The Sweetest Gift - Scarlett Cole Page 0,18

sat in many times before.

Trent removed his baseball hat, ran his fingers through his hair, and flipped it around with the brim at the back. “For some reason, Lia was quite adamant we weren’t to close today. Wanted to work right up until the day itself. Catch you later for the rehearsal dinner, right?”

“Sure thing.”

Pixie walked up to him and reached for his hand. “I’d forgotten how noisy it could be in here,” she said, over the music.

Lia and Reid walked into the studio, his hand a fraction of an inch from indecent on her ass. “Get a room,” Dred shouted.

Reid laughed. “I’m about to get my permanently-taken tattoo. Then, we’ll be getting a room.”

“What are you going to do to him?” Pixie asked Lia.

“I’m putting our wedding date over his heart, so he’ll be reminded of it every day of his life.”

Reid looked at Dred. “Personally, waking up next to her every day will be reminder enough, but I’m all about the grand gesture.”

Dred laughed. “Same.”

As Reid took the chair, Dred tilted his head toward Pixie’s ear. “But just wait three years and she won’t want the goods. She’ll just want you to get up, feed the kids, and make coffee.”

Pixie’s eyes went wide and she smacked his arm. “I can’t believe you just said that… we made love yesterday. Twice.”

“I know, Snowflake. I’m just teasing.” He put his arms around her and kissed the tip of her nose. “I know you’re only with me for my goods.”

Pixie smiled. The one she saved just for him. The one that brought sunlight into his heart and a sprinkling of excitement to his dick. “You wouldn’t want it any other way, would you? Our life? The craziness? The kids? Making out when we get a moment?”

He shook his head. “No, my love. Our life is more than I could have imagined the first day I walked in here and saw you.”

“Should we go home and see if Jordan and Lexi took the kids out?” she asked, a glint in her eye.

Reid was busy in Lia’s chair. Trent was talking through a design with a client, and Cujo had gone back to his customer. And his wife wanted him. A miracle he would never understand.

“Let’s go,” he said, as they hurried onto the street.

5

Petal Xander swung the perfect, little white basket that would be filled with flower petals tomorrow. Auntie Lia had told her that they would be white to match the sash on her dress, but she still didn’t know the color of the dress itself. Auntie Lia had told her she wanted it to be a surprise, but she’d overheard her daddy tell Uncle Jordan it was because she struggled to keep a secret. It wasn’t her fault that secrets bubbled up inside her, like when she drank too much soda. They fell out of her mouth like a burp that was impossible to keep in.

Auntie Lia was the fanciest dresser on the planet, even better than her momma, and so, despite not knowing the color, she was certain it would be the bestest dress in the world.

“Remember, slowly,” Momma said. “You are going to be the very first person down the aisle, so remember what Daddy taught you.”

Her daddy had been practicing something he called timing with her. The timing was important because when Daddy talked about it, he used his serious voice. It meant she had to move one foot on the beat of the music. They’d practiced it every night after dinner, which was very boring. Plus, she intended to walk slowly so that everyone could see the sparkly shoes that Auntie Harper had sent her to wear with the dress. When she moved her toes just a little, you could see the shoes twinkle. It was better if there was lots of light, but as she looked around the dark church, she realized that she’d probably have to show everybody later at the… oh, what had Momma called it? It was food that came after tonight’s practice wedding at the church. It began with an ‘r’, but she couldn’t remember it.

Auntie Lia came to crouch by her. “You remember what we talked about?” she asked.

Petal felt butterflies when she was near Auntie Lia. She always looked so beautiful, and Petal couldn’t help but reach out and touch her red hair. One day, she was going to dye her hair just like Auntie Lia. “You said that I just have to be my super-special self and smile.”

“That’s