“Oh, my God!”
The shocked response spilled out before she could stop it, so she immediately followed with a hearty “That’s fantastic! Congratulations.”
Shawna grinned. “I know. I was so surprised. I mean of course we’re in love but I didn’t know he was that serious about me. My mom is over the moon. We’ve been texting all day about the wedding. It’s amazing.”
Ryleigh was less sure “amazing” was the way to describe the situation. Harris had proposed? She didn’t have a lot of contact with her former brother-in-law these days, but she thought she knew him well enough to guess he wasn’t that in love with Shawna. Marriage was a huge step.
She held in a gasp as she had the horrible thought he’d done it simply to get regular sex with his girlfriend. No, she told herself. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t!
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
It took Ryleigh a second to realize Shawna meant her engagement ring.
“It’s gorgeous. You look so happy. This is great news.”
“I know. I’m floating.” Shawna studied her diamond. “I love it. Oh, and I went and saw your sister at lunch. That bird of hers, he’s huge.”
Ryleigh wasn’t sure what Ramon had to do with anything. “He’s a good guy. Very funny and well-behaved.”
Shawna shuddered. “I don’t like birds. They scare me.”
“When our grandparents first got him, I was scared as well. But he grew on me.” She mentally backtracked. “Why would you go to see Jax?”
But even as she asked the question, she figured out the answer.
“The kids,” she said, making the connection. “Oh, wow. So if you marry Harris, you’ll be their stepmother.”
“When,” Shawna said firmly.
“What?”
“You saidifI marry Harris. You meant when I marry him and yes, I will be. Isn’t it great? I never thought I’d fall for someone who was divorced, but I did, so here we are. I’ve met them both before and they seem great. So sweet. I asked Jax if Gentry could be a bridesmaid.” She lowered her voice as if about to confess something important. “And I want her to be a real bridesmaid. None of this junior stuff.”
Okay, sure. “That’s, ah, really nice of you. What did Jax say when you told her?”
Shawna pressed a hand to her chest. “She was so great. Surprised about the engagement but then it’s not as if she and Harris are still friends. I mean they’re friendly, but it’s not like he would have told her in advance. I wanted to explain that we’ll be a family and I want to make sure she knows she’ll always be the mom. I won’t take that away from her.”
Ryleigh was pretty sure that wasn’t an option, but tried to see things from Shawna’s point of view. At least Harris’s new fiancéewas trying. And basically she was a nice person, so everything could work out fine. In theory.
“We’re going to be sisters!”
“What?” Ryleigh asked.
Shawna beamed at her. “Sisters. Us! Growing up I always wanted sisters. My parents are amazing but it was tough being an only child. They had fertility problems and I was their miracle, but my mom couldn’t go through all the treatments again so it was just me. Now I have you and Jax!”
Before Ryleigh could internalize that, Shawna hugged her tight.
“This is so great.”
“It sure is,” Ryleigh murmured.
“Jax seems nice and the bookstore is just so cute, so that’s fun. I’m going to be a stepmom and have sisters.” She picked up her bag and waved her fingers. “I have to get to my mom’s. We’re putting together a master spreadsheet for the wedding. You know, just the preliminaries. It’s so exciting. See you tomorrow.”
“You will. And congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
She waited until Shawna’s footsteps had faded before calling her sister. Jax picked up on the first ring.
