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“That my Willow?” a masculine voice said from behind Bronte, and she glanced over her shoulder.
“She’s in bed,” Bronte told her fiancé before his face came into view.
Sam waved her icing-covered fork at Chris “CJ” Cunningham, the A-list actor who’d wound up sitting next to Bronte on a flight home after one of their girls weekends together. Even though he’d proposed two weeks ago, they already had plans to get married this summer. Of course. Bronte was the queen of tight organizational schedules.
Although people always talked about the pregnancy and marriage glow, Sam hadn’t ever believed in it. Until she saw it in her friends. First in Gem, when she fell in love with Jason and then had a surprise pregnancy not too long after. Now it was Bronte, whose blue eyes had taken on a new brightness.
“Happy birthday, Sam,” Chris said.
“Thanks.”
“I wanted to send you a stripper, but she vetoed it.” Chris tipped his head in Bronte’s direction.
Sam huffed out a laugh. “Party pooper.”
“For real.” He dodged an elbow from Bronte and pulled her up out of her chair to sit down, towing her to his lap. “What are we talking about?”
“Oh my god, Christopher,” Gem said with a laugh. “You’re as bad as my husband.”
It was still so weird for Sam to hearmy husband, but she nodded anyway. Jason and Chris fit right in with the girls, even being added to a bigger text thread with all six of them. Laney named that group chatFour Chicks and Two Dicks.
“We’re having girl time,” Bronte told him, wiggling out of his grasp.
“I thought Jay was going to be on,” he said, totally unfazed that Bronte stood next to him, waiting for him to get up and go.
“He’s putting Willow to bed.”
Chris pouted petulantly. “But I thought she’d be here too. What a dull party.”
Sam nibbled a bit of cake from her fork. “Gee, thanks.”
“You just wait until we invade your house,” Laney said, pointing her finger, presumably at Chris. “You’ll be wishing our party was dull then.”
“Yeah,” Gem agreed. “I haven’t been outoutsince…”
“Since your twenty-fifth birthday,” Sam supplied.
“So, watch out, Christopher, ’cause I’m coming for your entire liquor cabinet and that big whirlpool tub.”
“Noted,” Chris said with an easygoing smile. “All right, I guess I’ll catch up with Jay later.” He waved at the screen then kissed Bronte’s temple.
“How’s the wedding planning going?” Laney asked once he finally left.
“I’m not doing anything.” At their shocked gasps, Bronte lifted her champagne to drink the last of it. “Chris convinced me to let a wedding planner take care of it, and you know what? He was right. It’s nice to let go every once in a while.”
Gem sang a few bars of a very off-key “Let It Go,” and maybe she really was drunk already.
“What about you, Sammy?” Laney asked. “What’s happening with everything on your end?”
Sam took a big swig of champagne and set the mug down on top of a water mark on the desk. She supposed, at this point, it wasn’t even worth bringing the desk when she moved down to Texas. Besides it generally looking like trash, she had to stick a book underneath the one leg to keep it balanced. “When the semester’s over, I’m driving back home, and the house is going on the market as soon as we get it cleaned up. But with my dad’s surgery and everything, who knows how long that’ll take.”
“Well,” Bronte started, “we’re here for you, for whatever you need. You know I’m great at packing. I’ll take a trip over, say the word.”
Sam smiled. “Thanks, but it’ll be okay.”
The girls all nodded, obviously not believing her.
She tried again, this time lifting her gaze to her computer screen. “It’s a lot, but it’ll be fine.”
