Page 73 of Forever

“Do you want a chaser or anything?” Matt asked, trying to distract Justin.

“You don’t need a chaser with that label. We just need a third glass.”

Matt cleared his throat and looked at me.

“I…” my voice trailed off. “I’m not very thirsty.”

“Girl, it’s Halloween Eve! I did not put glitter on every inch of my body if we’re not getting wasted together tonight.”

Every inch? Why?I shook the thought away. “I’m sorry, Justin. I just…I…” I didn’t know what else to say.

“Shut the front door!” he yelled.

“I didn’t say anything…”

Justin squealed. “You’re pregnant?!”

Okay, yeah.I guess I’d made that kind of obvious. Matt and I hadn’t told anyone yet. But Justin’s reaction made me smile. I looked up at Matt.

He smiled at me.

I nodded. I wanted Justin to know.

“We are,” Matt said.

“I’m going to be an uncle!” Justin said. “Brooklyn, you’re glowing. I’m glowing. We’re all glowing! And don’t you dare drink that!” He snatched the glass out of my hand and pulled me into a hug.

I definitely wasn’t going to drink that.

Justin squealed again and tapped his glass against Matt’s. “To the new daddy in town.” He winked at him.

Matt laughed and they both downed their shots.

“Oh my God, I know why you invited me over tonight,” Justin said. “You want me to plan your baby shower, is that it? You’re not very far along because you’re not showing. So…” he tapped his index finger against his lower lip. “…We need like an April shower or something? Yaasssss! I love spring showers. And a summer baby! Is that right? A summer baby?”

I couldn’t stop smiling. Matt rounded the counter and put his arm around my shoulders. “We were just playing with a due date calculator online. We think it’ll be a June baby.”

“This is perfect. I can already see it. I’ve got you. Let’s do a Saturday brunch! Gah a Caldwell baby. This is front page news.”

Is it really?

“Who’s on the guest list? I should call your mom,” he said to Matt. “The two of us need to talk.”

“Actually, no one else knows yet,” Matt said.

“No one else knows?” Justin’s eyes grew round. “You’re telling me first?” He looked like he was about to cry. “I love you guys.” He grabbed the bottle of tequila. “I feel very overwhelmed right now.” He took a swig right from the bottle. “But I’m amazing at keeping secrets. I won’t tell a soul. We’ll start the planning in secret. Until you’re both ready to shout it from the rooftops.”

I’m glad he was so happy to know first. But we hadn’t exactly planned to tell him tonight. And I loved Justin, but I had no idea if he was actually good at keeping a secret or not. I was nervous to tell people because… I shook the thought away. That wasn’t going to happen again. Maybe telling people early was a good thing. Maybe it would just multiply Matt’s positive vibes tenfold.

“I can’t believe my girl is having another baby!” Justin said. “And speaking of girls…we can’t really figure out the flower arrangements until we know if it’s a boy or girl. But we can choose a theme. Do you know what you want the nursery to look like yet? We can play off that.”

“We haven’t had time to think about it,” Matt said. “And actually, we have something else we need your help with.”

“The announcement! Of course!”

Justin was about to freak out. “No, not an announcement about the baby,” I said. I didn’t even know what that was. “Matt and I need your help planning our wedding.”

“I’m literally going to die! When? When?!”

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