Her Secret Santa - Miley Maine Page 0,59

mom. Would the two of you like to join us? I realize if you have plans with your own families, but it would be such a blast for all of us to party in Paris from just before Christmas until after New Year’s. How amazing would that be?”

“I think it would be awesome!” Quinton said. “Hell yeah. You can count me in. What about you, Sophie?”

She looked at him and then at Julie. Then she shrugged and smiled. “Sure. My family sees me too much anyway. They could use the break.”

We all held up our glasses and toasted. “To a holiday season we will never forget,” I said.

“Here, here!” They all chimed in.

“So, what about that guy that attacked you?” Sophie asked.

Quinton gave her a sharp look and an eye roll. Sometime Sophie could say the wrong thing at the wrong time. It was one of those things that she and Quinton both had in common. Sophie immediately regretted putting her foot in her mouth, but Julie eased the tension with her easygoing smile.

“It’s fine,” she said. “He is on his way to jail. Now that they have him in custody and he isn’t making any deals up here, he is ratting out a bunch of his old buddies as well. He thinks he is buying himself some freedom, but he isn’t.”

I shook my head. “The DA up here is a friend of Derek, a police officer friend of mine who arrested Saul. And he tells me that they are going to throw the book at him for attempted murder and kidnapping. So, he is going away forever.”

“Wow, that is great,” Sophie said “I don’t know how you’ve come through it all. I would be so messed up.”

“It wasn’t easy,” Julie said. “But life goes on. I had the right support system. Now, onto some better things.”

“Right,” Sophie said. “We do have some news,” she said as we were all sitting there.

“Really? What’s that?” I asked.

Sophie looked over at Quinton who nodded to her that it was time. He smiled. “I’m pregnant.”

We gasped. Then I started clapping and Julie reached out her hand to Sophie. “That’s amazing. I’m so happy for you. That’s fantastic.”

“Yeah, we are excited. I’m also nervous. I mean, this man is going to be someone’s father. Poor kid. He or she is going to be looking at me one day asking me why I chose him.”

Quinton pretended to be offended. “Well, you wouldn’t let me pull out that time…”

I couldn’t control my laughter. “Damn, you guys don’t pull any punches do you?”

“No, we don’t. It’s important to express yourself in a relationship.”

“I agree,” Julie said. “That’s what keeps things fresh and exciting.”

“Yeah, that is what it’s all about,” I said. “You got to keep it fresh…”

I couldn’t stop laughing. “Does this mean no more extreme stunts?” I asked.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Sophie said sadly.

“I bet this one is so broken up over that…” I teased.

Quinton smiled and held up his hands. “Hey, I’ve come a long way. I really do look forward to these stunts now. I’ve become a total adrenaline junky, but you know I got a kid on the way now, so I have to totally clean up my act.”

I nodded and pretended that I believed him all. “I am happy for you, man. You will be a great father. You’ll both be awesome parents.”

“Thanks,” Sophie said. Then she added, “When do you two think you will have a little one on the way?”

I expected Julie to freak out a bit at the thought and maybe choke on her drink, but she didn’t. She just sat there and smiled with her hand on her chin as if she was thinking about the idea. Then she looked over at me with those beautiful eyes. I leaned forward and kissed the air at her. She did it back and we both smiled.

“Well, we could at any time I guess,” I said. “We haven’t really talked much about that. Did you guys?”

“No, it was just something that happened. We didn’t plan for it, but now we are so excited that I can’t believe we weren’t trying for this before.”

“Interesting,” I said. “What do you think Julie?”

“I think everything happens to everyone at the right time. If it happens for us, then it will surely happen.”

We finished chatting for a few moments and then Julie and I decided to have a nice dance together. It felt good to just be together and dance to the music around us,