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“What would the job be, exactly?” I ask.
“You’d help me with my cancer charity some, but mostly, you’d help me launch my dream of designing wedding dresses. You’d also probably help get me organized, in general, and lend a hand with Jackson, as needed.” She looks at her son, asleep in my arms. “I can’t believe how quickly he took to you.” She looks at me hopefully, her blue eyes sparkling. “So, that’s my pitch. What do think?”
I don’t hesitate. “I think yes. I accept your job offer.”
Violet laughs. “I’d understand if you need to think about it, now that things might be up in the air with Colin.”
I shake my head. “No matter what happens with Colin tonight, we’ll always be friends. He’s not a factor in my decision-making about this. My answer is yes.”
“But we haven’t even talked about salary yet!” Violet proposes a figure that’s almost five times what I made during the RCR tour—a number that makes me feel like tipping over in shock. But, somehow, I manage to nod and calmly reply, “That sounds great. My answer is still yes!”
Violet whoops, and so do I.
“When would you like me to start?” I ask.
“How does a week from Monday sound? Keane and Maddy are taking Billie to Seattle tomorrow to spend a week with the Morgans, and Daxy and I are going to join in. It’s my mother-in-law’s birthday on Sunday, so we’re throwing her a surprise dinner party and getting everyone together under one roof as her gift. She’s going to flip out.”
“That’s so sweet. Yeah, a week from Monday is perfect. Do me a favor, though: don’t tell Colin about my new job before then, not until I’ve shown up for my first day of work. Once I’ve told him my feelings tonight, I want his reaction to be based on nothing but his honest feelings. I don’t want Colin deciding to be with me, simply because he realizes he’s going to be seeing me all the time, anyway, and I’m the path of least resistance.”
“So smart,” Violet says. “Okay, I won’t say a word. And neither will Daxy.”
“Thank you.”
“My lips are sealed, too,” Alessandra says. “I won’t tell Fish about the job, so he doesn’t feel like he’s keeping something from Colin. Poor Matthew is the worst at keeping secrets. I’ll spare him the torture.”
I inhale deeply. “Thank you, guys. Wow, I feel like such a huge weight has been lifted off me. I didn’t realize how much this ‘arrangement’ with Colin has been twisting me into knots until we started talking.”
“The truth shall set you free,” Violet says.
“And it can also hurt,” I say, exhaling. “Here’s hoping I don’t get hurt too badly tonight.”
A commotion draws our attention—the men re-entering the room, all of them laughing and razzing Keane.
Maddy smiles at the jocular group. “Well, what’d you boys think of Peenie’s peenie?”
“Babe, I keep telling you. Don’t call it a ‘peenie.’ That makes it sound small.”
“Sorry, honey. What’d you boys think of Peenie’s porridge? Do you think he should ask for a shorter edit on the shot, or let them keep it, as is?”
“I’d say that depends,” Ryan says. “Does Peenie Weenie want his audience to be able to count the veins in his porridge?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Keane replies.
“Okay, then,” Ryan says, settling onto the couch. “Then in that case, I’d say the porridge is ‘just right.’”
Twenty-Eight
Colin
“Everything okay over there?” I ask.
Amy and I are driving home after visiting Keane and Maddy, and ever since we got into the car, Amy’s been unusually quiet. She’s typically chatty in the car. But not this time.
At my question, Amy turns from her passenger-side window, and I know the minute I see her tightly drawn features, she’s been having deep thoughts over there.
“Everything’s fine,” she says.
But it’s all I get.
“What have you been thinking about?” I prompt, even though my clenched stomach is telling me to leave it alone.
“Billie,” she replies. “I was thinking about how happy Keane and Maddy seem to have her.”
“Yeah, exhausted, too.”
“They’re ‘happily exhausted.’”
Uh oh. I don’t think I’m going to like where this is headed.
“You were adorable with the baby,” Amy adds. “I felt like I was watching that story your mom told us the other night—the one where you held me after my parents brought me home from the hospital.”
Oh, fuck. I’m positive I’m not going to like where this is headed.
“Did you see the sassy look Billie gave Maddy at feeding time?” Amy continues. “You can tell she’s going to be a spitfire like Keane.”
“Keane’s not a spitfire. He’s a flamethrower.”
Amy laughs and my shoulders soften. Maybe this conversation isn’t headed where I think, after all?
“Do you think you might want kids one day?” Amy asks.
And . . . my shoulders tighten again. “Sure. One day,” I reply. I already know Amy’s answer to the same question. As a little girl, she was always playing with dolls whenever I came over to play video games with Logan. But, still, out of politeness, I ask her, “Do you want kids one day?”
