Lucy:I can wait
Piper:You sure? You get pretty hangry these days.
Lucy:Excuse me, I have a legitimate excuse!! Noah keeps me well supplied with snacks though, so I’ll manage.
Lucy:But be advised I’ll likely be crashing by 10:00. I have a prego bedtime now.
Piper:Understood
Lucy:Can’t wait! I have more I want to tell you–but not over text
Piper:We just established that I don’t want details!
Lucy:You’ll want to hear this, trust me.
CHAPTER 21
LUCY
Twenty-seven Weeks
Pop!
“Is that … sparkling … raspberry juice?”
“Yep!” Piper chirps, pleased with herself. She discards the cork and begins pouring the dark pink bubbly into champagne glasses. “I wanted us to have a pre-New Year’s toast since we’re all doing our own thing tomorrow night, and I needed it to be non-alcoholic for obvious reasons.”
I shoot her a skeptical look. “You guys could still drink the real stuff.”
“Nuh-uh,” Steph chimes in with a grin. “Solidarity sister.”
“This stuff is actually pretty yummy,” Piper adds. “You’ll see. I tried it at Henry’s a while ago. Apparently, it was gifted to him by Mrs. Abernathy.” She widens her eyes to signify that maybe there’s something there. And normally I’d be all over the latest gossip, but today I don’t care if that nosy old biddy has a thing for Henry.
My news is better.
She passes me a glass and I immediately take a sip. Mmm, she’s right, it’s actually not bad–
“Lucy!”
“What?”
Piper rolls her eyes. “We’re toasting,” she reminds me, raising her glass aloft. Steph mirrors her.
Oops. Jumped the gun.
“Oh yeah, sorry. Guess I was thirsty.” I raise my glass and stare at her expectantly.
Piper clears her throat dramatically. “Cheers to the upcoming new year. I just know there will be lots of wonderful and exciting stuff in store for each of us!”
“Cheers,” Steph and I both repeat and then we all take a sip.
“So what do you guys have planned for New Year’s Eve?” I ask.
“Aidan’s taking me into the city. We got a hotel room and tickets for dinner and dancing in their ballroom. I’m so excited to get dressed up!” Piper exclaims and proceeds to do a little chair dance.
“That sounds fun! I’ll just be spending it curled up with a bottle of wine and a good book.” Steph offers.
“Which one?” Piper asks.
