“You’ll be the first to know,” the teen promised.
Laura gave him a shaky nod, then looked away, as if she needed a moment to process the fact her son was no longer just hers. A thick silence settled over the table.
Heavenly darted an anxious glance at Seth, then turned to Laura and cleared her throat. “So…tell me about you. What do you and Ted do for work?”
Laura’s expression said she was grateful for the reprieve as Ted plucked a plushy bunny from the diaper bag for baby Emma. “I’m a loan officer at a bank, and Ted took over his father’s plumbing business a few years ago. Hudson mentioned you’re in nursing school.”
“I am. I’ll graduate in the spring. I already have a job lined up at one of the hospitals where Beck practices.”
“That’s wonderful.” Laura smiled before glancing at the good doctor. “Seth said you’re a surgeon?”
Beck nodded. “Vascular, yes.”
Laura grimaced self-consciously. “I…um, Googled you when Hudson said he was living in your house. I wasn’t trying to invade your privacy, but…”
Beck smirked. “You wanted to make sure I wasn’t a pervert.”
Seth bit back a knowing grin. Beck was a pervert, though strictly with consenting adults. But Laura didn’t need to know those details.
“Something like that…” She blushed. “I have to say, your accomplishments are really impressive.”
Beck sent her a polite smile. “I love what I do.”
“I’m sure you’re very busy and it’s hard for you to get away.”
Laura was fishing subtly to determine why Beck was here.
“It is, but I spoke at a medical conference in the city on Thursday, so I just extended my stay to attend Grace’s wedding.”
“What a happy coincidence.” Laura smiled, clearly still unsure why Seth had brought him along.
She’d understand soon enough.
The thought made his stomach knot.
The server returned then, notepad in hand. They all ordered quickly—bacon, eggs, pancakes, and juice. After she left, a brief lull fell over the table. Emma babbled into the sudden lull as she reached for her toes, not caring about the adult drama around her.
Seth blew out a nervous breath. Time was ticking. Before they left this table, he had to tell Laura the truth—and hope she didn’t insist on taking Hudson back to Connecticut with her.
But how the hell did he broach this topic? Blurting out that he shared his fiancée with the doctor who had become his best friend would be fucking awkward. Possibilities had been circling his brain for hours, but everything just sounded…wrong.
Laura cut into the silence by clearing her throat and addressing Heavenly with a hesitant smile. “So, have you and Seth set a wedding date yet?”
His angel’s smile froze. She lifted her gaze to him. Seth knew that look. She was handing him the opening Laura had inadvertently created for him to drop this flaming truth bomb.
“We’re working on a date. It’s, um…complicated,” he finally said.
Laura’s brow furrowed. “In what way?”
Here goes nothing...
“The truth is, Heavenly isn’t just my fiancée. She’s also Beck’s. We both are going to marry her. Together. At the same time.”
The table went silent. Laura blinked, her expression frozen somewhere between confusion and disbelief. Ted’s hand stilled on Emma’s high chair tray.
God, he was already fucking this up.
Seth groped for a better explanation, but Laura was already responding.
