Page 49 of Enticed

Just as we finish, the oven timer goes off, signaling that dinner is done. “Go get dressed. I’ll get dinner… and we can catch up.” Cooper smacks my ass as I jump up from the couch and head for my room. As I’m throwing a baggy sweater over a new pair of yoga capris, the doorbell rings, and I freeze—startled that someone would be here right now, but even more so that Cooper is here and I don’t want anyone to see him.

I rush down the hall, righting my sweater as I turn the corner and see him standing there in his briefs.

“Go hide!” I whisper across the space between us.

“Really? Do you even know who it is?” He asks, his voice full of irritation.

I tip-toe over to the door and peek through the peephole and then my heart drops to my stomach.

“It’s the girls!” I whisper-shout to him as his eyes widen back at me.

“Fuck! Really? Shit.” He searches around the room for something, then bends to retrieve his apron sprawled on the floor.

“Your clothes are in my room. Just… just hide in there. I’ll try to get rid of them, but if I can’t, just stay in there.”

Cooper stops halfway down the hallway and turns to look at me. “We could always tell them, Clara. Get it over with…” I can see his hesitation in voicing that suggestion, but I just can’t handle that right now.

“Cooper… I just… I can’t right now, okay? Please, just go.” I shoo him away and wait until I hear the door click shut.

“Clara! We know you’re home. Penny told us. Open up!” Perry’s voice comes from behind the door and I take a deep breath so as not to appear so flustered. But the pounding of my heart in my chest is anything but calm.

I reach for the door handle and open it wide, plastering the biggest smile across my face.

“Hey, guys!” I shout, to which each of my friends cocks their head at me.

“Why are you yelling?” Olivia asks while she pushes her way inside, Perry and Amy following closely behind.

“Sorry, just excited to see you girls. What’s up?” I push some hair out of my face and check my appearance in the mirror by the door once they all enter the kitchen around the corner.

“Well, we knew you got home from Boston today and we wanted to see you. It’s been a while since we’ve had a girl’s night and we wanted to surprise you. I hope that’s okay,” Perry explains as she unloads bags of food from one of our favorite Mexican places in downtown.

“Aw, you guys are so sweet. Thank you, but I’m exhausted. I was about to go to sleep actually.” I fake a yawn and stretch my arms over my head.

“Do I smell lasagna?” Amy sniffs the air as Olivia opens the oven and takes the lasagna out using the oven mitts sitting on the counter.

“Oh, yeah. It just finished baking. I was about to pull it out when I heard the doorbell. Good looking out, Amy,” I wink over at her.

“You’re being weird. Are you high?” Amy questions with this look of disgust on her face.

“No, I’m not high, Amy,” I roll my eyes. “You guys just surprised me and I guess I’m a little jumpy.”

“Well, you can sleep later. We all escaped our kids, husbands, and fiancés for this—so we’re eating and hanging out.”

I really need to cool it or they’re going to get even more suspicious. And now that I know they’re planning on staying for dinner, poor Cooper is going to be stuck in my room for a while.

“Okay, well let’s eat since I’m starving,” Olivia interjects as she fetches four plates from the cabinet where I keep them. “I guess we can have MexicanandItalian tonight. Seems baby girl likes that idea,” she grins down at her belly before we all fill our plates with food.

“Have you guys decided on a name yet?” Perry asks as we all get comfortable on my couch. I’ve accepted that these girls aren’t going to leave anytime soon, so I’ll have to sneak some food to Cooper when I get a chance.

“We have a few narrowed down, but I think we’re going to wait until she’s born to decide.”

“The baby shower is in a few weeks, right?” I ask, mentally assessing my calendar for the date.

“Yup, the second weekend in June. She’s due at the end of July. I need to stop buying stuff though until after the shower. It’s so hard… every time I walk through the baby section at Target, my cart just mysteriously fills up,” Olivia chuckles as her shoulders bounce on a shrug.

“It happens. But yes, maybe hold off for a few more weeks. So, Clara,” Perry turns to me and then casts a glance at Olivia, who nods. “How have you been?”

“Uh, fine,” I wrinkle my brows at both of them.

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