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He hadn’t said anything since the appointment. Butterflies took flight in my belly. He’d been as excited as the other two when we’d arrived, talking all about how he was going to teach the baby to swim and lecturing the rest of us about how we’d need new pool fences before he or she was born.
But now he was a little green.
Kian kept flicking glances back at him in the rearview mirror too. “Hey, Vaughn. You good?”
Vaughn eventually looked up. “What? Sorry. Yes. Fine. Yes. Good.”
I cringed internally. It sounded like he was anything but. But there wasn’t anything I could do about it right now. We were nearly home, and we weren’t alone.
Our street was lined with cars on both sides, and Kian slowly maneuvered the truck in between them. “Damn, how many people did Bliss invite to this thing?”
“I’ve honestly no idea,” I admitted. “I’m regretting giving her free rein over this gender reveal party.”
“You couldn’t plan one for yourself,” Vaughn said finally. “You would have decorated in all black.”
I looked over at him. “Of course you come out of your shell shock just to mock me.”
“Did I lie?”
He had a point. The entire front of the house was covered in pink and blue streamers. It was like she’d TP-ed the place in the two hours we’d been gone. Bunches and bunches of balloons formed an archway we had to walk under to even get to the front door.
“I can’t imagine what the inside is like. God, do you think she’s going to make us play that baby shower game where they melt chocolate onto diapers and then you have to lick it to guess which flavor it is?”
Vaughn jerked away from me in horror. “You…what? You lick the shit?”
“It’s obviously not actually shit.” Kian shook his head. “It’s chocolate shit.”
“That’s still disgusting.” Vaughn’s face was so screwed up it was comical.
Not that I disagreed. But when Bliss had found out my ultrasound was on a Saturday morning, she’d declared she’d throw me a gender reveal party straight after because, apparently, I had a big mouth and couldn’t keep a secret long enough for it to be any other day.
I would have been happy to just send everyone a text, but then she’d given me the guilt trip over everything being so doom and gloom for the last few months, with Caleb’s missing poster plastered all over town, and Riva awaiting trial after she’d been picked up on a highway just outside the state. Karmichael was out on bail, but he hadn’t returned to the house, probably because the property had belonged to Riva. He was still being investigated to determine whether he had been her accomplice, or if he was actually innocent. I didn’t know how to feel about that. It was something that would only be determined by a trial.
We’d been trying so hard to put all of that behind us. So Bliss was right when she said that this was something that needed to be celebrated.
Plus, as I was beginning to understand well, arguing with a pregnant woman wasn’t a smart idea.
Especially when the woman wasverypregnant and prone to irrational outbursts of tears that didn’t seem to ever end. Just a few weeks ago she’d cried for an hour because a bee had stung her and subsequently died. She wasn’t worried about the sting. She said she’d barely even felt it. But she couldn’t stop crying over the fact the insect was dead.
Nash and I had to close Psychos just so he could take her home.
Kian eventually parked the truck in the driveway and opened the door for me, grabbing my hand to help me down.
I gave him a sidelong look. “We’ve talked about this. I am not going to fall out of the truck and land on my belly.”
He didn’t let up on my hand. “You don’t know that. You’re carrying precious cargo, you know.”
I smiled up at him with what was very likely a stupidly lovesick expression.
Truthfully, my moods were as all over the place as Bliss’s were. Less crying, but I was unusually sappy. I’d told Vaughn I loved him so many times this morning he’d asked me if I was having a stroke.
Rude. I’d tell Fang next time the mood struck me.
But we had a party to get through first. The moment we opened the door, the house full of people cheered.
Despite myself and the fact I hadn’t really wanted any of this, I couldn’t help but grin when I saw the sea of familiar faces.
Bliss rushed me, grabbing me in a hug. “You did find out the gender, didn’t you? Tell me right now. No! Wait. Don’t tell me. I want to be surprised too. I bought a blue and a pink popper thingo so we’re all set for whenever you want to do it. Oh my God, I’m so excited.”
