Oh boy. His face was not pleased. “I don’t know, Maggie, maybe because we’re in a relationship? Maybe because you’re having my baby? Maybe because we’re in my bed every night?”
Oh good Lord. Men are idiots. “Sully, slow your roll. One, people do not need to live together just to have a relationship; to have a baby; or, newsflash here babe, to fuck. B, when did you ever talk to me about this? Am I supposed to be a damn mind reader? Because the last time I’m aware we had any conversation about any of this, I was living in your place until my new one was ready. And guess what? It’s almost ready.” I let out a giant huff of breath before sitting back and folding my arms across my chest, doing my damnedest to ignore the idiot male sitting to my right. It was only then that the sounds of the brewery hit my senses again. Oops. Maybe not the best place for this discussion.
Emma leaned forward. I noticed she had an amused expression on her face, but I was going to let that go. “Okay, kids. Good talk, good talk. But maybe we can table the yelling about sex or whatever for a bit? This place is rather busy tonight, and I don’t think you necessarily want Lou to have any more gossip to share with her circle tomorrow than she already does.”
Emma gestured over to a table about five feet away that her former neighbors, Lou and Verdell, were sitting at. Lou was clearly leaning forward, trying to catch the entire conversation at my table. When she caught my eye, she winked and said in a voice that carried, “Give ’em hell, Maggie. They like to work for it. Right, V?”
Verdell, ever patient with his wife, shook his head and patted her hand. I also noticed he gave a look of sympathy to Sully. Whatever.
I rolled my eyes as I looked back at Emma. “Your former neighbors are nuts. Do you miss that?” I asked, jerking my head.
Emma smirked. “I’m just surprised she wasn’t taking pictures.” She looked over, then back to us, laughing. “Never mind.”
Our table looked over to see Lou with her phone raised, leaning out of her chair to snap some photos of us.
“Got what you need, Lou?” I asked, noting the peevish tone, but not having any desire to tamp it down.
Verdell chucked while Lou said, “Yep, thanks dear. Remember, girl power! And we’ll have to catch up at the library soon.”
Emma pulled out her phone. “Maybe I can text the girls and we can meet at the library for coffee tomorrow.” She seemed engrossed in her phone while I tried hard to inch away from Sully, who seemed to have moved his seat even closer to my own.
Sully’s arm suddenly stopped my movement as he gripped my chair back and slid the entire thing closer to him. When my side was pressed against his, his mouth dropped to my ear. “This isn’t over, babe. We’ll talk about it when we get home.”
My back straightened, and I whipped my head to meet his eyes. “When did you become all alpha male on me? You can’t just tell me what to do.”
His eyes narrowed, but then I watched him take a breath and relax. It was like he was mentally making himself calm down. “Babe, I’m just saying you and I have some things to discuss that impact the three of us.”
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, calming my heart and giving myself time to think. If I wanted to be an adult here, we did need to talk. I think we had both used this summer as almost a departure from reality. While life did go on around us, we hadn’t really talked a lot about the future and how things were changing for either of us. Considering that neither of us had a baby on the agenda for the new year, we probably needed to face reality. It had been nice to luxuriate in the newness of a relationship and not really think about the long term. If I was being honest with myself, a lot of the reason I hadn’t looked ahead was I didn’t know where I saw myself in a few years. I had a feeling that’s why Sully avoided the discussion too.
Feeling calmer, I nodded slightly at him, then looked at Emma and changed the topic. “So, any special reason you all wanted to meet tonight, or did you just want me to finally leave the couch?”
Emma watched me carefully, and I knew she was deciding if I was okay. Apparently, she found that I was. Looking at Max, she said, “Actually, we have something to ask you guys.”
Wrinkling my brow at Sully, he shrugged. Okay, he was as in the dark as I was.
“What do you need, Em?”
Max spoke up. “We set a date for the wedding and want to ask you guys to stand up with us.” He glanced at Sully. “Best man?”
Sully grinned, “Of course, man. Honored.”
Emma looked at me and grabbed my hand across the table. “Maid of honor?”
My eyes misted over as I whispered, “No one I’d rather stand up for.”
Emma stood, tugging me up with her, and threw her arms around me. “I’m so thrilled for you, chickie,” I whispered, rocking her back and forth.
“Love you, Maggie May.”
“Love you too, Emmie.”
I dropped back into the seat next to Sully, and he handed me a navy bandanna handkerchief to dry my eyes. “Thanks,” I said. “Someday my hormones will be under control again.”
“Happy tears are never something to apologize for,” he said, taking the handkerchief I passed back.
I took a deep breath. “So, date?”
Emma smiled, intertwining her fingers with Max’s. “Well, we really didn’t have a specific date in mind. We’re not in a hurry—”
