Nash Brothers Box Set - Carrie Aarons Page 0,219

another human life.

I smirk, having been exactly where she is and knowing information only a woman with three kids can.

“Lil, you’re never ready for a baby. Not if you read every parenting book, not if it takes you less than a second to conceive. You’re not ready when that giant head tears your vagina, or when the kid poops on you for the first time. No one can be prepared for the sleepless months, even years, the trips to the doctor, the food thrown against the wall. If anyone was ready for that, they’d never have kids in the first place.”

“You make it sound like survival.” She looks even more worried than she was before I spoke.

I shrug. “It is, in the best way possible. But, knowing you, you’ll have angels for children who never cry and learn how to eat with a fork and knife at like, six months.”

My best friend doesn’t understand the baby age reference and doesn’t look any more comforted. So I take her hand, patting it. “You’re going to be an amazing mother. When you decide you’re ready, enough, that’s when you’ll know.”

“That makes no sense.” Her fingers squeeze mine.

“Neither does parenting, but we all do it anyway.”

My phone chimes in my purse, and I dig it out.

Forrest: I miss you.

I hold the phone close, trying to keep my grin on the down low. In the couple of weeks since we’ve been truly dating … things have been going well. Actually, they’re going spectacularly, which far exceeded my expectations when I first agreed to give it a real go.

Penelope: I miss you, too.

Forrest: I can’t stop thinking about you. How about I come over for dinner?

Well, things were going well except for that. Forrest, surprisingly, wanted to move things a bit faster than I want to. We’d gotten in a short argument the other night about him sleeping over or helping out with the boys. I told him it was too soon to introduce him as someone who would be staying the night with their mother, or even attending dinners without the rest of his family crew in tow. He told me that he wanted to be a real part of my life and then dropped it because I was their mother and knew best.

But it didn’t mean he’s let up in trying to score a dinner invitation to the Briggs house.

Penelope: You know the answer to that.

Forrest: What if I bring Chinese food? The boys love Chinese food … and you wouldn’t have to cook.

He is one master manipulator. Because I’m tired, and the thought of fried noodles in brown sauce sounds absolutely amazing. I take a few seconds, looking up from my phone to watch Ames cut a bladed hand through the air, and then answer.

Penelope: Fine. But only if you get extra fortune cookies.

Forrest: Hmm, I’d say I’m starting to break the ice queen down.

Penelope: Don’t press your luck.

“Who are you texting?” Lily looks over my shoulder.

I slam my hand to my chest, smashing my phone into my boobs. “No one.”

“That’s such a lie! You’re totally blushing right now.” She pokes me in the shoulder.

Turning to angle my body even farther from her, I jostle my phone. As if it’s a slow-motion movie, the thing drops from my hands, and I bobble it. Except … I bobble it right into Lily’s lap.

Cue embarrassment scene from said movie.

My best friend picks it up. Any other person would hand it right back, not wanting to pry into someone else’s business. But Lily and I are far too close, and she’s probably suspected for some time that I’ve been keeping something from her.

So, instead, she looks right at the screen that’s opened to the text conversation between Forrest and me.

“Why are you texting Forrest?” she asks, her eyebrows knitting in confusion. “Wait, why does he miss you? Hold on …”

It takes a moment for the lightbulb to go off, and I swear I sit there on pins and needles before Lily exclaims …

“Oh. My. God.” Her eyes whip to mine, so much shock held in those big brown irises.

“Lily …” I snatch my phone back, annoyed at how close we are that she knows she can invade my privacy like this. That’s a move out of my playbook.

“You … and Forrest? What in the …” She trails off, looking bewildered. “How? When?”

A couple of the parents around us here the commotion, and I can see two moms who like to talk shit behind people’s back