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“Surprise!” Me and Maisie both look at the door when we hear a high-pitched voice and a girl I’ve never seen before bursts into the room, carrying three huge balloons and a stuffed teddy that’s almost as big as she is.
“What are you doing here?” Maisie’s eyes widen in shock as she reaches out her arms, and her red-haired visitor quickly dumps everything on the end of the bed and dives in for a hug. It causes Maisie to wince in pain, but she tries her best not to show it.
“You think I wasn’t gonna come and meet these little guys?” She raises her eyebrows as if Maisie should know better.
“Leia, this is Savannah, she used to be my roommate when I was living in L.A.,” Maisie explains, still looking surprised that she’s here.
“Hey.” Savannah gives me a warm, friendly smile as she heads over to the cribs to take a look at the boys.
“They’re cute. Good job.” She looks up at Maisie.
“I can’t believe you came all this way. How long are you in town for?” Maisie asks.
“Well…” Savannah’s about to explain when the door opens again and interrupts her.
“Woman on reception desk caught me on the way past. Mom’s sent another stuffed fuckin’ animal.” Garrett dumps a much smaller bear wearing a congratulations T-shirt on the end of the bed, beside the huge one Savannah bought with her. Then immediately frowns when he notices the new visitor.
“This must be Garrett. Wow.” Savannah goes straight to him, looking impressed as she squeezes the tops of his arms through his shirt. “You weren’t lying when you said he was hot!” She looks over her shoulder at Maisie and winks.
The disturbed look on Garrett’s face has me laughing to myself, and when he looks to Maisie for some kind of support, she’s smirking too.
“Garrett, meet Savannah. I told you about her, remember?”
“Ahhh, the roommate.” He nods politely before stepping aside and handing Maisie a pre-packaged sandwich.
“It’s all they had,” he tells her guiltily.
“It’s fine.” Maisie puts it to one side and at least looks grateful for it.
“I was just asking Savannah here how long she was planning on visiting us for.” She catches him up.
“Well, I figure since you guys are outnumbered, that I should stay for a while.” She shrugs her shoulders and looks between the pair of them awkwardly.
Garrett actually chokes and Maisie throws him a stern glare.
“Of course, you can, that would be great.” She manages to force the words out, despite being shocked herself.
“I’m so excited, I’ve never been to a ranch before. I’ll head straight there and unpack. Don’t worry, I already know how to get there. I stopped in that cute little diner on the way here for a coffee. By the way, Dolores wants to know if you’ve named the kids yet. She wants to update the sign she put up in the window.”
“Sign?” Maisie checks she heard her right.
“Yep, Dolores has a huge congratulations banner up in the diner window. Apparently, these little guys are Fork River’s first-ever set of triplets. She checked the Census,” I confirm.
“That woman.” Garrett shakes his head and laughs to himself.
“I guess I’ll be catchin’ you folks back at the homestead.” Savannah puts on a fake twang and slaps her thigh before she breezes out the door just as quickly as she came through it.
“Wow, she really is somethin’, ain’t she?” Garrett blows out an exasperated breath.
“You don’t mind her staying with us, do you?” Maisie reaches out her hand for his, doing her best version of puppy-dog eyes.
“Even if I did, I can hardly say no. Look what ya did.” He heads over to the crib and lifts out one of his little boys, looking down at him proudly. The door opens again and when it’s Caleb who pokes his head around it, that pride automatically turns to threat.
“You said you’d be a half hour.” Myhusbandlooks directly at me. He doesn’t greet Maisie and Garrett, or offer them any kind of congratulations. I want to answer him back. Remind him that I never asked him to drive me here and that he insisted upon it, but I won’t cause a scene. Maisie’s already worried about me, and this here is a happy place.
“I must have lost track of time.” Standing up I carefully pass little Breanna to her mommy. The look Maisie gives me is both sad and worried, but I offer her a reassuring smile before I kiss her cheek and go to him.
“Make sure you stop by the ranch soon,” she calls after me, and when Caleb takes my hand in his and squeezes it tight, I freeze that smile on my face before I turn back around.
