A jungle-themed baby shower had seemed fitting with the safari park’s famous tour, so Darcy and Reagan had set about finding all sorts of wild animal decorations for the event.
When the heat finally kicked in and took the chill out of the car, Darcy decided to stop by the grocery and get the last few items on her list.She’d already picked up the cupcakes from a bakery in town, and Reagan had gotten the paper products at a party store near the mall.But Rhomi had mentioned wanting to have a candy buffet, and Darcy wasn’t sure she’d gotten enough pink and blue candy.
One more trip wouldn’t hurt.
Plus, she was starving and the grocery had amazing rotisserie chicken.
Dropping her phone into the cup holder, she put the car in drive and headed to the store.She really couldn’t believe that her bestie was going to have a baby.It seemed like just yesterday the three of them had gone to the safari park on a whim when Reagan had bought tickets for a bird show at the park’s aviary for her little cousins and they’d canceled.Rhomi had met Mercer and the two had looked at each other like they couldn’t breathe right if they weren’t together.
Love at first sight, it seemed.
Darcy was well and truly happy for Rhomi.
But she sure did wish she’d found her Mr.Right at this point in her life.She hadn’t beenlookingfor her forever guy, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t hoped he’d show up.
She had zero prospects when it came to finding the future love of her life, and she couldn’t remember the last time she went out on a date.
But this weekend wasn’t about her lack of a love life.It was about her bestie and the sweet little bundle of joy coming into their lives in a few months.She couldn’t wait to be an aunt—thefavoriteaunt—and share in the new chapter of Rhomi and Mercer’s life.
Then someday, Rhomi would be an aunt toDarcy’schild.
That was something she was really looking forward to.
But for now, she’d focus on finding more pink and blue candy.She could think about her love life on Monday.
* * *
The door to her second-floor apartment swung open just as she reached the top step, carrying three bags of candy and a rotisserie chicken in a plastic container.
“Hey, I was about to leave for work,” her older brother, Cruz, said as he took the bags from her.“I wanted to wait until you got home.You stopped at the store?”
“Yeah, I wanted more candy for the baby shower thing.Plus…chicken.”
“For the shower?”he asked, shutting the door once she was inside.
“No, for dinner.For me.”
“Oh.”He put the bags on the kitchen table and turned with a frown.“You shouldn’t go to the store by yourself at night.What if something happened?”
She put the chicken on the table and hung her coat on the back of the kitchen chair.“I’m home now.Nothing happened.”
He let out a grunt of brotherly disapproval.“You shouldn’t be out by yourself at night, it’s just not safe.I know you read the news online.You know there are creeps out there looking to snatch vulnerable women.”
She stared at him for a moment, seeing the concern on his face.He’d always been protective of her, but since their parents died five years ago, that protectiveness had amped up by a thousand.“I appreciate you looking out for me, but I’m fine, I promise.I was careful.”
As the tension left his face, it was replaced with weariness.It was hard to believe that they’d been living together for a year.He’d shown up at her door with his belongings in a few bags and boxes, after finding out his girlfriend had been cheating on him for most of their relationship.He paid half the rent and utilities, and he was gone nights at his security job, but the apartment wasn’t really big enough for the two of them.Unfortunately, rent in New Jersey was crazy expensive, and she wasn’t about to send him packing with no place to go.
So they made do, with her in the bedroom and him camping out on the pull-out couch in the family room.
He helped her unload the bags and asked, “They really don’t want to know what they’re having?”He laid the bags of candy on the table.She’d managed to find several bags of pink and blue candies—from pink gummy bears to blue raspberry suckers—to add to the items she’d ordered.
“Nope.”
“I’d want to know.So I could decorate the nursery.”
“I think I would too, but they went neutral—all the stuff on her registry is beige or pale green.Jungle prints, baby wild animals.It’s very cute.”She’d seen the apartment nursery when they first started decorating it.The apartment complex was for park employees, but there were only eight units available.Mercer had an apartment there and she moved in pretty fast.
Love at first sight made people do that kind of thing.
