“Hello? Earth to Kacie! Are you gonna stare at that thing all day or what?”
My eyes shifted from my engagement ring to Alexa, who was sitting across the island from me. “You’ve had one of these for a million years now. I’ve had mine less than a day. Cut me some slack.”
She rolled her eyes and leaned back, stretching her lower back. “Yeah, yeah. In a week, it’ll be old news. Trust me.”
“What’s your problem, Negative Nancy?”
“This kid is the problem. It’s what, the size of an apple right now? How can it be causing me pain already?” She grimaced.
“Everything is stretching and moving. It’s probably gonna hurt for a while, unfortunately.”
“Yeah, well, remind me to ground him when he comes out.”
I laughed. “Today it’s a he? Yesterday it was she.”
“Who the hell knows what it is?” She threw her arms up in frustration. “Derek wants it to be a surprise and it’s driving me crazy. He wants that delivery room moment to be magical, and all I’m worried about is my vagina stretching out and all of my organs sliding across the floor.”
I chuckled. “That’s slightly dramatic, don’t you think?”
“Hell no!” Her eyebrows pulled together as she glared at me. “I’ve watched Grey’s Anatomy. I’ve watched those women scream and beat the crap out of their husbands.”
“It’s fake, Lex. All for TV, I promise. If you ever change your mind about finding out, I just might know someone with access to an ultrasound machine.” I winked.
“I’ll have to remember that the next time he refuses to go get me cream cheese wontons at one o’clock in the morning. Ruining the sex of his child would be the perfect payback.”
“If you say so.” I turned to the fridge and grabbed a bowl of grapes, setting them between us.
“So, enough about the devil child. Let’s plan this wedding.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
“I just got engaged last night!”
“Yeah, and if you want to have your reception at Graybil Gardens or Beelow Hall, you better book today. Those are the best places to get married within a fifty-mile radius, Kacie.” She reached over and grabbed a few grapes, popping them into her mouth. “I had a woman come in last year to finalize her flower order who told me that she’d booked Graybil Gardens three years earlier and didn’t even meet her fiancé until a year later.”
My mouth fell open. “Seriously?”
“Yep.” She nodded slowly. “Talk about being optimistic, huh?”
“Or desperate,” I joked.
“Obviously,” she agreed, “but my point is all those places book up fast. You might even have to ask Brody to use his star power to get you in.”
Brody and I had been engaged roughly fifteen hours. I was on such a euphoric high from him asking me to marry him, I hadn’t even thought about the actual wedding itself, nor was I in any hurry to, but Alexa was stressing me out.
“Lex, we haven’t discussed any of that. We haven’t picked a date, talked about a location. We haven’t even told Lucy and Piper yet.”
“What the hell are you guys waiting for?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. We wanted to tell them together, and Brody told Fred he’d help him organize a bunch of stuff in the garage today.”
“You two are the weirdest people I know,” she accused playfully.
“Why?”
“Maybe not both of you, but you for sure.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“Why?” I shrieked.
“Most women have been planning their weddings since they were five. You’re the exception. I doubt you’ve ever really thought about your dream wedding.” She stared right at me, waiting for an answer.
I looked down at the island and tried hard to remember a time I’d given serious thought to my wedding, but I couldn’t find one. “You’re right.” My glance lifted back to hers. “At one point in time, years ago, I had hoped to marry Zach, but I always figured with our money situation it would be a courthouse thing. Once we split, I never really thought about it again.”
“Well, I definitely don’t think the money thing is going to be an issue now.” She chuckled.
“No, but some big, fancy wedding isn’t really my thing either.” I cringed at the thought of anything too stuffy. “You know that.”
“Better than anyone.” She grinned, shaking her head. “What time is it?”
I looked down at my phone. “Ten fifteen.”
Her eyes bulged. “Crap! Gotta go. I have a doctor’s appointment.”
We slid off our stools and I followed her to the front door.
“Good news, though.” She turned to me once she got to the foyer. “You won’t have to worry about the flowers.”
A sigh of relief left my mouth in a hurry. “Thank God. I was worried about that.”
“You were?”
“Yeah. You’ll have the baby by then. I didn’t know if you’d want to do it or—”
“Shut up,” she interrupted. “Of course I’d still do your wedding flowers for you. This baby isn’t going to change our day-to-day life, Kacie.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Okay. We’ll see if you still say that once he’s here,” I replied confidently.
She narrowed her eyes at me but kept quiet.
“Or she.” I tried to stifle my laugh.
Alexa shot me a quick glare and disappeared out the door.
An hour later, the girls were playing out back with my mom and I was in and out of sleep on the couch in the living room when Brody sat down next to me, gently gliding his lips along my neck. His hot breath made all of my little hairs stand up. I cracked a smile as a small moan escaped my lips, but my eyes were too heavy to open.
“Wake up, Sleepyhead.”
Still smiling, I shook my head.
“No?” He laughed.
“Shhh. I’m sleeping.”
He gave my shoulders a small shake. “The girls are heading up the hill with your mom. Let’s tell ’em!”
I cracked one eye open and peeked at him. The fact that he was as excited as I was about our engagement was beyond adorable, but wait…
Sitting up quickly, I squinted at the bright sun coming through the French doors. “How are we gonna tell them? Are we just going to blurt it out? We haven’t talked about it.”
“Kacie, not everything has to be planned out.” He grinned as he tucked a piece of my wild hair behind my ear. “Let’s just see what happens.”
Before I could argue, the doors flew open and Lucy and Piper came into the room, arguing over whether the frog they’d just seen by the lake had yellow or blue eyes.
“Morning, Twinkies!” Brody smiled at them.
“Brody!” Lucy ran and jumped into his arms. Her tiny hands cupped his cheeks and she frowned at him. “Where were you this morning? We didn’t see you.”
He leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose. “I was waaaaaay in the back of the garage helping Fred organize a bunch of boxes and stuff.”