Page 112 of Forever

“Readylittle man?” Nigel asked. “I feel like that’s more suited for the child. But if you insist. I understand wanting to be the cutest boy in the room.”

Matt shook his head and turned to me. “We should be going.”

I put Jacob down and he ran to the door and put on his sneakers.

“Going…where?” I asked.

Matt smiled. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Yes. I desperately want to know.”

He placed a quick kiss against my lips and turned around.

“Matthew Caldwell, tell me what you’re doing tonight.”

“You,” he said with a wink. And with that, the three of them walked out the front door.

I sighed. Luckily I didn’t have too long alone to think about what the hell was happening. Because there was a knock on my door almost immediately.

Kennedy walked in holding a bunch of balloons. “For the record, it is really hard figuring out what to do for a bachelorette party when the bride can’t drink.”

“So you landed on balloons?” I smiled.

“I did my best,” she said with a laugh and tied them to a chair. “How are you feeling?”

“Good. Excited. Nervous. No, just excited.”

Kennedy smiled. “Has Tanner been able to get ahold of your dad yet?”

I shook my head. “Not that I know of.” But I knew Tanner was capable of amazing things. He’d gotten me to give Matt another chance. He’d been a big part of the reason why I was here right now. I had hope that he’d pull through on this too.

“If anyone can pull off a miracle, it’s him. He’s like, really lucky.”

I wasn’t so sure about Tanner being lucky. He’d had a really hard life, from the little he’d told me. It was one of the reasons why we got along so well. It felt like he understood me. He gave me hope that you could go through all the pain and make it out on the other side okay. Mostly at least. Sometimes when he thought no one was looking, he still looked sad. Tanner threw himself into his business to deal with the pain. Like I was throwing myself into wedding planning. Maybe his billions involved a little luck. But I think they were the result of a lot of pain. And needing an escape from it.

“Speaking of lucky…” Kennedy said. “You’re sure you don’t want to hit a casino or something?”

“A casino?”

“I’ve never planned one of these things before!”

There was another knock on the door. Penny, Bee, and Daphne had arrived.

And their smiles and hugs made me realize I had no reason to be nervous. Not because I was the OG girl that had joined the Untouchables. But because they were all so nice.

“I know you can’t drink,” Daphne said, “but I’ve pumped enough milk for a few days and I’m going wild.”

“Same,” Penny said. “Also, Daphne says the funniest things when she’s drunk.”

“Count me in too,” Kennedy said.

The three of them walked into the kitchen. And Bee just stood there by the door, fidgeting with her coat she was hanging up.

“You okay?” I asked.

“What? Oh, yeah.” She smiled and looked over at the three of them. And then leaned in a little closer to me. “Mason and I are actually trying to get pregnant. I didn’t really want to tell everyone. But they’re going to be suspicious if I’m not drinking, right?”

I smiled. She’d toldmethough. “Just take a glass and pretend,” I whispered. “They won’t notice a thing after they’ve downed theirs.”

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