Page 36 of Forever

“Like father, like son.”

We laugh, and a bit of worry erases from Sienna’s face.

“How is the wedding planning going?”

“Good …” When she lifts her perfect brow, I sigh and admit, “I don’t have idea. When we decided on some basic things like color and where I want the wedding to be I just gave the reins to our moms. One less thing I have to stress about. Also, are you still okay with Val being the maid of honor?”

She waves her hand dismissively. “Of course. I’ll be ready to pop up any minute, and I’m always tired as it is.”

I nod my head in agreement.

“Did you look for the dress yet?” I feel color rise on my cheeks. “You totally didn’t, did you?”

“I will! Soon, I promise.”

“Don’t make me waddle my pregnant ass on a plane to go wedding dress shopping with you, missy!”

I roll my eyes, but the image of her waddling anywhere makes me smile. “You’re not that far along to waddle.”

“Have you been pregnant?”

“No, but …”

“Then you don’t know shit,” she interrupts me. Poor J.D. That guy doesn’t have it easy with her. “Trust me, you should use the pregnant card as much as you can. It expires after nine months.”

“And what is that you want?”

“Pineapple with peanut butter.”

“Like together?”

“Of course. And I want a lot of sex! Did you know pregnancy hormones make you extra horny? Thank goodness J.D. has good stamina and can keep up with it. It’s a good thing I married a professional football player.”

This one makes me laugh extra hard. So hard the phone almost slips through my fingers.

“Anyway, I have to go. I’m picking up Grace from school and taking her to dance class. Talk to you soon?”

“Talk to you soon!” I agree. “Say hi to Grace and your mom for me.”

Once the call is disconnected, I throw my phone at the end of the bed and get back to working on my thesis. If I can’t be with William, at least I can do all in my power to get back together as soon as possible. And the only way I can do that is if I graduate on time.

*

WILLIAM

As soon as I step into a dim sports bar, my eyes start scanning the crowd for my best friend. I find him in the booth in the back where we usually sit in Sports & Burgers, a sports bar that we frequent during the season. And sometimes off season.

Being here is easy. Everybody knows us, and they don’t treat us any different than other patrons. People don’t harass us for pictures and autographs all the time, so we can just sit down and have a normal meal between friends.

“What took you so long, Price?” J.D. grumbles from the other side of the booth once I slide in.

In the same moment, one of the waitresses comes and puts a bottle of my usual in front of me.

“Your usual meal, boys?”

We nod our heads. “Thanks, Macy.”

“I’ll be back in a bit.”

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