowed to look gigantic. I’ve had a talk with the kids and they promised to stay hidden so it won’t look like a shotgun wedding.”
“It sounds like a lot of fun. I’m just not sure I can leave the kids. Saturdays are really busy for my dad at the restaurant and he already took one off this month to help me …” She trailed off as Summer’s face fell.
“I understand,” Summer told her.
“Understand what?” Beckett strolled out of the stables, looking gorgeous as always in jeans and a zip-up sweater.
Gia forced herself not to lick her lips.
“Summer invited me along on the dress fitting trip next weekend,” Gia answered.
“And Gia can’t go,” Summer interjected.
“Why not?” Beckett asked, sliding his hands into his pockets. His gaze was warm on Gia’s face.
“I’ve got the kids,” she said lamely.
“I’ll watch them,” Beckett said, with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “Next Saturday?” he asked Summer.
Summer nodded enthusiastically. “Yep! We’d leave after Gia’s yoga class. No wonder you’re my favorite soon-to-be brother-in-law.”
Beckett winked and pulled out his phone. “Sure. I don’t have anything on the calendar that day.”
“Hold on. Beckett, I can’t ask you to watch Evan and Aurora for me,” Gia began.
“Summer, do you mind if I take our friend Gianna here for a walk and talk some sense into her?” Beckett smiled winningly at Summer.
She grinned up at him. “I think I’ll just wander in and find my handsome baby daddy and leave you two to hash out the details.” She winked at Gia. “See you in a minute.”
Gia crossed her arms as Summer scurried into the stables.
“What was that all about?” she demanded.
“That’s exactly what I was going to ask you,” Beckett said. He slung an arm over her shoulder and guided her along the fence line of the riding ring. “Don’t you trust me with Evan and Aurora?”
Gia stumbled. “Of course I do. Don’t be ridiculous.”