“No,” Bryce answers when I don’t.
Other than Sebastian and Benjamin playing with a few packets of sugar, the table is unbearably awkward and silent. Bryce waves to the server to let her know we’re finally ready to place our order.
After a brief perusal of the menu, Forest wags a finger between him and me when he tells the busy but patient server, “We’re going to split the sirloin and grilled shrimp.” Having spent nearly every day together, he knows exactly what I like.
“That sounds good. I’ll have the same,” Bryce tells the server with a grin.
Forest puckers his lips as if put out. Bryce could probably put away half a cow by himself and still have room leftover, whereas Forest struggles to eat enough to maintain his weight, never mind pack on any pounds. Not that he needs to, considering he’s the most attractive man I’ve ever met, exactly as he is now. It’s irritating.
Forest orders for the kids, and we’re back to sitting awkwardly as we wait for another basket of fresh rolls to be delivered.
“So, you work with Autumn, huh?” Bryce finally asks.
“Uh huh,” Josephine answers. “My daddy’s her boss and boyfriend.”
“Oh geez,” I say under my breath. Surprisingly, confusingly, Forest doesn’t correct her. I have no idea what to think of that, given all the emotional distance between us.
“Funny,” Bryce says to Forest after flashing Josephine a quick smile. “I heard differently.”
“And I haven’t heard a thing about you,” Forest says.
Bryce pokes his tongue in his cheek and shrugs. “Guess y’all don’t know each other all that well, then.”
Forest moves his hand to my knee to steady my leg, which I’ve been bouncing on the floor. This anxiety can’t be good for the baby. “Oh, we know each other, all right,” he says with meaning.
“Stop, or I’m going to leave,” I hiss at them both.
I bite the inside of my cheek and look away when Forest removes his hand.
“Sorry,” the men say simultaneously.
“Jinx,” Josephine says quietly.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Forest
If I want Autumn to trust me, then I have to extend the same courtesy, trusting that she didn’t lie to me when she said she wasn’t on a date with her friend. The fact that Bryce keeps flirting with the server when she comes back to fill our drinks and clear our empty plates is the blueberry on top. I’d believe Autumn, regardless.
At the end of dinner, wherein Josephine kept interrupting Bryce and redirecting Autumn’s attention, the girls head to the restroom together. As soon as they’re out of earshot, I tell Bryce, “I’m going to marry her.”
“Are you, now?” Bryce rocks his chair back, balancing it on two legs. His condescending tone makes it clear he doesn’t think I have a shot in hell of getting Autumn to the altar.
“Yes,” I say, gritting my teeth. I may no longer see him as competition for Autumn’s heart, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to become best buddies any time soon.
God only knows what Autumn must have told him tohave him ask, “And how are you gonna make that happen? She’s said from day one at school that she doesn’t plan on settling down for at least a decade.”
“That was before she met me.”Please let it be true.“I have a plan, and a dang good one at that. And once we’re married?—”
Bryce’s chair bangs loudly on the floor when he crashes forward. “You gonna tell her we can’t be friends? Because all that tells me is you don’t know her as well as you think. Ain’t nothing and no one gonna stop her from doing what she wants, and my brother and I will certainly have something to say about it if you try.”
My brows fly up. “No! But I would like you to stop calling her ‘sunshine’. She’s my angel, not your anything except friend.” When it’s obvious I haven’t swayed him, I ask, “How would you like it if someone were to call your future wife that? How would she or Autumn like it if other women called us cutesy names? Because it would make my insides curdle, and I’d be swift to correct them.” Bryce concedes my point with the tip of his head. “So, out of respect for our relationship, I’d like you to call her by her name.”
Bryce lowers his voice. “You’re really that serious about a future with her?”
“As a heart attack.”
“Then you’ve got some making up to do, because that woman is something special, and she doesn’t deserve to have her heart played with by some indecisive schmuck.”
