“No, I barely looked.”
She places a waffle in front of me and gives me an entirely too-fake smile. She’s never been good at keeping things from me. Ever.
I give her a good, blank stare, and she sighs, her shoulders caving in. “I just don’t want you to be mad at me.”
“Be mad at you? Yes, I’m mad that you’ve completely stepped up. Fed me, housed me, and took care of me for weeks. I’m livid. I demand recompense. In fact, I think I’ll punish you by asking you to adopt me so I can live this way forever.”
She shakes her head, her lips turning into a slight smile. “Ha. Ha.”
“Babe, say what it is.”
She gnaws on her lip. “Fine.”
Moments go by. My waffle is getting cold, and Raeann keeps looking at me, then peering away really quickly. “You have to actually speak. I’m not a mind reader.”
She groans. “Okay…” She takes a deep breath. “The reason the letters say Mr. and Mrs. Freeman is because I am Mrs. Freeman.”
I blink at her, and then it slowly sinks in.She’s Mrs. Freeman? They’re…married.
“Oh.”Oh. My. God. My best friend is married!My heart somersaults.
“Please don’t be mad. It all happened so fast after the fire. Micah wanted to be sure he could make healthcare decisions forme. Granny and Pawpaw were already here. He practically had me tied to the hospital bed, and you were still?—”
“In the hospital,” I answer for her.
She nods. “I’m sorry, Tab.”
I tilt my head, staring at her. “Are you kidding me? What are you sorry for?”
I get up and move around the island. Raeann’s eyes are filling with tears fast. She wipes at her face. “For keeping this from you. For doing it while you couldn’t be here. For being happy when you were still so hurt.”
Her voice breaks, and it kills me. She’s been carrying this weight around.
“Rae-bae…” I smile. “I’m so happy for you, and whenever you and Micah chose to get married is none of my business, and honestly, it makes so much sense that you would do it then. I’d rather something beautiful come out of this than both of us be miserable.”
“I wanted you there,” she says, catching tears with her fingers. “You’re the reason why my life has changed so drastically from a few years ago.”
“We changed each other’s lives.” I give her a hug. Not a second later, Athena jumps up, places her paws on our shoulders, and starts licking every available slip of skin for both of us. “Aww, you changed our lives, too, Athena.”
We break apart so Athena can give us more kisses easier.
I gasp. “Tell me you dressed her up.”
Raeann laughs. “There wasn’t time. I got married from a hospital bed in the middle of Micah’s living room.”
“Wow, you weren’t kidding.”
“Micah had a holy person on speed dial. I had no idea.”
I chuckle, then it turns into a full-blown laugh because I can see it playing out in my head.
“We’re going to have a legit wedding ceremony in the off-season. And…I want you to be my maid of honor.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” I singsong. “Does that mean we can go wedding dress shopping? I’ve always wanted to go wedding dress shopping!”
“Yes!”
Raeann and I jump in place, then give each other another hug for good measure. When we break apart, it dawns on me that though Raeann has spilled her guts to me, I’ve been holding back something important from her, too. A nugget of guilt starts to form. If I don’t tell her about Levi now, when she finally does find out, it’s going to hurt more.
