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"Um." Gamble sent him a guilty cringe. "No, she's gone, but . . . uh, we might've just . . . accidentally told your girlfriend what happened." When Mason only stared at him, Gamble cleared his throat. "Your phone rang . . . and then it rang again. I was only going to let her know you were away for a minute, but . . . yeah . . . sorry, man."
Mason rushed to his phone like some kind of prick who was about to spill every excuse in the book to his unsuspecting girlfriend. But as soon as he said, "Reese?" the front doors of the club banged opened.
"Let me guess," a girl with straight, long dark hair said as she stormed into Forbidden. "Mrs. Garrison just showed up to announce you'd put a baby in her."
I was so busy gaping at Mason's girlfriend I didn't notice someone had come in with her. And when I did, I didn't immediately glance at the second person because I was too busy trying to gauge Reese's reaction. Surprisingly, she didn't look as pissed or hurt I as thought she would. She looked more resigned, as if she'd expected this to happen all along.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed the person following her had a huge stomach. Wondering if the pregnant cougar had followed Reese inside, I lifted my face to see a blonde wearing a bright pink shirt with Disney's Tinker Bell on it, instead of the older, dark-headed woman. I started to look away, dismissing her, when I did a double take, studying her shirt.
Tinker Bell?
A strange buzzing filled my head, and my skin suddenly felt about five times too small. Lifting my face from the cartoon fairy on her shirt, I took in her face.
Oh, hell.
Dumbfounded, I stood like a freaking statue, staring at the way-too-familiar vision that followed Mason's girlfriend up to the bar. For a second, I wondered if I'd gone delusional and was seeing things. No way was this woman real. But then I saw Ten glance at her. He lifted his eyebrows as his gaze traveled to her stomach.
Holy shit. If he was seeing her too, then she must be real. Right?
I froze as she passed right by me without even looking at me. When the hint of lilac wafted off her, I went dizzy from the shock.
No way. This wasn't possible.
I tried to shake my head, tried to get my vision to clear, because I couldn't be seeing what I was actually seeing. But my eyes soaked in every detail of the pregnant blonde.
I wasn't mistaken. Every inch of her was the same as I remembered. Even her lilac scent.
Tinker Bell from my glimpses was real.
Chapter 3
EVA
About the same time Mason finally accrued more working hours at the club where he bartended and more money started trickling in, Reese's car went kaput.
I was quickly learning things never came easily in this household. It was so unlike the Mercer residence where there was never a financial concern. But that's what I loved most about living here. I'd rather worry about money any day of the week over what I'd worried about before.
The mechanic they took Reece's junk bucket to shook his head and quoted an astronomical price to fix it. So Reese and Mason began carpooling everywhere in his Jeep.
One Thursday evening when Reese wanted to go grocery shopping while Mason worked, she dropped him off at the Forbidden Nightclub and agreed to pick him up again at closing.
It was late when he clocked off, so I probably should've been in bed asleep. But my baby girl had been kicking, and punching, and doing chin-ups from my ribs for the past two hours; plus I'd been suffering from cabin fever because I hadn't gotten out of the apartment in a good three weeks, aside from checkups with the doctor and grocery store runs. So I asked if I could tag along when Reese went to pick him up. She claimed to be grateful for the company, ergo the ride together worked for both of us.
Plus, by the end of the night, I'm glad I was there for moral support.
Riding in Mason's Jeep felt strange, though, as if I was encroaching on his territory. Things had improved between us; I no longer got the cold shoulder and he said more than three words to me at a time, but . . . yeah. Now that we'd decided we didn't totally hate each other, we were kind of at a loss of how to treat one another. We certainly weren't friends, but we definitely weren't enemies, so it just felt awkward speaking to him.
But Reese had a way of smoothing the waters. And she eased the why-was-I-in-Mason-Lowe's-Jeep nerves by trying to guess the name I'd finally decided for my baby.
"Gabriella? That one's pretty."
From the passenger seat, I grinned and shook my head. "Nope."
"No Gabby? Okay then." She pulled into the parking lot across the street from the bar and had to slam on the brakes when a pair of stumbling drunk girls walked right in front of the headlights.
As I watched them sling their arms around each other and giggle together, leaning heavily against one another and wobbling in their high heels, it struck me: I could've easily been one of them. If I hadn't gotten pregnant, I would've remained a party animal to this day, living it up every night and getting wasted, trying to find something loud and boisterous to fill the void that was my empty life.
But instead, here I sat, rubbing my huge belly and talking baby names with my best friend. The strangest part of all was that I felt grateful to be where I was.
