In recent months, she had appeared to strike up a healthy work-life balance, but Tabitha hadn’t factored being a new grandmother into the equation. Edie could only imagine her dear friend’s reaction. On second thought, she wasn’t sure she could.
While Edie’s musings carried her away, Hannah’s phone buzzed on the table between them. She slipped her hand from her mother’s to click the screen.
“Casey?” Edie guessed aloud.
With her thumb between her teeth, Hannah nodded as she studied the text. “He asked if he could come over and talk with you. Something about needing your help with his mom.”
“Of course, sweetie. Absolutely.” But Edie didn’t know if she could be of any assistance. If Tabitha’s reaction to the surprise pregnancy announcement wasn’t a good one, she doubted she had the power to change that.
Twenty years of friendship did have some influence, but Tabitha was a determined—if not admittedly stubborn—woman. If she hadn’t received the news well initially, there wasn’t much Edie could do to remedy the situation.
“He’s coming over now.” Hannah placed her phone face down onto the table, a grimace tugging the corners of her mouth. “I don’t know why, but I feel like I’m about to be sick.”
Was it more of that morning sickness? Or were these nerves breaking through?
“Tabitha will come around—”
Bolting back from the table, Hannah rushed in a blur toward the half-bath down the hall of Edie’s beach house, her bare feet clapping over the tiled floor with every hurried step. Edie thought to go after her daughter, but the knock on the front door changed her course of direction.
“You can get that,” Hannah called, her voice muffled. “It’s just Casey.”
“Are you sure you’re okay in there?” Edie came close and pressed an ear to the wooden bathroom door between them.
“I’m fine, Mom. Just a little nauseous. It will pass.”
Hannah was right. She was a grown woman, and it was due time that Edie started treating her like one. But Edie would always be her mother. That would never change. She would gladly hold Hannah’s hair back fifty years from now if she needed that motherly comfort.
Another knock sounded softly from the front of the house, not impatient in nature, but persistent.
“Coming!” Edie hollered, her fingers finally lighting on the handle as she reached the door.
Casey stood on the front stoop. “Edie.” He forced an unsure smile. “Hi.”
“Hey, Case. Come on in.” She took a step back to give her best friend’s son some room to cross the threshold. In the months following Casey’s horrific car accident, he’d regained most of his mobility, in large part due to his consistent work in physical therapy and his tenacious spirit—no doubt passed down from his mama. It was so good to see him doing so well.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” Edie said the moment he was inside. Was she beaming already? Because she definitely couldn’t contain her joy, and she had a feeling the smile stretching across her face looked more goofy than anything. But it couldn’t be helped. She was bursting with pride.Grandma.She could hardly believe it. “I couldn’t be happier for the two of you.” With outstretched arms, Edie folded the young man into her embrace and held him tight. “I take it your mom hasn’t come down from the shock of the announcement?”
Casey stepped back. “I haven’t told her yet.”
“Oh.” Edie had just assumed Casey’s SOS text had to do with Tabitha’s poor reaction and his need for a little help with damage control. Shame on her for jumping to that conclusion so quickly.
“I was actually coming over to enlist your help with the announcement.” Casey’s smile was more confident now.
That definitely piqued Edie’s interest. “Really? What do you have in mind?”
CHAPTER TWO
Camille Spaulding sat at the small café bistro table, a bottle of chardonnay chilling in an ice bath just to the side, directly within arm’s reach. The small restaurant was crowded with the lunch hour rush, something the women didn’t have to compete with back when they first started coming here so many years ago. It had been a little hidden gem, this seaside café with its fresh catches and open-air setting. Camille loved how the coastal breeze would sweep through the windows, bringing with it the salty scent that paired so well with the dishes they served.
Today, the windows were shut to keep out the breeze that straddled the line between a true wind and a gust. Something was brewing out over the waters, churning and ominous. Camille didn’t like it, not one bit.
She gripped the neck of the wine bottle and poured another hearty glug of the crisp drink into her now empty glass, glancing around. If her friends were going to be late for their scheduled lunch, then it was on them if they missed out on the wine. She was fine waiting, but waiting with a drink in hand was the way to do it.
She rolled her wrist to check the time and in doing so, her eyes immediately snagged on the shiny new addition to her left ring finger.
Two months married and it still felt like the honeymoon phase. In fact, she wondered if they would ever work their way out of it. With a man like Foster as her new husband, she doubted they would, and that was absolutely fine with her. Every time she thought of him, her stomach quivered deliciously. Goodness, he was everything she’d ever hoped for and dreamed of. Exponentially more, really. Tender with her both emotionally and physically. In tune with her in every way, from their day-to-day, to the plans for their future.
Every morning, she woke up reliving the memories of their perfect wedding, and today, she’d get to do it all over again.
