“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She bit her lip. “Is that weird? That I’ve been counting down the hours until I could see you again?”
“If it is, we’re both weird.” I reached out, tucked one of those escaped strands of hair behind her ear. My hand lingered on her cheek. “I’ve been watching the clock all morning like a teenager waiting for prom.”
She leaned into my touch. “That’s kind of adorable.”
“Adorable. Great. Just what every guy wants to hear.”
“Would you prefer devastatingly handsome? Ruggedly attractive? Criminally sexy?”
I grinned. “Those work better.”
“Well, you’re all of those things too.” She stretched up on her toes and kissed me. Soft, sweet, tasting like coffee and something uniquely her. “But the adorable part is my favorite.”
We stood there in my kitchen, foreheads pressed together, and I felt something settle in my chest.This. This was what I’d been missing without knowing it. This easy affection. This comfortable intimacy.
This feeling like I’d finally found where I was supposed to be.
“We should eat,” she said eventually, though she made no move to pull away. “Before the sandwiches get warm and gross.”
“Practical.”
“One of us has to be. You’re clearly lost in some romantic daze.”
“Romantic daze? Who taught you those words?”
She laughed and finally stepped back, grabbing the bag of food. “Come on. Feed me. I’m starving.”
We ended up at my kitchen table, her feet tucked up under her on the chair, shoes kicked off and left in a pile by the door. She’d brought Italian subs from the deli, the good ones with way too much meat and those peppers that were probably too spicy but neither of us cared.
“So,” I said around a bite of sandwich. “Dress shopping went well yesterday?”
“It was perfect. Delaney found this dress that...” She paused, got that soft look that came over her like she was thinking about something beautiful and I found myself freezing it my mind to keep forever. “It was stunning. Simple but romantic. She looked like she was glowing.”
“That’s good. She deserves to be happy. They both do.”
“They really love each other. You can see it in the way they look at each other.” She took a sip of her coffee. “It’s nice. Being around that.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Everyone was very supportive. About us,” she added.
“Told you they would be.”
“You were right.” She picked at her sandwich wrapper. “Blake kept making these knowing faces at me. Like she was in on some big secret and was just waiting for me to admit it.”
“That’s Blake. She’s not subtle about anything.”
“And Delaney has this way of looking at you like she can see right through you. Like she knows exactly what you’re thinking and feeling even when you’re trying to hide it.”
“That’s just Delaney. She’s got some kind of emotional x-ray vision. I’m fairly convinced that it unlocks in women when they become mothers.”
Leigh laughed. “That’s exactly what it feels like! Like she can see all my thoughts laid out in front of her.” She paused. “Reece is the quiet scary one though.”
“Reece? She’s not scary.”
“She doesn’t say much, but you can tell she’s watching everything. Processing. She made one comment about being prepared for things to be harder than we think, and it felt like she could see the whole future laid out.”
