Page 71 of You Are Cordially Invited

And when I was done, the office was bathed in silence, barring a soft hum of concern in Sandy’s throat.

It didn’t last for long.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Michael shook his head in disbelief. “You do realise he could be home by Friday, at least Leyton said that’s what Reuben asked for so that he could stillget married,even if he had to sit for it. And you cancelled without even talking to him?”

“Postponed,” I argued weakly.

“Just... don’t.” He raised a hand. “If he were unconscious, I might understand, but—”

“I know, I know.” I sagged in my chair. “You don’t need to hammer it home.”

“Don’t we?”

“Oh, babe.” Sandy’s face was a single wretched frown. “I mean, it’s not like we didn’t know you were a control freak—”

“Gee, thanks.” I scowled, reaching for a pen to fidget with before throwing it back on the desk. “And I don’t know what I was thinking, all right? I just wanted the mess to go away. But you also don’t know everything that’s been happening—”

“Because you don’t tell us.” Michael pointed out while Sandy remained thankfully quiet, hiding the fact he already knew some of it.

I shot Michael a look. “I couldn’t.” Then I sighed. “We’ve been given the opportunity to adopt a baby, to be parents again.”

Sandy made a good job of appearing surprised, while Michael just... smiled.

“But that’s great news, isn’t it?” he asked.

“It is,” I agreed, feeling the swell of excitement that I’d tamped down for two days. “But it’s also complicated. It’s a young cousin of mine, and it would be a family adoption. They only asked us last week and we were supposed to give them an answer Sunday night.”

“Oh, shit,” he said.

“Yeah.” I went on to explain all our concerns.

“But you decided to go ahead with it?” Michael studied me closely.

I nodded. “But then Reuben got hurt, and I started second-guessing everything. What happened if he didn’t recover? Would Stella and her parents still want us to be parents to Stella’s baby if that happened? Could we even manage it? Would it be fair? How would Reuben cope? How could we bring the press down on their heads like that—I mean look at what happened Sunday night. Would that be fair on Stella?”

Michael’s eyes widened and Sandy frowned. “Jesus Christ, don’t tell me you turned them down as well,” Sandy asked.

“No. No, I didn’t.” But it had been a close call, and that more than anything woke me up to the fact that something was messing with my thinking, something I needed to deal with.

“Thank fuck for that.” Michael offered a deep sigh and a thoughtful expression. “But yeah, okay, I guess I can see how things might’ve gotten a little stressful. And it’s not like I’m the poster boy for sticking around when things get tough.”

“Ya think?” I gave him my best eye roll and tunnelled my fingers through my still-damp hair.

“But you could’ve talked to us,” Sandy said flatly, raising a pointed brow my way while smoothing his green tartan skirt. “That’s what friendship is about. Everyone hits the wall sometimes.”

“It’s like you don’t even know me,” I grumbled.

“Oh, believe me, we know you.” His lips quirked. “And don’t look so downcast. So you got your superhero cape a bit torn and dusty? Welcome to the real world, sugar. He’ll understand.”

I pursed my lips. “I’m not so sure.”

“He will,” Michael insisted. “But you have to tell him everything that was in that big beautiful, slightly screwed up brain of yours when you did it, not just the highlights.”

A groan escaped my lips. “He’s gonna hate me. Worse yet, he might decide he doesn’t want to marry me after all.”

“He loves you, honey. He’s gonna understand... eventually.” Sandy smirked and Michael bit back a laugh.

I narrowed my gaze at them both. “The two of you are enjoying this way too much.”

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