Page 97 of Hello Heartbreaker

“I’m going to be a dad,” he muttered, half to himself.

“Scared?” I asked.

“Shitless.”

“I’d be worried about you if you weren’t,” I replied.

He smiled slightly. “Guess I haven’t asked you yet. Will you be my best man?”

“Sure. When are you getting married?”

Cooper shrugged. “Hell if I know.”

I chuckled. “So Cam’s deciding.”

“She gets whatever she wants.”

“Happy wife, happy life,” I said.

He smiled to himself. “Hell of a happy life.”

I glanced over at him, a warm feeling spreading through my chest. I knew a lot of people in our small town would have opinions, but Cooper had been with a lot of women in the few years I’d known him. I could tell there was something different between him and Camryn from the first night they met. “I’m happy for you, Coop.”

He glanced toward our girls, sleeping in the back seat. “I’m happy for you too.”

I couldn’t find it in myself to smile all the way. My throat felt tight, and I swallowed down the lump of emotion. “Thanks, man.”

“I think I’m gonna try and sleep off the rest of this hangover,” Cooper said.

“Go for it.”

He put in his ear buds and tipped his hat down to cover his face, leaving me the only one awake in the truck. As I drove the rest of the way home, I listened to music and tried to think how I could be patient with Mags, no matter how hard it felt. When you knew who you wanted to spend the rest of your life with, it was hard waiting for them to decide they wanted the same. Harder yet knowing they might not come to that conclusion.

We pulled up to the girls’ house, and I said, “Up and at ‘em, everyone.”

They began shifting awake as I put the truck in park alongside the curb. I got out and held the back door open for Mags. She smiled sleepily up at me and yawned.

“Stoppp,” I said.

“What?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“You’re like a damn kitten. Way too cute.”

She purred at me.

Cam laughed. “You two are so cute I want to throw up.”

“I think that’s the morning sickness,” Mags tossed back.

“Shh,” Cam and Cooper said loudly at the same time.

Maggie and I looked at them in confusion, and Cooper explained, “We haven’t said shit to our parents yet. You know, the walls have eyes here.”

“True,” I said with a shrug.

We got all of Maggie and Cam’s things from the truck, and while Cooper helped Cam carry her multiple bags back to her bedroom, Maggie and I stood in the living room across from each other.

“See you at practice on Tuesday?” she said.

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