Sex, Not Love(62)

I was feeling all choked up myself. “Love you, too, Anna Bow Banya.”

She cleared her throat. “Your turn, Derek. Next prop.”

Derek shook his head, but shuffled the pictures so he was now showing an old photo of what I assumed was him and Hunter. “You beat up Frankie Munson when he called me a nerd in sixth grade. In eighth grade, when I was too shy to ask a girl to the dance, you asked the hottest two girls to go to the dance with us. In tenth grade, when you were captain of the football team, and I was captain of the debate team, you didn’t give a crap that you hung out with a nerd. You’ve always had my back, bro.”

Anna piped in. “Next picture, honey!”

Derek pulled another pic from the back of the stack he held in his hand. It was a photo of me and Hunter from their wedding that I’d never seen. I remembered the moment, but had been unaware anyone was capturing it. He’d just cut in while I was dancing with Anna’s dad, and I was insulting him while smiling as I tried in earnest to pretend the way he held me against his body had no effect on me. It was a great candid shot. My head was tilted up to him with a smirk, and he looked down at me with that sexy half-smile he wore so often. There was no mistaking the spark between us.

Hunter and I glanced at each other as Anna spoke. “So, because you two are our people, and we trust you with our lives, we want you to be our daughter’s people if something should happen to us.” She paused. “Last picture, honey.”

Derek shuffled again, and this time it was a picture of baby Caroline. She was dressed in a onesie with a movie logo on it: The Godfather.

“Hunter and Nat, will you be our daughter’s godparents?”

My smile was so wide, it was surprising my face didn’t crack. I jumped from my bar stool and hugged Derek, grabbing the phone and yelling into it at Anna. “Yes! Yes!”

Hunter took the more subdued approach and shook his friend’s hand. “Would be an honor, man.”

After Derek hung up, I asked the bartender to take a picture with my phone of the three of us holding up our mimosas. Then I shot it to Anna. She sent me one back, holding my soon-to-be goddaughter in one arm and her own virgin drink in the other.

“We haven’t finalized a christening date yet, because what started out as a small family gathering, my bride is attempting to turn into our wedding—part two,” Derek joked. “But we were thinking three weeks from Sunday, on the 25th.”

I mentally did the math. My visit to Garrett was on the 10th last month, so that would put my visit this month the weekend before the 17th. “That sounds great. Maybe I’ll pull Izzy out of school that Friday and fly down on Thursday to make a long weekend out of it.” I looked to Hunter. “Do you think you’ll be able to take a day off to fly out early?”

Hunter looked down, and then his gaze met mine. There was an apprehension in his eyes. “I’ll already be out in California.”

“Oh. Okay. I didn’t realize you had another trip planned.” I tried to shrug it off as no big deal, but my hollow-feeling belly got the message before my brain did. “Maybe we can work it out to fly back together.”

Hunter’s voice was solemn, and he reached for my hand. “I won’t be flying back either. Job here in New York will be wrapped up before the christening. My two-month assignment will be done. I’ll be home in California.”

Wow. That hurt. He wasn’t being mean or harsh in any way. In fact, the softness of his tone and the way he’d reached out to touch my hand showed me he knew what the reminder would do to me. But that barely dulled the edginess I felt. I was upset—not necessarily with him. I was upset with myself for letting it bother me so much.

Our relationship had been temporary since the beginning. I’d gone into it with my eyes open. The only problem was, somewhere along the way, I’d also opened up my heart.

Hunter said something and waited for me to respond. I blinked myself back out of my thoughts. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“I said, maybe you and Izzy can stay with me for the long weekend?”

“Sure.” I forced a smile. “We’ll see.”

For the next twenty or so minutes, I went through the motions of hanging out with Derek and Hunter. I smiled and laughed, but inside, I was waging the battle of head vs. heart. My head was yelling, He’s leaving—who cares? And my heart was answering—You do, dumbass. You do.

Luckily, we all had plans for the evening, and they didn’t entail spending much more time with each other. Hunter and Derek had the Knicks game, and I needed to head to Mom’s.

“I have to get to dinner. I’m so glad we got to see each other, Derek.” I stood. “Thank you for having me as Caroline’s godmother. Please give my best friend a giant hug for me when you get home.”

Derek stood and gave me a hug. “I will. And I’ll see you next month.”

I turned to Hunter, grateful for a public goodbye and quick escape. “Give me a call,” I said very noncommittally.

Hunter spoke to Derek. “Give me a few minutes. I’m going to walk Natalia out, and then we’ll head to the game.”

“Sure thing.”

So much for a quick escape. With his hand on my lower back, Hunter guided me out of the bar.

I looked at my feet, not wanting him to see what I was feeling written all over my face.