The Forever Girl (Wildstone, #6)(16)

Sammie was staring up at Maze with Heather’s pretty brown eyes. She had her mama’s expressive smile too.

“She’s so sweet, and she looks just like you.” Maze didn’t know much about kids, but this one drew her in, probably because she was Heather’s and therefore all of theirs. She held out the giraffe to Sammie.

The little girl looked at her very seriously, clearly not a fan of strangers. But this was something Maze understood all too well, so she just smiled.

“It’s okay. Whenever you’re ready.”

And like melting butter, Sammie shifted close and took the giraffe with a shy smile.

Caitlin sighed. “Seriously? Everyone always likes me. What am I doing wrong?”

“You’re trying too hard. And you,” Maze said to Sammie, “are as pretty as your mama, you know that?”

Sammie nodded, making them all laugh.

Dillon headed to the fridge. “So glad Caitlin wasn’t the only one holding a secret. For the record, I was totally against hers. I told her she needed to tell you guys that the wedding’s not this weekend but next weekend.”

Everyone froze—except Caitlin, that is. She swiveled her head so fast that Maze got dizzy just looking at her as she glared at her fiancé. “Oh my God. Are you kidding me?”

Dillon looked around at their shocked faces and gave a low laugh. “You didn’t tell them yet? Babe, they need to know for their jobs if they’re going to stay all of next week like you want.”

“Wow,” Caitlin said. “You suck at apologies.”

“Wait.” Maze shook her head. “What?”

“She wanted you guys here for the whole week,” Dillon said. “Her hope was to”—he used air quotes here—“‘re-create the good old days.’”

“Do you want to know my hope for you?” Cat asked him with venom dripping off her overly sweet tone. “It’s that you’ll be uncomfortable on the couch tonight.”

With a drawn-out sigh, Dillon grabbed a container of something from the fridge, then a fork from a drawer, and walked out.

“He’s kidding, right?” Heather asked.

Caitlin drew a deep breath. “No. Look, I’m sorry. I know it’s selfish and a big ask, but I wanted time with you guys before the wedding insanity began. Just us, like it used to be, for the whole week before the circus.”

“Circus?” Heather asked. “You mean your wedding?”

“That,” Cat said.

Huh. Interesting word choice for supposedly the best day of a woman’s life, Maze thought, and from the look on Walker’s face, he felt the same.

“But it’s not just us,” he said. “You’ve got Dillon, Heather has Sammie, and Maze has . . . Joe.”

“Jace,” Jace said.

Maze glared at Walker. “And what about who you brought—your bad attitude.”

“Huh,” he said, nodding. “You know what? It really is suddenly starting to feel like the good old days.”

Maze shook her head at Caitlin. “You should’ve told us.”

“Really?” Cat asked. “Look me in the eye and say you’d have come for a whole week, Ms. Apparently Has Forgotten How to Use Her Phone.”

Maze shifted guiltily. “You could’ve tried it anyway.”

“You do realize you never come home anymore, right?”

“Yes, because I’m the one who blew us all up.”

“Wrong.” Caitlin grabbed her hands and squeezed until Maze looked at her. “But if you’re so intent on taking blame, fine. Take the blame for starting the fight at Michael’s grave. But it was a highly emotional day, Maze. Someone was bound to light the fire. And whatever, we’ve had a million fights. It never mattered because we’re always still a unit. But you used it as an excuse to back off. So yeah, I did what I had to in order to get you here, and now you’re staying and that’s that.”

“I can’t just stay, Cat. I’ve got to work this next week.”

“But your boss is right here.” Caitlin pointed at Jace. “You don’t even have to call him since he’s also your boyfriend.”

Maze squelched her grimace. “How did you get the week off?” she asked, misdirecting. “Your boss is the Grinch.”

“Yes, and she’s calling every hour on the hour asking for stuff, even though this is personal leave, not paid leave. I’m dealing with it.”

Heather bit her lower lip. “I work two part-time jobs, one waitressing, one doing some accounting under the table for a bookie.” She was a tech genius. Even back at nine years old, she could hack into anything. She was a wiz . . . with very little actual drive. “I could maybe get the time off, but Sammie . . . well, she’s not nearly as easy as she is cute. I couldn’t burden you all with her for a whole week.”

“Neither of you is a burden,” Caitlin said. She looked at Walker.

He shook his head. “I can’t stay either.”

He didn’t give a reason. While Maze wondered about that, Caitlin threw herself at the back door, arms spread wide to keep them inside. “Okay, now you all listen to me. I’m having a bad bridal moment here. I can’t find shoes for my wedding dress. Dillon’s aunt threw me a bridal shower and all the gifts are at Dillon’s mom’s house, which means I have to go over there and see her to get them. She’s going to ask me if I’m stress eating. And yes, FYI, I’m definitely stress eating. In fact, I ate all the things and I’m not sure I’ll fit into my wedding dress, and I’ve got a zit on the end of my nose making me look like the Wicked Witch of the West.” She paused. “Or is it the east?” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter! None of it matters if you guys are with me. You’re all damn well staying because I’m already doing this without Michael. I won’t do it without you too, you hear me? I can’t do this without you. I can’t!” She exhaled deeply, smoothed her hair, and straightened her shoulders. “Now. Who besides me needs a drink?” She turned to the bottles lined up on the counter.