“What did you do?”
“Nothing.” She focused a little too intently on dishes in front of her.
“Cassie. Spit it out.”
“I may or may not have threatened his life.”
Ellie’s head snapped toward her, then to me, eyes wide. We both knew that when Cassie saidmay or may not have, she absolutely had.
“What did you say?” I asked, whisper-yelling, careful not to draw attention in case someone walked in.
“I told him he had until today to tell Jace the truth, or I’d do it myself. And that when Jace needed help burying his body, I’d be the one holding the shovel. Nothing crazy.” She shrugged.
“Sweet Jesus,” Ellie muttered from the other side of the island.
“I’m guessing by the chipper mood he’s in, my threat didn’t land hard enough,” Cassie said, nodding toward Jace through the kitchen window. He was still happily flipping burgers on the grill, oblivious to the storm brewing over my head.
I stepped closer to her. “Are you really going to tell him?”
“No,” she said. “But damn, I thought I could scare Liam into doing the right thing instead of leaving it all on you.” Her jaw tightened. “Now I really do have to kill him.”
“Please don’t murder anybody. I don’t have enough money to bail you out of jail. I’m about to start buying baby stuff, and I’ve been looking—that shit’s expensive.”
“You can have some of the stuff we used when we had June,” Ellie said. “I think we still have an old rocking chair and her newborn swing. June loved that swing. Maybe this one will too. Now that you’re having a boy, have you thought about what you’re going to name him?”
Ellie wore the brightest smile. She loved this stuff—shopping for baby clothes, picking out names, updating baby books. Me? I was clueless. Where did you evenbuya baby book? And now I had to come up with his name—the name he’d have for the rest of his life. It felt like an impossible job for someone who couldn’t sneeze without almost peeing herself.One thing at a time, universe. I’m begging.
“How about Oliver? That’s a cute name,” Ellie suggested.
“Who are we naming?” Jace asked, walking through the door and catching all of us off guard.
“Uh—no one,” I said quickly.
“We were just saying if you and I ever got a dog, what we’d name it,” Cassie added, doing her best to sound casual.
“I think getting a dog would be cool,” Jace said, grabbing a cold drink from the fridge before heading back outside.
“Great,” Cassie muttered once the door shut behind him. “Now I’ve gotta get a dog.”
Ellie and I both tried to hide our laughter, knowing Cassie was very much a cat person andnota dog person.
——————————–
The rest of the evening went according to plan. Everyone sat around Jace’s dinner table, laughing and catching up on what had been happening in each other’s lives. I joined in too, careful to leave out one very important update of my own.
As the night began to wind down, I pulled the desserts from the fridge. The nervous knot in my stomach tightened with every passing minute.
I could still back out. I could choose a different way to tell everyone. Maybe anI’m pregnanttext in the family group chat. Easier. Less terrifying. But if there was ever a moment in my life to put on my big-girl panties and suck it up, this was it.
Everyone took a seat again after helping themselves to my dessert charcuterie board. My heart thudded in my chest as the sand in my imaginary deadline timer had only a few grains left to drop.
Slowly, I stood at the end of the table, and everyone looked over at me. After standing for a few seconds, I cleared my throat.
“Now that I have everyone trapped at the table with their favorite dessert, there’s something I need to tell you guys,” I said, rubbing my hands together. From thelooks on Ellie and Cassie’s faces, they knew exactly where this conversation was headed.
“So… recently I found out something. Something pretty life-changing.”
Forks paused in midair. One by one, everyone slowly set them down on their plates, suddenly far more interested in me than the sugar in front of them.No, keep eating, so you won’t be able to yell at me here shortly.
