Page 83 of Bountiful
“Fizzy water.Definitely.”
“Comingrightup.”
Audrey pasted on a smile and went back to her guests. I brought her a drink and then got a glass of soda for myself. Today had been long already, and I was looking forward to eating some barbecue and then sneaking out before it gotverylate.
Outside the bar tent I found May Shipley—Griff’s sister—as well as my friends Lark and Zachariah. The three of them were standing in the sunshine together, eating from a bunch of grapes that May held on aplate.
“Where’s Nicole today?” Zach asked me after I’dgreetedthem.
“She’s”—I’d never said these words before—“with her father for a couple of hours. My mother was supposed to be my babysitter, but she got stuck at the ER with a friend of hers. In fact…” I pulled out my phone and looked for my mother’s last text. There wasn’t a new one, which meant she was still enroute.
“Wow,” Lark said. “Does that feel strange to see themtogether?”
“You have no idea,” I said, taking a pull of my soda. “I’m not used to it yet.”And probably neverwillbe.
Time for a subject change. “Did the wedding give you any big ideas?” I teased Zach, cuffing him onthearm.
He laughed and glanced at his girlfriend. “What’s the countupto?”
“Eight,” Lark said. “Eight people in twentyminutes.”
“As if the topic had never occurred to me before.” He wrapped an arm around Lark’sshoulders.
“I’m sorry!”God. Open mouth, insert foot. “I should be thelastperson to tease you about popping the question. Social convention and I don’t really get alongverywell.”
Lark smiled at me from inside Zach’s embrace. “And yetyou’renot the one who spent a couple of months at the mental hospital. So you have that going for you.” She held up her beer and we touched glasses. “Cheers!”
I liked these two a lot. They gave me hope, because they’d both been through a lot, and now they were so happy together. I scanned the rest of the crowd and saw a lot of smiling faces. A girl shouldn’t breathe too deeply here today—the wedding was off-gassing optimism right along with the smell of barbecue smoking on thegrill.
And I was happy in spite of the odd circumstances. I’d just stood up for Griff and Audrey’s wedding, keeping my Joy Face intact the whole time. It hadn’t even been that hard, because I really did feel joy for the two of them. The way Griff looked at Audrey while reciting his vows—with every promise echoed by the expression of love in his big brown eyes—gave me hope for the future of thehumanrace.
This was agoodday. I was going to keep tellingmyselfthat.
“Whoa,” Lark said suddenly. “Is that your…?Wowzers. I wouldn’t kick him out of bed,either.”
And then my eyes found the man who’d made her say that. Hell, the crowd parted like the Red Sea for Dave Beringer as he came toward me with my daughter in his arms. Their two coppery heads were inches apart, and I was startled by how much like a matched set theyreallywere.
Seriously, I forgot to breathe there for a moment. My reaction was swift and strong—a tug in my belly and a quickeningpulse.
Okay, who knew that the sight of the two of them would be ten times harder to watch than Griff’s wedding? My gaze snagged on Nicole’s chubby arm resting casually against Dave’s chest and her serene face. Just like any little girl being carried by herdaddy.
My throat got tight even as I straightened my spine and prepared to greet him. This was so much worse than the wedding, because my yearning for the picture in front of me wasfierce.
“Damn,” May murmured. “He’sdreamy.”
That he was.Dreamywas exactly the right word, because dreams weren’t real. He was smiling at me, causing another hormone spike throughoutmybody.
“Hey there,” I said in greeting as May and Lark moved over to give him the space to approach me. “You guys look cute together. Your tough-guy rep is going to takeahit.”
The baby chose that moment to dive for me, but both Dave and I wereready.
With a chuckle, he transferred her weight to my arms. “I think she missed you. But I promise she didn’t cry thewholetime.”
“I should have brought you ear plugs,” I said. “Have you met May, or Lark and Zach?” I introduced them, and when Dave leaned forward to shake Zach’s hand, May made a comical fanning gesture in front of herchest.
He’s so hot, shemouthed.
Yeah, I’dnoticed.
