Room for You(24)

“I would be honored to be in your wedding, Lauren. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

She let out a sigh of relief and smiled at me nervously. “I’m glad you feel that way, because we gotta get moving. The wedding is in two and a half months.”

My jaw almost hit the table. “Are you pregnant?”

Lauren laughed and shook her head back and forth. “No, but Tommy got accepted into the Master’s Photography Program at the Liberal Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. We leave at the end of August and we won’t be back until late next spring. We didn’t want to wait that long to get married, and of course, we want our family and friends there, so … we’re bumping it up. Big time.”

“You’re moving to Italy? That’s amazing!” My twinge doubled in size, just the way the Grinch’s heart grew. I was ecstatic for Lauren, but she was living the life I wanted. Being a single parent of twins and still living with my mom at twenty-four wasn’t exactly what I had planned. My petty jealousy disappeared and guilt took over when I saw the joy dancing across Lauren’s face. She was glowing and I owed it to her to ditch my pity party and be the best bridesmaid ever.

“I know, I’m beyond excited. I’m gonna grab some wedding magazines and we can browse. Be right back.”





Pulling into our driveway, I had forgotten it was Friday and was momentarily taken aback by the slew of new cars in the driveway. “Wow girls, lots of new people today,” I said to them, and to myself.

“Mom, Piper got in trouble at storytime,” Lucy blurted out.

I spun around to face them in the backseat.

“I didn’t get in trouble,” Piper argued. “Cinderella told me to keep my voice down.”

“Why? Were you yelling?”

“No. A second grader thinks she knows everything. She said her mommy was running a marathon tomorrow and I told her she was wrong. People can’t run marathons. Marathons are when the same show is on TV all day long.” Piper smirked and looked out her window, mighty proud of herself.

There goes my chance of winning Mother of the Year.

“Come on, weirdos. Let’s go tell Gigi your story, she’ll love that one.”

We climbed out of the car and made our way to the front door. I stopped dead in my tracks, my heart leaping into my throat when I saw a familiar black pickup truck parked further up the driveway. The girls didn’t skip a beat, one passing on each side of me on their way to the front porch.

Okay, Kacie, stop being a freak. You saw his truck once and it was during a torrential downpour, no way is that the same truck.

I filled my lungs with crisp Minnesota air and exhaled slowly, urging my heartbeat to return to a normal pace.

The girls made their way through the front door, with me a few hesitant steps behind. I was putting our shoes in the closet when I heard the girls squeal from the back of house. “Brody!”

My body froze.

Holy shit.

He was here. Why? To torture me? I closed the closet door and turned to make my way toward the kitchen, pausing in front of the mirror, making sure I looked presentable.

My mom was standing in the kitchen, leaning against the island with her arms folded across her chest, while Brody sat on a stool across from her. He had a baseball cap on, pulled down low. His eyes were shadowed so that I could hardly see them, but I knew he was staring at me. Lucy and Piper were kneeling on the ground petting Diesel, who was licking the leftover cookie crumbs from Cinderella off their faces.

“Hi, honey. How was storytime?” My mom beamed at me like it was no big deal that the sexiest man I had ever laid my eyes on was sitting three feet to her left.

“Um, it was good. They had fun. What’s going on?” I looked back and forth from my mom to Brody.

A small, cocky smile crossed his lips, but he didn’t say a word. His stare was too intense. I looked back to my mom.

“Nothin’, just hanging out. Brody called this morning to see if we had any vacancies and we did, so he’s staying for the weekend. Fred’s a little giddy. He’s out back re-stringing his fishing poles.” Mom chuckled. “Come on, girls, let’s take Diesel outside and give him some fresh water on the deck.”

The girls hopped up and followed Mom to the back door with Diesel on their heels.

“Gigi, Piper got in trouble at storytime.” Lucy babbled to Mom on their way out the back door.

“So, what? You just needed a weekend getaway?” I said dryly to Brody once the back door closed.

“No, I missed Fred.” He shot back with a wicked grin.

I rolled my eyes and turned to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water and a bowl of grapes. Without turning around I asked, “Can I get you anything, since you’re a paying guest and all?”

He let out a short chuckle. “No thanks, but don’t eat too much. We’re leaving for dinner in a couple hours.”

I spun around and locked eyes with him. “Dinner?”

“Yeah … dinner,” he replied confidently.

“But this morning we agreed-”

“We agreed to be friends. Friends have dinner together. I already asked your mom to babysit.”

“You … when…” I sputtered words but no sentences.

“So, like I said … don’t eat too much.” He got up and pushed the stool in, locking eyes with me one more time. “I’d like you to be … hungry … when we go out later.” He winked at me as he turned to head out the back door.