Page 31 of Stick to the Deal
“Nice work, Irish.”
“Don’t look at me, it was all Bree.”
“Oh, I know. I meant good job not fucking it up.”
Bree squeezes her husband’s hand and looks up at him adoringly. “I think she’s our best product launch yet.”
As the Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer for a top research and development firm, they’d know all about launches. They met when she was a project manager and he was an engineer exec working to launch a groundbreaking new device. Now they practically run the entire innovation branch of the company.
“Tell that to the gray hair coming in.” He shudders. “What can I get you,a ghrá?”
“I’m good. Go get some rest.” She holds her hand up as he opens his mouth. “The girls are here if I need anything. I’m taking a well-earned break between feedings. You should take one too.”
“Well, if you’re sure. I could go for a shower and a nap. Love you.” He drops a kiss to his wife’s head.
“Love you, too,” Anna and I say in unison as Colin heads towards the master bedroom shaking his head.
I flop back onto the couch next to Bree and grip her leg affectionately. “You did it. Look at you, mom. How are you doing, honestly?”
She takes a deep breath, sinking further into the cushions. “It’s the hardest, most exhausting thing I’ve ever done, but I just love her so much.” Her large cobalt eyes shimmer with tears. With a sniff and hard blink, Bree visibly pushes back the emotion. “So, what’s new with the two of you? How were your trips?”
“Oh my gracious,” Anna says, she slowly rocks in the recliner with Nora tucked against her chest, “baby cuddles are so addictive. Wait until you smell her head, Nic.” She buries her nose in the soft russet curls.
“You look like a crack addict, Anna.”
“You know what, if they could bottle this scent, we could solve the drug crisis.”
This is normally when I’d throw a pillow at her, but she’s saved by the precious shield.
“So Anna, how was your brother’s wedding? You said you had news in the group chat—I assume you and David made up? Was I right about the makeup sex?” I arch a brow at her.
At the beginning of the summer, Anna’s childhood sweetheart showed up out of the blue. It was a shock for everyone—especially us, since she’d never mentioned him before—but he seemed determined to win her back. The two were pretty cute together until he broke up with her a few weeks ago. Anna figured out he did it in some misguided assumption her life was better off without him and stormed back home to Georgia to knock some sense into him over Labor Day weekend.
Bree laughs as she swaps her empty Tupperware for a giant water bottle.
A slight blush colors Anna’s cheeks. “Everything worked out, the wedding was beautiful, and…” she holds up her left hand where a diamond solitaire glitters in the sunlight streaming through the glass windows. “We’re engaged!”
“Engaged? Isn’t it a little soon?” Bree’s brows pinch in concern.
“Says the woman who moved her boyfriend in with her on day one,” I snark at Bree before turning back to Anna. “You have to admit, broken up to engaged in a weekend sounds a bit fast.”
“Bree married Colin less than a year after meeting, and you agreed to marry some guy you met on an airplane. Seems to be going pretty swell for the both of you.” Anna whisper-yells as she holds the sleeping baby, but sarcasm drips heavily from her tone.
My eyes ping back and forth between my friends as my gut sinks. The ring on my own finger, so far unnoticed, weighs a thousand pounds. “About that. We eloped in Sweden.”
Chapter 18
Lord Grumpypants
“What the actual fuck?” Bree shouts.
Simultaneously, Anna yells, “You did what?”
The baby startles awake with a wail, disturbing the tiny dog standing sentry by the recliner. Riley barks at Anna like she’s not the same woman who’s snuck him treats for years, and a crashing sound from the bedroom rounds out the chaos.
With skilled hands, Bree takes Nora and soothes her as she settles in to nurse while Riley jumps onto the couch between us. The screeching has thankfully ended, but both of my best friends are glaring at me as if they’d like to continue the yelling.
A very wet Colin comes flying down the hall in only a very small towel. “What happened? Is everyone ok?”
