“Yes.”
“Try again.”
“I’m calling it.”
“Are you sure?”
“For fuck’s sake, call Mark Young cell.”
The car repeats my name back to us and then the entire SUV is filled with a ring, but I still don’t hear my phone.
“Turn around.”
“Just call her with my phone.”
“No, I need mine. I can’t believe I forgot it. That’s not like me. What if something happens? I have to go back and get it.”
“We are over an hour away.”
“Just turn around,” I shout.
My panic must have set a whole new vibe in the car.
“I will at the next exit.”
“Fuck.”
“It’s going to be okay.”
It’s not okay. Forgetting my phone when my . . . Sydney is less than two weeks away from giving birth is not okay. Shit. Leaving town wasn’t okay. What the hell was I thinking?
“Call my phone,” I demand as soon as I walk through my front door. Sydney’s car isn’t here, so she must still be with her brother. I’m glad she has him.
“I’m calling it now,” Winston says, stepping through the entryway behind me. Tripp follows behind him, and we all freeze.
Decorations are scattered everywhere. The wordwillis spelled out in the same balloons I’d had up a couple weeks ago, but these aren’t mine. The ones I had were gold—these are silver.
“Dude, were you going to propose again?”
“No,” I say and slowly move through the house. I can hear my phone ringing upstairs, but I’m too distracted by the mess to go for it.
I step into the kitchen, looking at the table. Tape, cards, more balloon letters to air up, a couple of gift boxes, and a notepad that reads “Sydney’s Grand Gesture to Win Back Mark.”
Any words I could possibly say form a lump in my throat. I grab the notepad to show the guys when I spot the open container of watermelon on the counter. Sydney’s all about watermelon these days. I better put it in the fridge.
That’s when I step in water.
Damn, what was she . . . oh no.
“Hey, guys!” Tripp yells running into the kitchen. “I just got a text from Lennox and . . .”
“She’s in labor, isn’t she?”
Tripp nods.
“Shit!” I sprint up the steps, grab my phone, and race back down the stairs. Grab one other thing off the table before I yell, “What are you two doing? Let’s go!”
We are all out of the door and driving away in minutes.
