Page 115 of Protect My Heart
‘Hey, there he is.’ I point to him waiting at the stoplight. ‘Nice car.’
It’s a black luxury sedan.
‘Would you stop trying to sell me on him? I agreed to get coffee with him.’ She glances at me. ‘Let’s talk about you. Did you and Jason pick a wedding date?’
‘Not yet. I told him I just want a simple wedding, maybe at the orchard. I’d like to get married before the baby arrives, but I don’t think Jason is ready.’
‘I don’t know about that.’
‘What do you mean?’
She darts into the other lane. ‘Why is everyone driving soslow today? Hey, did you need to get something to eat before we leave town?’
‘No, I brought snacks.’
Nora seems more distracted than usual. It’s probably because of Steve. Seeing him again got her all flustered.
A little over an hour later, we’re in downtown Haydon Falls. There’s a light blue banner outside Kate’s store saying it’s closed today for a special event. It’s so nice of her to do this.
We go into the store and find everyone waiting for us—Martha, Kate, Gina, Lyndsay, some of my friends from Madison, and Lacey, my friend from college. She’s the one who got married the night I met Jason.
‘Lacey!’ I race up to her. ‘I haven’t seen you since the wedding!’
She hugs me. ‘I couldn’t miss your shower, especially since my wedding was kind of the reason for it.’ She laughs.
I hope nobody heard her. Only Nora and Jason’s family know that Jason and I met at the wedding. Everyone else thinks we met last fall at the orchard, the fake story we told as part of our fake engagement.
‘I can’t believe you guys did this,’ I say as I look at everyone. ‘And that you kept it a surprise.’
‘It helped that you were gone the past couple weeks,’ Kate says.
Looking around, I notice a table topped with desserts on white pedestals and jars filled with blue candies. In the middle of the room is a long rustic wood table lined with blue and white floral arrangements. White wood folding chairs are along each side of it and at the end is a plush white chair with a blue pillowon it that has ‘mom’ embroidered on it. I guess that’s where I’ll be sitting.
‘The store looks beautiful,’ I tell Kate.
‘Thanks! I had so much fun I’m thinking of hosting more showers here. It could be a side business.’
Lyndsay walks up to us. ‘Mia, someone wants to say hi to you.’ She brings me over to the long table where a laptop is set up.
I see my mom’s face on the screen. ‘Mom!’
She waves at the screen. ‘I didn’t want to miss your shower.’
‘Mom, you’ve got to see how Kate decorated the store.’ I pick up the laptop and walk around to show her.
‘Oh, it’s lovely. I wish I could be there.’
‘You will be soon.’
The day after my dad got out of the hospital, my parents put an offer in on the house Jason and I showed them and the sellers accepted the offer that night. Their house in Boston is going up for sale next week. We’re hoping it’ll sell quickly, but even if it doesn’t, they plan to move here within the month. This is going to be a huge change for them, but they’re excited about it.
The baby shower goes all afternoon. Around four, my friends from Madison get up to leave, saying they need to start driving back.
‘Before you go,’ Kate says. ‘We have one more surprise for Mia.’
Everyone looks behind me.
I turn and see Jason coming out from the back room, wearing a gray suit, white shirt, and light blue tie. He looks hot. Seeing him in the suit reminds me of when we met and thenight we spent together. The night that led to a baby that led to us getting engaged. Sometimes I still can’t believe that going to a wedding ended up changing my entire life.
