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My laughter dislodged something in my chest. Probably the big block labeled baby I still couldn’t quite breathe around. “I fucking love her.” I frowned. “Someday I’ll say that without the fucking in front of it.”
“Yeah, but definitely not in the first year.”
We laughed like the cheerful perverts we were.
“Teach! Your wife is going to skin you, and I’ll help.”
“Aye, aye.” Grinning, Caleb turned to leave, but I stopped him and pulled him in for a long hug.
“Glad for you, man. You’re an inspiration to me, you know that?”
He hugged me back and then eased away, his brow furrowed. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. You didn’t expect to have a kid, and you still took it on like a champ. I know you’re going to be an incredible father. It’s good to see.” I swallowed over the block that had now moved from my chest into my throat. “Some dudes won’t ever let their kids down.”
“No, I won’t. Absolutely not. And when the day comes, you won’t either.” He smiled as he backed away. “Thanks, man. For everything. Especially for being at my side when I do this thing.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
After he left, I grinned. Today was a good day.
Until I drew a deep breath and decided I needed to breathe somewhere else. Quickly.
On the way out, I tossed a twenty on the sink. Maybe the tip would help make up for the baby stink.
I walked out into bedlam. Sweetly smelling, festively decorated bedlam, but bedlam nonetheless.
Festooned Christmas trees and glittery decorations were everywhere, mixed with the subtle magical hints that had to be Luna’s idea. Stars and crystals and shimmering snow dripped from stark birch branches in heavy pots, adding extra sparkle in every corner.
A sandwich board sign announced the Beck-Hastings nuptials were taking place in the chapel on the property, so I turned to go back outside. I bumped into a tall, lean dude with Tish’s lush mouth heading in. Not that I made a habit of noticing guys’ mouths, but even with the big puffy jacket pulled up to his ears, I recognized him as one of her brothers immediately.
Fuck. Another unexpected change of plans.
Tish would be ecstatic.
Twenty
My mind spun. What was he doing here? The Burns weren’t supposed to be in the Cove yet—or here in Turnbull at all.
Tish’s place was not done, and she wasn’t one for alternative routes. Ever. To say she had a plan and she lived to execute that plan about summed it up.
Rhett’s gaze zeroed in on mine as if he was seizing the last life raft. His smile was quick and easy as he pushed a hand through his thick dark hair. It was longish on top and short in back, and snow flew in my face as he patted his jacket pockets then unzipped and did the same with his shirt pockets.
“Hey. You’re a familiar face. Lucky, is it? How the hell are you?”
I couldn’t help my grin at his clear confusion as he searched for something. She’d referred to him once as Mr. Wanderlust.
Right now, he looked scattered and as if he was three steps behind.
“It is Lucky, isn’t it? If I messed up your name, man, I’m sorry. I’m running on little sleep. Traveling, you know?”
“Yeah, that’s me. Rhett, right?”
Should I introduce myself as Tish’s baby daddy? Probably not. She’d likely deball me in front of the wedding guests. Besides, we should wait for the official test before we announced anything.
Or was it better to wait until after the first trimester passed? She was two months in, assuming it had happened the night of the memorial.
We hadn’t even been in the Cove. Once we lived here, did the whole baby thing cling to us like cologne?
