“Right.”
He points his frown at the TV and mine falls to the lint on my socks.
See, the day before junior high, Mason asked Chase and Brady to help look out for us girls, which meant we were friend-zoned all around in order to avoid the extra drama our teenage years were sure to bring. And they did, here and there, but that line was clear, and we all knew it.
Me more than anyone, but we’re not in junior high anymore.
And that line?
I’d say it’s as good as gone.
There’s just one problem.
And he’s sitting right beside me.
Chapter 7
Arianna
* * *
As we pull out of the restaurant parking lot, Payton in the back seat beside me, her hands fall to her stomach and I shift in my seat to face her a little better.
“Have you felt the baby kick yet?”
“I think, but it’s hard to tell,” she shares. “It sort of feels like I’m a bowl of water and every time I move, it splashes around.”
Mason and I chuckle and look to her tiny belly, just beginning to show through her clothes.
“You want to feel, don’t you?” She lifts a perfectly manicured blonde brow.
My smile is instant, and I laugh. “I don’t want it to be weird, but yeah.”
She shakes her head. “You guys are too much,” she muses with a grin, and my eyes narrow, but then she grabs my hand, placing it on the highest point of her stomach.
Warmth spreads through me instantly, my skin pricking as I gently cup her belly over her shirt. I glide my palm forward and backward, and then down the bubbled slope a tiny bit.
“It’s so hard,” I whisper. “Perfectly round and tiny.” I lift my gaze to hers.
She nods, moisture building in her eyes as she tries to smile, but I imagine she’s all over the place. Happy she has a piece of the man who won’t be here to see their child come into the world, and sad for the very same reason.
I can’t imagine.
“My mom and Aunt Sarah,” I mention Nate’s mom. “Are going to have a heyday. Seriously, he—”
“Or she,” Mason pipes up.
“Is going to be so spoiled. You’ll basically have a babysitter anytime you could possibly want one.”
That makes Payton chuckle, and her head falls to the headrest. “Yeah, your mom literally calls or texts every day to see how I’m feeling and all that.”
“She’s been talking about grandbabies for like four years now. As soon as Nate got engaged, I swear she flew out to see Aunt Sarah, just so they could go celebrate the fact that a baby was in the near future.”
“Have they met Lolli?” she teases. “‘Cause that girl won’t even share Nate’s hoodies. His baby? Forget about it.”
We chuckle and then Mason pulling up in front of the driveway of Payton’s place.
Her brother meets us in the driveway, opening Payton’s door before she has a chance.
She climbs out and Parker pokes his head inside.
“Lolli said you’re headed down to the beach bash?” He looks to Mason, then glances behind him to make sure Payton isn’t in earshot. “What happened, she changed her mind?”
“She only agreed to brunch beforehand, and she kept yawning and shit, so we didn’t push,” my brother tells him.
Parker nods. “She says she’s sleeping fine, but she’s been up as early as Lolli all week. She keeps reaching out to Deaton’s mom and people back home about where he was buried, since there was never a funeral announcement, but no one knows a thing and that shitty woman won’t respond.”
“Can Kenra ask around now that she’s back?”
“She’s asked a couple people but got the same answers.” He shakes his head, knocking on the roof. “All right well, have fun. I’m staying home with her, but Nate and Lolli headed that way about ten minutes ago.”
“Let us know if we’re needed,” Mason tells him, a frown pulling at his brows.
“Yup.”
My brother nods and puts the car in gear. “We gotta pick up our shit at the house. See you later.”
With that we head home.
Cam, Brady, and Chase pull up at the same time, having stopped for gas on the way home from the restaurant.
We’ve got the paddle boards and ice chest loaded into the folding wagons in minutes, and then we’re on our way.
Cam wraps her arm around my shoulder. “Beer, barbecue, and beach boys, here we come.”
An hour later, we’re dancing in the sand to a live hipster band, our paddle boards laid out and ready to hit the waters. The boys decide to have a drink before joining us, so me and Cam head out on our boards to play around.