Another laugh from Wes—the full-bellied one Baz was used to. “All right then, kid. I’ll let you get back to it. Let us know if you need anything.”
“Will do.”
“Love you, boy.”
Baz smiled. “Love you, too, Dad.”
“Did you ask about the baby shower?” JJ called from the living room.
“I did,” he hollered back. “The weekend after the wedding.”
“Perfect.”
“Dinner’ll be ready in five,” he told her and set to work finishing up.
***
“Do you remember all your duties forthe bachelor party?” JJ asked Baz as they ate in the living room.
“I’ve committed it all to memory,” Baz replied around a mouthful of food.
“Including the scavenger hunt?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ll do it exactly as I laid it out?”
“Of course.”
JJ wasn’t sure she believed him. “I expect pictures or videos of all of it.”
“You’ll get them.”
It was too easy. Baz was far too compliant, but JJ figured she could harp on him via text throughout the weekend to remind him. She’d put a lot of time and effort into structuring it so that they could have fun, both with the adventures she had set up as well as the comic relief the scavenger hunt would add.
“I meant to tell you, my dad invited you and Ava to stay at the house this weekend.”
She was curious whether Wes had actually invited her or if Baz had made the suggestion. JJ knew Baz wasn’t comfortable leaving her, but she’d begged him because she honestly wanted Brantley and Reese to have a fun weekend with the guys, and Baz was a huge piece of their inner circle.
“He said to tell you the pool’s heated.”
JJ paused with her fork halfway to her mouth, her eyes widening. “Really?”
Baz continued to eat. “Yep.”
The thought of getting into a swimming pool sounded heavenly right about now. The buoyancy of the water would take some of the pressure off her back. Carrying babies wasn’t easy on the body, that was for damn sure.
“He said Ava and Tesha are welcome.” He reached for his tea, sipped, and put it back down. “Aretha’s gonna be at her sister’s for a couple of weeks.”
JJ frowned. “She left him, didn’t she?”
Baz shrugged.
JJ had been expecting it to happen any day. While she genuinely liked Aretha and knew Baz’s stepmom was quite fond of Baz’s mother, spending your life in someone else’s shadow had to be hard. And Jules was always around. Every time they went to visit Wes, Jules was there. They played it off like it was normal, but JJ honestly didn’t understand how it could be. If she’d been in Aretha’s position, she would’ve left Wes long ago.
Not because she thought less of Wesley Buchanan. He was a good man. That was clear in everything he did. And JJ was certain he loved Aretha. He just wasn’t in love with Aretha the way he was in love with Baz’s mother.
Maybe it was wrong of her, but JJ had secretly been hoping that Wes and Jules would get back together. It was apparent they still loved each other. She didn’t know exactly what had caused them to divorce in the first place, but they’d built a friendship over the years, and it was clear just from looking at them that they’d gotten close.
