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I nodded and blew out a breath. “I guess.”
She literally cackled in my ear. “I guess? Please. I can picture you two with gray hair on a porch swing one day, watching the grandkids play.”
I shut my eyes tight and mentally rerouted, swallowing hard against the bittersweet thought. “Yeah,” I whispered.
“Okay, so the reason I called... I totally forgot this, pregnant brain and all,” she said in a rush, “but Matthew’s birthday is next week!”
That entire sentence was out of left field. “What?”
“Yes!” she said. “I just remembered that he was born soon after you—don’t ask me why that just came to mind—and your birthday was almost two months ago, so I called Hope.”
“Um—”
“She did the research; I figured she might remember.”
I nodded. “Okay, gotcha. So, it’s next week? He’s coming tomorrow.”
“I know!” she breathed. “It’s Tuesday. Did he say how long he’ll be here? I don’t think he told me.”
“Me either,” I said. “But he’s staying at the bun—ohhhhhhh.”
“What?”
“He’s coming to talk to Wexley,” I said. “The trust fund. It must be available at age twenty-five. So—”
“So, he’ll be here on his birthday,” Grace finished.
“Sounds like.”
Why did I feel a tiny bit bitter about that still? Matthew was a good person. It wasn’t his fault our father took care of him and not us. He had every right to it.
“So I was thinking... a party,” Grace said.
Oh Lord, my very pregnant sister was nesting, and she really needed a project.
“Oh,” I said, pushing to my feet and gathering Lance’s leash. I looked all around me for unwelcome eyes and didn’t see anyone. “Um, okay. What did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “That’s why I’m calling you. You actually met him.”
I laughed out loud. “Yeah, for like ten minutes, long enough to tell him he has a trust fund, and oh by the way, the mob is after me, so to watch his six in case I led them there. I didn’t get around to favorite cake flavors or food allergies.”
Olivia began chattering in the background. “Okay, well, I have to run. Gotta drop Liv at her art class—I don’t know why I let her talk me into it. It’s so out of the way; we need some fun stuff here! But let’s think on it, and I’m game for whatever you come up with. Congrats on you and Adam! Love you!”
The line went dead as she hung up. Whatever I came up with? Nope, Grace didn’t need a project. She was one hundred percent giving me one.
Well. I had just been saying I needed a distraction.
I glanced up with a sigh. “Yeah, yeah, I hear you.”
