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“Y’all conspired against me.”
Lia laughs and then shrugs. “Yeah. We did. But it was worth it, right?”
“Definitely worth it.” I stare at my ring again, still not used to seeing it on my finger.
“You have the biggest heart eyes when you look at that gorgeous ring.”
“I mean, who wouldn’t? And I seem to remember you doing the same thing when you got engaged. Holy shit! I’m engaged.”
“We get to plan your wedding,” Lia says, her eyes lighting up with excitement. “There are so many details to think about. When do you think you’ll do it? Have you set a date?”
“He literally asked me roughly fifteen hours ago, so no, we haven’t set a date yet.” I tap my lips, thinking about it. “Maybe in the spring.”
“As in, the spring coming up? That’s like six months away.”
“So?”
“So planning a wedding takes time. You’ll need more than six months. Almost every venue is booked out farther than that.”
“Maybe we can do it at Dom’s vineyard,” I suggest. “Or even at Kane’s property. He has plenty of space, and it’s really pretty out there.”
“That’s not a bad idea. If you do it later in the spring, the weather should be good.”
We chat about what-ifs and could-bes, and before I know it, our lunch is over.
“I’m buying lunch,” Lia says as she takes the check. “It’s your birthday, and congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m so happy for you, Stasia. I like him a lot. Archer was excited for you, too, when we all conspired against you.”
“You saw Archer?”
“Yeah.”
“How is he? I haven’t seen him since he got drunk and passed out at Kane’s house a few weeks ago.”
“He looks like shit,” Lia says. “And when I asked him about it, he just grunted and said, if I remember correctly, ‘doesn’t fucking matter.’”
“I’m worried about him.”
“Yeah, well, when he gets like this, there’s nothing we can do. He’ll shake it off.”
“I hope so.”* * *“Do you guys have to do that while we’re here?”
Kane’s cornered me against Maggie’s kitchen counter, kissing the hell out of me, but Keegan caught us.
“It’s not like anyone’s naked,” I point out and laugh when Kane growls low in his throat.
“We need to be packing up,” Keegan reminds us. “Not making out in the kitchen.”
“We’ve packed five boxes,” Kane says, pointing to the stack in the corner. “And I offered to have a moving company come in and do all of this for her, but she refused.”
“She wants to clean and sort while she packs,” I remind him. “It makes sense.”
Maggie’s house sold after being on the market for just a few days, and now she’s going through the process of packing up and putting a good portion of her things in storage until she finds a permanent place to live. In the meantime, she’ll be staying with Maeve.
Suddenly, we hear footsteps stomping down the stairs, and Maeve yells, “No, Mags. Don’t do this.”
We all turn in surprise when Maggie comes marching into the kitchen and goes toe-to-toe with me, her beautiful face red with rage.
“Did you know my husband?”
I blink at her, positive I didn’t hear her correctly. “What?”
“Did. You. Know. My. Husband?”
“I met him that one time at the pub.”
She shakes her head in frustration and paces away from me. “No. Before that. Did you know him before that day?”
“Maggie,” Kane says with a hard voice. “What the hell are you going on about?”
“This.” Maggie holds up papers she has clenched in her fist. “I found these up in Joey’s office. They’re receipts from Anastasia’s store.”
I take them from her and glance over them. “They’re dated four years ago.”
“So, answer the fucking question,” Maggie demands.
“You’ll not speak to her like that,” Kane warns his sister before turning to me.
“I don’t remember these,” I say, frowning when I see that he ordered a cake to say Happy Birthday, Shelly. “Who’s Shelly?”
“One of his sluts,” Maggie grinds out. “Because it sure as hell wasn’t for me, was it? And you knew her. Read the other one.”
I turn to the other receipt and see a note in my handwriting.
Shell-
So happy for you, friend! You’ve found a good guy here. Happy birthday!
XO,
Stasia
I glance up at a photo of Maggie with a bearded Joey on the wall, and it all comes rushing back to me.
“Maggie, I know you’re upset, but I’m telling you, I didn’t remember this.” I frown, thinking back to the night I met Joey in the pub. “You know, that night he came to the pub to pick you up, he looked at me funny. And I remember wondering if I should know him from somewhere, but I couldn’t place it. And then he was horrible to you, and you left. I never thought of it again. But I do remember writing this note. Shelly was a friend of mine, but she moved away, to New York, I think, and we lost touch. I had no idea that the guy buying the cake for her was married. And he had a beard then, so I didn’t recognize him at the pub. I’m telling you, I never put it together.”
