Why Not Tonight (Happily Inc. #3)(41)

Once they were seated, Natalie carefully waited until her friends started eating. Then she picked up her fork and said as casually as she could, “So, who blabbed about me wanting to have a baby and maybe looking for a sperm donor?”

Bethany dropped her spoon. “What on earth are you talking about? I was gone all of two weeks, visiting my family back in El Bahar, and you’re getting a sperm donor? What else did I miss?”

“Nothing,” Silver assured her. “Don’t worry. Natalie only thinks she wants a sperm donor.”

“Still, details, please.”

Natalie filled her in on the baby app, then returned her attention to her other friends. “Well? I’m waiting. One or all of you said something to the world at large and I want to know who.”

Pallas looked only a little guilty as she murmured, “Why do you ask?”

“Gee, I don’t know. Some guy showed up to give me his résumé. He was interested in improving the species and wanted me to consider him as a sperm donor.” She set her fork by her plate. “Who is the guilty one?”

Her friends looked at each other, then back at her. Wynn cleared her throat.

“I’m so sorry. I did mention you were considering having a baby, but only in passing. I mean, I told a few people in passing.”

Natalie wanted to whimper. “A few?”

“I might have said something, too,” Silver told her.

“Might have?”

“Okay, I did mention it. But only, like Wynn said, in passing.”

“I didn’t say anything to anyone,” Bethany said, sounding glum. “Because I didn’t know and I’m so disappointed by that.”

Natalie looked at Carol and Pallas. Pallas continued to look guilty while Carol seemed more smug.

“I told Millie,” Carol said, naming her favorite giraffe. “I don’t know who Millie told but I’m pretty sure they weren’t human.”

“Oh. My. God! I thought I could trust you.” Natalie did her best to glare at everyone. “You just randomly told strangers I was thinking of getting a sperm donor to have a baby?”

“I wouldn’t say randomly,” Wynn said, not looking the least bit repentant. “Now that you’re talking about it, I can see how it might have been a mistake to, you know, assume.”

“You think?”

Silver leaned toward Wynn. “She’s not as mad as she wants us to think.”

“Yes, I am,” Natalie said. “I’m furious.”

Even Carol looked doubtful.

“Maybe not furious, but come on. I have no idea what I’m going to do.” Plus she’d only told them about the sperm donor to distract everyone from the conversation about Ronan. “It’s a secret.”

“I’m sorry I mentioned anything,” Pallas told her. “I mean that. I didn’t know it was a secret.”

“Probably because I didn’t tell you.” Her mistake, she thought. “So from now on, no sperm donors.”

Silver grinned. “If I had a nickel for every time a friend said that to me.”

They all laughed.

“So what else is going on?” Natalie asked, ready to change the subject. Because Edgar was not suitable lunch conversation.

“I have an interesting wedding come up,” Pallas said. “It’s based on a movie. Batman & Robin. The movie is an older version of our favorite dark and dangerous hero,” she added. “It was out in 1997.”

Natalie knew about the franchise but wasn’t familiar with that particular film. “I don’t think I’ve seen it.”

“Oh, I have and it’s fun.” Silver grinned. “It’s the one with George Clooney. Chris O’Donnell plays his sidekick and Arnold Schwarzenegger is the main villain, but I like the Uma Thurman one better.”

Wynn sighed. “I adore Chris O’Donnell in NCIS: Los Angeles. He’s such a cutie.”

“Someone is picking a movie theme for their wedding?” Carol asked, sounding doubtful. “A movie based on a comic book?”

“A lot of people want to do comic-themed weddings,” Pallas said. “You’d be amazed what’s available to order through various vendors. People are so creative.” She turned to Natalie. “The details aren’t all worked out, but I’ve talked to the bride and we have some preliminary ideas, which is where you come in.”

“Me?”

Pallas nodded. “Do you remember that paper bouquet you made for me a couple of months ago?”

“Of course.”

The bride had wanted something special for her rehearsal, and when Pallas had asked about making flowers using origami, Natalie had been all in. She’d created a bridal bouquet entirely out of paper, matching the colors of the paper flowers to the actual bouquet. The bride had been thrilled to have a keepsake of her special day and Natalie had enjoyed the challenge.

“What about doing a small arrangement of flowers out of comic book pages?” Pallas asked. “They would be for centerpieces rather than for a bridal bouquet.”

Natalie sat back in her chair. “I never thought of using comic book paper as a medium. I get the point of it—all the drawings and the words would add shading. I’d have to feel the texture of the paper. Maybe a comic print on different paper. I’m not sure. But it’s really a fun idea.”