Before the Sunset (Cottonwood Cove, #4)(80)

“So where is the part where you’re actually on my side?”

He pushed to his feet. “This is me being on your side. I’m helping you fix things with the girl you love. Now, let’s go grab some beers and take them to your place, and I’ll help you pack up.”

“You’re just afraid I’ll pull some more caveman shit and go over to that house and throw her over my shoulder and bring her home.”

“Maybe, but you’re smarter than that. You know what you need to do. Now you just need to do it.”

I nodded and followed him up the stairs and through the restaurant.

He was right.

I was going to do whatever it took to show her I was all in.

And that was going to start today.





twenty-eight





Reese





I’d spent the night at my parents’ house instead of going to the rental house. I’d cried hard to my sister, thankful she was home from her interview in the city.

I’d filled her in on our fight, and she’d grilled me about why I hadn’t told him I was meeting with Carl. I couldn’t tell her the reason either. Because Finn deserved to be told the news that I was pregnant first, whether we were together or not.

But not yet.

I wanted him to go have this experience and work on this movie without worrying about me. Which I knew he would do the minute he found out I was pregnant.

But the things he’d said to me had been so hurtful. Liv had insisted that he was just lashing out because he thought I didn’t want him anymore.

How could he think that?

She’d even come back in when she’d heard my muffled cries through the walls, and she’d climbed into bed with me.

His text made me feel a little better, but I hated the way things ended. He’d apologized, insisting he would be back and that he wanted me and only me, and I was going to hold on to that.

Maybe right now, space was what we both needed.

I had a lot on my mind. I was going to be a mama.

It was something I’d always wanted, but this wasn’t how I saw it happening. I had a new business that required a lot of time and energy, and I was moving some of my things into Georgia and Maddox’s rental house today. My parents were offended that I wasn’t staying with them, but Liv had quickly jumped on board and said she’d be over there often, too, and that it was important for adults to have their own place.

I made my way into the kitchen and poured myself a cup of water when I was dying for coffee. But now that I knew that I was pregnant, I needed to find out what things I could and couldn’t have. I had a little human growing inside me to care for now.

A lump formed in my throat because I was overcome with how happy I was carrying a baby. A baby that was part me and part Chewy.

In my wildest dreams, I’d never allowed myself to even think about that as a possibility up until a few weeks ago. But even then, I was afraid to think about it. To hope for it.

“No coffee?” my mom asked as she walked in with a stack of clean dish towels from the laundry room.

“Nope. I’m trying to cut out the caffeine because I’ve just been drinking it too often.”

She raised a brow. “I thought you said you can’t function without a cup first thing in the morning?”

“Yeah, well, that was before I started this health kick.”

“Did someone say health kick? Mom says I need to eat healthier,” my father said as he walked in and made his way over to the coffeepot.

I envied him. But until I did my research, I’d abstain.

“I said that you can’t be eating all that candy every night.” My mom chuckled and swatted him with a towel.

They were so cute. Ridiculously in love. They couldn’t stand to be away from one another for long, and I’d always admired their relationship.

The family they’d created together.

“You’re right.” My father wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I’ve got all the sweetness I need right here.”

Swoon.

“Oh, man.” Liv made a gagging, vomiting sound and shook her head as she walked through the kitchen. “It’s too early for all that. Plus, as your offspring, we don’t want to see that. It’s too much. Get into a fight or something. Eat some pistachios, Dad. The way you chew them always annoys Mom.”

I fell forward with a laugh and shook my head. “Leave them alone. They’re sweet together.”

“If a man told me I was all the sweetness he needed, I would junk-punch him. I don’t need to be anyone’s sweetness. Sweeten your own life, dude. Not you, Dad, but if another man said it to me, I’d be disgusted.”

My dad rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t worry about anyone saying that to you.”

My mom and I both chuckled, and Liv rolled her eyes.

I glanced down at my phone to see a text.

Chewy



I’m heading to Tokyo. Was scrolling through my phone and found this photo of the first time we flew on a plane together. Remember the summer our families went to Maui? I miss you already, Miney.





A picture of me and Finn on an airplane, when we were ten years old, came through. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a baseball cap and a big grin. I had on a white summer dress, two braids in my hair, and I was rocking quite the gap between my front teeth.