Page 90 of The Last Thing
“Okay, I’m here.” She grabs my arm and drags me to the couch with her, then tilts the phone toward me. “And here’s Hallie. What’s going on?”
Kennedy smiles brightly at us through the phone screen. “I’m getting married.”
Frannie and I glance at each other.
“Uh, yeah… we know. You got engaged a few weeks ago. Did you forget you told us?” I tease.
“No. I’m getting married next month.”
My eyes fly wide.
“What?” Frannie shouts. “When? That soon? Are you pregnant too?”
Kennedy laughs. “No. But I’m not opposed to it. Just… next month will be the eighteenth anniversary of when we met. It falls on a Saturday, so we figured why not? We already confirmed that it’ll work with our parents, and the inn is free. So Devon’s checking with Justin and I’m checking with you two. Can you come?”
“Of course!” Frannie yells. “Hold on.” She hits some buttons on her phone and then… “And Mark and the guys have a bye week.”
“Perfect timing,” I say.
“You can come, right?” Kennedy asks me.
“That depends. Can I get a plus one? Or maybe a plus two?”
Kennedy’s smile turns a little devious. “Ah, bringing the baby daddy?”
I take a big breath. “I want to bring my boyfriend and his beautiful daughter.”
“Aw, Hal…” Kennedy says as Frannie grabs my arm.
“What? You made it official? When? I need details.”
“I don’t know. It just sort of happened.” I don’t want to tell anyone else about the scare. I’m okay, and since it helped me lower some of my walls and bring Wilson and me closer, I want it to stay between us. “I made a decision to stop fighting it over the weekend.” I glance back at the phone screen. “Sorry. Am I stealing your thunder?”
“No! I don’t care. You can take all my thunder, as long as you’re smiling like that.”
“He brings it out in me.”
Kennedy claps her hands. “I love seeing you so happy.”
“Me too,” Frannie says.
“Okay, back to you. When do we need to be there? And do we need dresses? I’m so excited!”
Frannie and I get comfortable on the couch, and I grab my phone and take notes as Kennedy goes through everything we need to do and when. But as she talks, my mind wanders to Wilson and Sophia. To introducing them to everyone as my little family.
My heart lights up at the thought. I’m happy, and even though it’s still scary, it feels too right to care.
There’san autumn carnival happening tonight and over the weekend at the fairgrounds. I know because Sophia has told me eighteen times since she’s been home, and she is beyond hyped to go.
I told her she had to ask her dad, but I’m hoping Wilson will lean into his fun side and say yes because Sophia should see that side of him. And I think he loves a carnival more than he’d like to admit. I love carnivals. There’s always something magical about them.
The apartment door swings open and Sophia dashes to Wilson.
“Daddy! There’s a carnival tonight. Can we go? Please? Pleaseeee? There’s even going to be fireworks!”
Wilson chuckles, then glances over at me. “Yeah. That sounds like a great way to spend the night.”
Her eyes light up and for a minute she stammers.
