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Still, as my mom checks to make sure I have everything, I don’t try to stop her. It’s little things like this that make her happy. Though, when she puts her hand on my lower belly when she sayssomething new, that’s it for me.
“Mom!” I push her hand away. “Again, not pregnant.”
She chuckles. “Sure, honey.”
My eyes roll as she grabs my bouquet and hands it to me, showing me the blue flower in the center—the one I don’t have the heart to tell her is actually teal. But it’s fine. Mali subtly grabs a blue hair clip from her bag and clips it to the side of the bouquet.
“Okay,” Mom says, looking me over once more and fanning her eyes when she starts to cry again. “I’ll see you downstairs. I love you so much.”
I can’t help but smile. “I love you, too, Mom.”
The second she’s out of the room, Mali looks at me with narrowed eyes. “Seriously, not even a little pregnant?”
“Nope.”
She hums amusedly. “Huh. Your mom is going to be devastatingly disappointed in a few months.” I giggle just before she finally says what she’s been dying to since she walked in. “But if you’re not pregnant, do you mind telling me what the fuck is going on? Since when are you gettingmarried?”
“Since a few nights ago,” I confess. “That conversation you and I had at dinner Saturday night? Yeah, I came over that night, and he asked me to marry him.”
“Holy fucking shit. This wasHayes’sidea?”
“Yeah,” I breathe. “And I tried to tell him he didn’t need to do this. I gave him an out. But he practically convinced me into it. Not that I wouldn’t have said yes immediately if I’d known he was serious.”
Mali looks utterly shocked as she tries to make sense of it. “Damn, babe. What kind of magical pussy do you have?”
I chuckle, just as my dad knocks twice and opens the door. The moment his gaze lands on me, his eyes start to water. I’m used to my mom crying. Once, I took my time wishing on my birthday candles, and she cried because Iput so much thought into it. But I’ve never seen my dad shed a single tear until now, and it instantly gets to me.
“Wow,” he chokes out. “I’ve thought about this moment since the day you were born. You’re a lot younger than I thought you would be, but you’re just as beautiful. Hayes is a very lucky man.”
Pressing my lips in a line to try to keep from crying, I walk toward my dad and hug him. He lightly kisses my cheek and then moves his mouth to right by my ear.
“And if he ever hurts you, he’s going to be a verydeadman.”
Laughter bubbles out of me. “Thanks, Dad.”
He rubs my back and looks over at Mali. “You look good, Mal.”
“Thank you, Daddy B,” she says, then cringes. “Mm, nope. Can’t call you that anymore. Hook up with a guy with a daddy kink one time and everything changes…”
My dad chokes on air. “Still lacking that filter, I see.”
As if she just realized what she said, her eyes fall closed, and she pinches the bridge of her nose. “Yep. Sure am.”
Meanwhile, I’m laughing so hard my stomach hurts, becausewhat the actual fuckdid she just say to my dad. She looks completely mortified, and so does my dad, for that matter. Thankfully, Cam peeks his head in the door.
“You guys ready?” But when he sees me, he smiles. “Look at you.”
“How is he?” I ask nervously. “Is he still going to be there when I get downstairs?”
Cam rolls his eyes. “Are you kidding? Why do you think I’m up here? He’s ready to drag Pastor Todd up here and marry you in the bedroom.”
Well, that would save us time later. Butunlike Mali, I have a filter, so that thought stays tucked away inside my brain.
“Okay, good,” I say, relieved. “Yeah, we’re ready.”
Cam nods, and before he leaves, he comes over to give me a hug. “I’m happy for you, sis, even if youarestealing my best friend.”
“Please. You’re opening a bar together,” I tell him. “You’re going to get more time with him than I will.”
