When Stars Collide (Second Chance Romance #2) - Sara Furlong-Burr Page 0,16
his mom’s genes to …” He paused, snapping his fingers together, clearly flustered. “To … uh …”
“To counteract,” Elle added.
“Yes, that.” Luke cast a smile at Elle, finishing his thought. “Jackson has his mom’s genes to counteract Monroe’s less than palatable ones.”
“Whose side are you on, anyway?” Peter interceded.
“The right one.” I shared a half smile with Luke, whose frustration was still evident despite how much he tried to hide it. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting him,” I added. “I even bought him one of those bank robber turtle things. You know, the ones that wear those different colored masks.”
“A Ninja Turtle?” Elle asked, amused.
“Sure. Wait, where the hell would a turtle learn to become a ninja?”
“The same place one would learn how to rob a bank,” Peter chimed in with his two cents as he took a sip of his beer. “In any event, I’m sure Jackson will love it.”
“Bribery, it gets you everywhere.” I raised my glass to Peter, clinking it against his.
“And that’s why you’re going to be an excellent mother one day.” Peter smirked.
It was an innocuous statement, one that if made under normal circumstances, wouldn’t have caused me to so much as bat an eye. But this wasn’t even any semblance of a normal circumstance. This was reality, and as excited as I was at the prospect of having a family of my own someday down the road, the thought of being someone’s mother also terrified me. And with the way Elle was looking at me, abject terror must have been written all over my face.
“So,” she began, blessedly changing the subject, “just the other day, I was thinking how I should get a start on some of the planning for the wedding, and I happened upon this bad boy at a cozy little card shop downtown.”
My eyes widened when Elle reached inside of her purse and pulled out a notebook the size of one of those five-subject monstrosities my mother used to buy for me every school year. Even today, whenever I had the slightest twinge of back pain, I blamed it on the backpack loaded with all the supplies she forced me to carry around like a porter to a palanquin chair. Creating the thud heard around the world—or at the very least, Charlie’s—Elle plunked the notebook down on our table. Unfazed by my lack of shared excitement, she flipped through its pages with a level of giddiness I was certain I would never be able to replicate in my lifetime.
“In the front of the planner, there’s space for you to make a to-do list, which I’ve already started.” She held up the planner, pleased with herself.
“Of course you have.”
“Oh, and the best part, in the back there’s this handy timeline with suggested deadlines for completion of certain tasks based on how far out your wedding date is.”
“A to-do list and a timeline,” I said, stealing a glance at Peter.
“You know,” he began, “Mena was just telling me how pumped she is to get started on everything. She wants to be involved in the entire process and can be at your beck and call morning, noon, and ni—” A sudden meeting of my heeled shoe with his big toe cut his commentary short.
“I’ll bet she was telling you just that,” Luke chimed in, laughing as Peter grimaced in pain.
Blissfully unaware, Elle continued to flip through the pages of what I was positive was her newest prized possession. “According to this timeline, we should start shopping for bridesmaid dresses soon. When you’re back in town, I’ll have to arrange for you to meet Violet and Kirsten at La Bella.”
“I’m sorry, who and who at where?”
“My other bridesmaids. Violet is Luke’s cousin, and Kirsten is a friend of mine I met at work.”
“And La Bella is one of those swanky bridal shops where we all sip champagne while we’re paraded around in expensive dresses, tasked to choose between which ones don’t make our butts look big, but do perfectly accentuate our boobs?”
“You’ve heard of it, then?”
“Sounds fantastic.” I picked apart the remnants of my salad, secretly wishing that I was taking part in Peter and Luke’s conversation centered around Doctor Who. Not that I would be able to add anything. The only things I knew about Doctor Who were the small tidbits I’d picked up here and there from Peter. Sighing, I looked up at Elle, noticing the transparent look of wonderment in her eyes, and I told myself I would do whatever I