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I rub my friend’s arm where I playfully smacked it. “Stop that, she so isn’t.”
“I’m just jealous, guys, okay?” Poppy pushes back her chair, not looking the least bit ashamed. “I’ll get the next round, and then it’s outta here for me. Early day for us tomorrow.”
She stands up and takes off, weaving through the patrons as more people come in.
I sit back and meet Maya’s gaze and we both giggle. But then the smile and laughter melt away from Maya as she leans forward. “Sweetie, you’d let me know if things weren’t okay?”
“Yes, but they are. I mean things have moved fast, but it’s okay.”
“Are you sure you’re fine about the wedding?”
“My idea,” I say quietly even as something shifts inside. “I insisted on something quick and quiet.”
My friend just nods. “Okay. I just wanted to make sure. It was one thing when you were just getting married, but now the baby…”
“He didn’t know when he proposed.” I look down at the table and run a finger through a small ring of condensation left by my drink. “I just figured we do this without fuss.”
“It’s a lot. That’s all.”
“Yeah.” I look back up and find her smile. “Sometimes I want to pinch myself, to see if this is true, if it’s really happening. I never imagined in a million years this is where I’d be.”
“No one does until it happens. But I know you. And you’re going to have doubts, but I don’t think you should. You’ll be a wonderful mother.”
I nod but those age-old doubts rise inside me. “I hope so.”
“You’re not your parents, Brandi,” Maya murmurs. “And I know you. Anyone would be happy to have you as their mom. And their wife.”
“I should have told you sooner—”
“No. You told me when you needed to. When the time was right.” She looks up and past me and shakes her head. “Here comes Poppy. We’ll have this drink, and then it’s time to go home.”
Home.
I smile again, letting its warmth spread through me.
I have a home now. A real one. More than just a place for me to rest my head at night.
“Come on, I’ll follow you home,” Brian offers when we’re ready to go.
“Nah, I’m good.” I wave him off good-naturedly.
Somehow, I hide the sarcastic roll of my eyes when he waits until I pull out of the parking lot before they leave.
The door to my grandparents’ place, well… Maybe that was me, or maybe kids being kids or… I don’t know. But nothing had been touched and… No, that isn’t right.
I sit in the living room of my new home, waiting for my husband to get home from work and I finally let myself go over the day that feels like a lifetime ago.
After someone had broken in. I’d tucked it all away because nothing is missing, nothing shifted about, no sign of a break-in or anything like that, but I’d known someone was in there.
Just a few things, like the remote to the TV being on the sofa and not where I’d left it on the coffee table. Or my pillows being flipped, the openings facing inward and not out to the edges of the bed.
Could have been when the police were there. Logan, one of Travis’ good friends, was a first responder and gone in and through things, so maybe he or the officer with him had looked about and moved things.
Or it can just be in my head.
I curl up on the sofa and rest my head on one of the cushions, closing my eyes. I haven’t thought about it since the day I’d looked around and dismissed it until now. Because on the drive home, I’d been unable to shake the feeling of someone following me.
A car.
