“Yes, you.” I take the container back from him and hug it tightly to my chest. “I’m cutting you both off until after dinner.”
“What?”
“Serves you right,” Bellamy, Reid’s wife, says, as she walks over to us with their baby girl, Coral, in her arms.
“Trade ya,” I tell Bellamy, and she smiles. I hand the brownies to Reid and take the baby from her arms. “Hey, sweet girl,” I coo down at her. Coral is three months old and the absolute cutest.
“Gimme,” Bellamy says, pulling the container from Reid’s hands.
“I lost the brownies and my daughter,” he pouts.
“Be good, and I’ll reward you later.” Bellamy winks and saunters off. Reid follows after her like a lovesick puppy, and it not only makes me smile, but it makes my heart ache.
I love that my best friends are finding their happily ever afters. They’ve managed to fall in love with men who think they hung the moon. Then there’s me, dating guys who are still living in their mom’s basement. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but when you also don’t have a job and play video games all day, yeah, that’s an issue.
I want to find a man who looks at me like Knox, Landry, and Reid look at my friends. However, I don’t have time to date or worry about dating because I need to find a job, but that’s a worry for another day. Today, I’m going to enjoy my time with my friends and try not to think too much about what comes next.
“Hey, you,” Corie says when I take a seat next to her on the couch.
“Hey, why’s everyone inside?”
“Well, we didn’t want this little one to get too hot, so we’re in here for a while. Foster is manning the grill, and after we eat, we’ll go out and swim,” she explains. She reaches for Coral, but I turn away from her.
“No can do, Core. You’ve been here longer. You had your chance,” I say, then make a funny face at Coral, making her grin.
“But Reid was hogging her,” she complains, batting her big green eyes at me. She’s my best friend, my person, but the only individual that move works on is her husband, Knox. I’m immune, unless she’s crying. My friends don’t get to cry alone. It’s a rule.
“Since when did that ever stop you?” I ask her.
“I think we need more babies around here so y’all can stop fighting over mine,” Reid says, shoving a chip into his mouth.
“Ro?” Landry asks, also shoving a chip into his mouth.
I glance over at Rowan. “You sure you want to bring more of that into the world?” I tease.
“Stop.” She giggles as she playfully swats at my arm, mindful that I’m holding Coral.
“Oh, you think that’s funny?” Landry stalks toward us on the couch, scoops his wife up into his arms, and walks out of the room.
“Corie girl, I think we’re about to get a niece or nephew,” Knox jokes. “We can’t let them beat us,” he tells her, his face growing serious. “We’ve been married longer.”
Reid raises his hand. “Doesn’t really matter.” He points to where his daughter coos in my arms.
Corie shrugs. “They won’t.”
“How do you know? They’re literally trying right now,” Knox tells her. He moves to the chair, scoops her up, and starts to move toward the basement.
“Knox Alexander Beckett, put me down right now,” Corie scolds, trying to contain her laughter.
“Nope.”
“Knox.” Something in her voice changes, which has us all looking on with concern. Knox immediately places her on her feet, and she rushes down the hall to the bathroom with her husband hot on her heels.
Amanda, Bellamy’s childhood best friend, takes Coral from my arms as I stand to check on my best friend. However, before I get the chance, Knox and Corie come back into the room. Corie’s face is flushed, but Knox is smiling so big, I fear his face might crack.
I lock eyes with Corie, and tears fill her eyes as she smiles. Remember what I said about my friends not being allowed to cry without me? Yeah, this is one of those moments. “Core?” My voice quivers because I know what she’s about to say, and my heart feels too damn big for my chest as it balloons with happiness for my best friend and her husband.
Knox leans down and presses a kiss to her temple, and a sob falls from her lips. He pulls her in close, all while the smile never falls from his face. The entire room stands, watching and waiting for them to tell us what we already know.
