Because this is what I want... isn't it?
“Surprise!”
I almost drop the coffees when I see all my friends—every single one of them—along with my mother-in-law, standing behind the ice cream shop. I look down at the six cups of coffee I brought, knowing there aren’t nearly enough. But as I walk closer, I come to understand coffee isn’t needed on this particular Tuesday night.
There’s a large‘It’s a girl!’banner strung between two trees. Our usual picnic table is draped with a lovely pink tableclothand covered with various finger foods and drinks. Another table is loaded with gifts and stacked with packages of diapers. Yet another with party games.
I knew Maddie and Regan were planning something. There’s no way they would let this pass without throwing me a shower. And I figured it was going to be a surprise based on their total lack of asking me any questions about it. But I had no idea it was going to be here, now.
“You guys.” My eyes mist up as I glance around at the people who have been such a huge part of my life. The women who kept me sane during all the years of Trevor’s service. The people I’ve come to call family.
Regan steps forward and drapes a‘Mommy To Be’sash over my head. Then she squeezes me hard. “Tuesdays just won’t be the same without you.”
“We should make these last ones count,” Nikki Calloway says. “I’m not sure they’ll happen once you’re gone.”
I give her crazy eyes. “What? No. That’s ridiculous. Of course you’re going to keep it up.”
Amber hands me a pink frosted cupcake. “You’ve always been the center of it, girl. You’re the one who’s kept it going all these years. It just wouldn’t feel right if you’re not a part of it.”
I glance around at each of the dozen or so women watching me. “Promise me you’ll still do it. I can always FaceTime in.”
“But who’ll bring the coffee?” Addy says.
I’m not sure why Addy’s words hit me harder than all the others. But they do. And my heart twists wondering if I’ll ever again make friends like these.
Loud cheering comes from across the parking lot, and I turn toward Donovan’s. “I wonder what’s going on there.”
Maddie cracks a smile. “Surprise bachelor party for Trevor.”
“Seriously?”
“When you told us what he said about wanting to get married again so he would have all those memories, we knew he needed the full experience. Tag, Carter, and Jaxon have been planning it for weeks.”
Now I’m full-on crying. “You all are just so amazing. The best. I hope you know that.”
Serenity puts her arm around my shoulder. “We love you guys.”
More cheers come from the pub, and I wrinkle my nose as a thought occurs. “Do you think they got strippers?”
They all laugh, but then some turn and look inquisitively at the pub, being as their husbands are there, too.
“Don’t worry about what’s going on at the pub,” Dakota says. “We’re going to make baby diapers out of toilet paper. What could be more fun than that?”
Trevor climbs into bed just after midnight and spoons me. He always spoons me. Just another thing I love about this new version of him.
When we first moved in together all those years ago, before he went overseas, we’d cuddle and I’d rest my head on his chest. Most nights we wound up sleeping in a tangle of limbs. But then, as time passed, it just stopped happening and we’d end up on opposite sides of the bed.
Maybe we’d each just gotten used to sleeping alone.
I sigh appreciatively, loving how it feels to be in his arms.
“How was your night?” he asks softly in my ear.
“Perfect. And yours?”
“Pretty amazing.”
I turn and look at him in the soft moonlight filtering through the window. “Were there strippers?”
