Jane lifted her own brows and shot Mack a surprised look.
He merely shrugged. “We’re going to save for a bigger vacation and take Bridger with us.” His arm snaked around Lacey’s waist, and he pulled her closer to him. “I married into a family, and I’m more than happy to share my joy with them both. There will be plenty of time to spend with just the two of us.”
There was no way her heart wouldn’t swell at his confession. That had to be the sweetest thing she’d ever heard. And clearly, it had been a decision between the two of them. Mack wanted to make his wife happy—and he didn’t want his new son to feel leftout. The kid couldn’t have been more than five or six years old. It was hard for a child that age to understand why his parents would want to spend time away from him.
Lacey handed her phone over, and Jane put her number in. Then Lacey called Jane’s number, and they both smiled. It was nice to know she’d have a friend here—someone besides the people working at the charity offices.
Jane wiggled the phone in the air. “It’s a date.”
Lacey beamed.
“Anyway, I’m going to slip out before it gets too late.”
“It’s the middle of the afternoon,” Mack pointed out.
“You know me. I’m gonna procrastinate until it’s dark, and then I’ll fall asleep on top of one of my many boxes.” She waved then slipped behind a crowd of people, secretly grateful that Noah hadn’t managed to track her down.
By the time she’d gotten home, she’d missed a second call from her mother. While at the wedding, she’d had her phone silenced, and now that she was in her apartment, she knew she’d need to make a call so her mother didn’t have something else to complain about.
“Jane! I’ve been trying to call you!”
“Sorry, Mom. I was at a wedding.”
“Oh?” she asked. “You already got to know people well enough to be invited to a wedding?”
It took more effort than Jane was proud of to fight the eye-roll that threatened. “No, Mom. It’s Mack. I told you, Mack Reese lives in this town.”
“Oh. Right.” Her tone dripped with disdain. “He’d been such a nice boy. But then he met those?—”
“What were you calling about?” Jane interrupted. “I take it that it was important.”
“Oh! Yes! Ruth just found out that she’s expecting.”
“Again?” Her youngest sister just had a baby nine months ago. She was popping out babies faster than a bunny rabbit.
“Isn’t it wonderful? Baby number three.”
Three babies in three years was a bit much for Jane’s liking, but then Ruth had always been interested in having a large family. When they’d been younger, she’d insisted she wanted ten of them. Jane had foolishly thought Ruth was joking. But here she was, getting ready for another one. “Yeah, Mom. Wonderful,” she murmured dryly.
It was just one more tally against Jane. At this point, she might not even have kids, and she could tell that was exactly what her mother was trying to say without doing so outright.
“You meet anyone yet?”
Yeah, so she didn’t think Jane could get to know anyone quick enough to be invited to a wedding, but she could meet someone who was marriage material? How backwards was that?
Jane sighed. “Not yet, Mom.”
Her mother’s sigh was more than enough to darken Jane’s moderately good mood.
Before she could say anything more, Jane broke the silence. “Hey, I’m kinda busy. I’ve got some stuff to do today, so I’m going to have to let you go. Tell Ruth congratulations. I’ll makesure to visit after the baby is born.” She didn’t wait for a response. “Love you, Mom, bye.”
With that, she hung up the phone and tossed it on the couch.
CHAPTER THREE
“I’m telling you,this is a big deal. Bo was talking about it to the guys, and he’s real excited.” Caleb’s voice filtered through the house. It was early still, and normally he’d go straight to work from his house, but apparently, he had news that couldn’t wait.
Noah slowed before reaching the kitchen, waiting for a response from whomever Caleb was speaking to.
