Ready or Not (The Ready Series Book 4)(80)

“Ever since that day, I find myself hugging my children a bit tighter in the morning and kissing them a few more times at night. It’s—”

“Scary,” I said, finishing her sentence. She nodded as I continued, “When my fingers wrapped around the door handle and it opened without force, I immediately knew something was wrong. I don’t know how many times Jackson has told Noah to make sure he locks the door the instant he gets home. Hell, he’s yelled at me about it a time or two. But nothing compares to walking into that house and finding his things scattered about while the house is completely empty.”

“How is Noah coping?” she asked hesitantly.

“Better now that the media attention has died off a bit. Seeing his mother’s mug shot splattered everywhere was hard, and there were nights when he woke up crying, frightened he was going to lose us.”

“Both of you?” she asked with a warm smile.

“Yeah,” I said. “His words, not mine.”

“And how does that make you feel?”

“Cherished,” I answered.

“And?” Her lips pressed together as she tried to look innocent.

“Oh my God, Clare, you have the worst poker face ever.”

“What? I was just trying to see how things were progressing.”

“Then, ask!”

“Are you…I mean…do you think he’s going to…”

“Spit it out.” I grinned. I loved watching her squirm.

“Propose?”

“Yes.”

“What? Are you serious? When?”

“As in a specific date? I have no idea, but I do know for a fact that he intends on asking me—someday,” I added with a sigh.

“How?”

“I found the ring.”

“Shut up! Are you serious?”

“No, I’m just making all this shit up to screw with you, Clare.”

“Well, that’s not very nice.” She smirked. “Hold on.” She reached into the large mommy purse next to her on the counter and pulled out her cell phone. She began rapidly dialing and pushing buttons.

Within seconds, Mia and Leah were on speaker.

“Hello?” Clare said excitedly.

“Good afternoon,” Mia said softly. I heard Asher cooing in the background.

“What’s going on? Why are we conference-calling each other? Is someone pregnant again?” Leah asked.

“No, but Liv has some news!”

“I do not!” I squeaked.

“I was just about to hump my husband when Clare texted me, saying I had to answer my phone stat, so spill it, hippie chick.” Leah said, as Clare and I laughed.

“You guys suck,” I lamented, folding my hands over my chest.

“Well, no, not right now I’m not,” Leah chimed in.

Male laughter followed.

“Ew…gross, Leah,” Clare said.

“Hey, you called.”

“It’s the afternoon!” Mia said. “Who does it in the middle of the afternoon?”

“Um…do I need to remind you about the events that took place last April, Mrs. Finnegan?” I giggled.

“Shh…not around the baby!” Mia whispered.

“Wait—I need to hear this,” Leah said.

“Me, too!” Clare agreed.

“Let’s just say, after I was done shopping one beautiful spring afternoon, I decided to drop in for an unexpected visit, and I got quite the eyeful. Mia is one lucky lady. Her man is hung like a horse.”

“Why, thank you, Liv. Hi, ladies,” Garrett deep voice suddenly said, nearly startling me.

Female laughter roared through the phone as I watched Clare’s cheeks go pink with embarrassment as she covered her ears and began to hum loudly. I batted her hands away as she laughed.

“We’ve seriously gone off topic, and shame on you Mia for putting us on speakerphone,” she said, trying to gain control of herself. Tiny giggles still erupted from her lips every other word as she took deep breaths. “Liv, tell the ladies…and my disgusting brother what you told me.”

“Do we really have to do this?”

“Yes. This is what friends do. Share, so we can all squeal like schoolgirls. It’s our God-given right.”

“Okay, but first, let me say, you guys are ridiculous, and this is all a bit premature.”

“That’s what she said,” a male voice chimed in.

“Zip it, Declan.” Leah chimed in.

“Sorry.” He half-laughed.

“You’re on speakerphone too, Leah?” Clare sighed.

Leah laughed, “Sorry.”

She was not sorry. At all.

“Okay,” I started, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. “It appears that I might have, while putting away groceries the other day, found an engagement ring Jackson bought.”

“Holy shit! Are you serious?” Mia yelped at the same time Garrett said, “In the groceries?”

“Yes, I’m serious, and no, it was not in the groceries…well, not exactly. I was helping him put away some things, and I needed to make some additional room in the cupboards, so I started throwing out some of the older things. There was an old canister of oatmeal. I knew it was old because I remembered seeing it there when Mrs. Reid was still up and around baking cookies. For some reason, I opened it before tossing it. It’s a good thing I did because inside was a dark blue velvet box.”