Worth the Wait (Picking up the Pieces #4) (24 page)

She propped her hands on her hips and narrowed my eyes at me. “Because Cameron wanted me to be a Power Ranger with him and Callie wanted you to be her Prince Charming. That a good enough reason for you?”

I let out a huff and several quiet choice words while all of our friends stood around laughing.

“You owe me,” I warned loud enough for only her to hear, my arms crossed over my chest. “I’m talking handing out blowjobs like lollypops. I look stupid.” My bottom lip may or may not have been poking out just a little bit as I spoke.

“Aww,” she cooed as she slid her hands up my chest and around my neck. I couldn’t lie; she was kind of rockin’ that pink Ranger outfit. I saw some role-playing in our future, for sure. “Poor baby. You’re so adorable when you’re all pouty and grumpy.”

“I’m not being pouty and grumpy,” I argued. “I’m being broody and aloof. Like a man.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, baby,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Now, suck it up and let’s get our trick-or-treat on.”

After kicking everyone out of my house, Kenzie, the twins, and I took to the streets. I had to admit, I was having a hell of a time. Turned out, it wasn’t all that uncommon for parents to dress up with their kids. I even got a few nods and chin lifts from dad’s dressed just as douchy as I was. It was a weird kind of bonding moment for us men.

After about an hour or so, Cam and Callie seemed to be dragging so I shuffled them back to the house. The poor kids were so tired they didn’t even eat any candy before passing out stone cold. Kenzie and I had to peel their limp bodies out of their costumes and tuck them in. They remained comatose the entire time.

After getting changed and throwing that damned Prince Charming costume in a pile to burn the following day, we headed into the living room to cuddle up on the couch. That was when Kenzie introduced me to one of the perks for parents when it came to Halloween. The candy tax. It was our responsibility to go through all the candy to make sure it was safe. Then we got to take our cut.

Another good thing I learned about Halloween was Kenzie had a thing for melting down those mini Three Musketeers bars and licking them off my body.

Oh, yeah, I could totally get into the whole trick-or-treating thing.

“This shit is not supposed to be for men. I don’t understand why I need to be there.”

For the fifth time that morning, I had to explain to Brett why he was being dragged to Emmy’s baby shower.

“Because,” I said
again
as I applied one final coat of mascara, “Emmy and Luke are two of your best friends in the world and they want you there. They wanted to do a coed shower, so all the men are required to go. Quit your bellyaching.”

From my vantage point in front of the bathroom mirror, I could see Brett throw his head back and stare up at the ceiling. “Why, God? Why have you forsaken me?” he cried out dramatically. It really was pathetic to watch.

“Honey,” I giggled. “It’s three hours of your life, not the end of the world.”

“It’s three hours I’ll never get back, and I run the risk of losing my man card afterwards. I’m telling you right now, I’m not eating any of that fuckin’ slimy shit babies have to eat, or letting you try and pin a diaper on me, or whatever the hell you women do to torture us men at things like this. I’ve heard stories. I’m watching you.”

Damn, there went my plan for the baby food guessing game. I’d been looking forward to seeing Brett’s expression when I made him eat a jar of turkey and green beans. That would have been classic.

“You’re no fun.”

“And you women are evil. The only reason y’all want us there is to degrade us.”

I had no response for that. He was absolutely right.

We’d left the kids with a sitter and took Brett’s Jeep to the shower at Emmy and Luke’s house, with Brett sulking the entire way.

The second we walked through the door, it became clear that the coed themed shower wasn’t Luke’s idea at all. He stood in the corner, flanked by Trevor, Jeremy, Gavin, and Ben, all wearing matching expressions of misery.

Oh, this was gonna be fun.

“Go play with your friends,” I said sarcastically with a pat to Brett’s cheek. He immediately took off in their direction, taking the beer that Trevor held up for him. A baby shower with booze. Thank God for that. I wasn’t going to admit it to him, but I felt the same way about these parties as Brett did. I mean honestly, who in their right mind actually
liked
sitting around for over an hour watching a woman unwrap gifts and coo over the eleventy-billion onesies she got for the kid she was cooking. I was a mom and I hated these damn showers!

“Kenzie! Over here.” I turned to find Savannah, Mickey, Lizzy, Stacia and Emmy standing around the kitchen island with a few other women I hadn’t met. The house was packed with people. It was as if the entire town had come out to celebrate with Emmy and Luke.

I made my way over to the girls, my heart swelling at just how welcomed they made me feel. I was quickly introduced to the other women standing in the kitchen. Savannah’s mom, Victoria, and her mother-in-law, Kathy, were there. I also met Lizzy’s mom, Diana, and Nana, as well. And I had to admit, after only five minutes of conversation with the old woman, I was pretty damn sure I wanted to be Nana when I grew up. The woman was something else.

The last woman I was introduced to was Luke’s mother, Ilene. She was a sweet, quiet woman who had the same bright green eyes as Luke’s. Just by looking at her, I could tell she was ecstatic to be meeting her grandson soon. She doted on Emmy and kept rubbing on her belly every so often. Emmy just stood there, a bright smile on her face, and let her. Obviously she had a wonderful relationship with Luke’s mom.

Standing around so much family, I couldn’t stop the pang of sadness that shot through my heart. That was what I’d always wanted…a family to stand around the kitchen with me, laughing at the most inane things. A mother who would rub on my swelling belly, beyond excited for her grandchild to come into the world. It had been over a decade since I’d spoken to my own mom. I was certain she didn’t even know she had two grandbabies.

“You want something to drink, Kenz?” Lizzy asked, pulling me from my depressing thoughts.

“Uh, yeah.” I cleared my throat, trying to rid it of the ball of emotion that had formed. “I’d love a beer.”

“Coming right up.”

The mothers and Nana took their leave to give Luke a hard time, leaving just the girls and me in the kitchen. As I tipped my beer bottle up and took my first sip, Emmy asked, “So Kenzie, what was your baby shower like? I bet you got a shit-ton of gifts since you were cooking up two.”

I ended up choking as my drink went down the wrong way, sending me into a coughing fit so bad that Savannah and Lizzy both had to pound on my back.

“You okay?” Mickey asked once I was finally able to breathe again.

“Yeah, sorry. Went down the wrong pipe.” I tried to make light of it by plastering a fake smile on my face, but I knew they saw through it.

“I…uh…I didn’t have a baby shower for the twins.” I kept my concentration centered on the countertop, not wanting to see the pity I was sure was in each of their eyes. “I didn’t really have many friends…and…well, I haven’t spoken to my parents in years.”

“Looks like you lucked out, if you ask me,” Emmy harrumphed. “This is
booooring
.” My eyes finally darted up to see the rest of the women staring at her with the same
what the hell
expressions on their faces.

“What?” she asked defensively. “Oh, come on, like y’all aren’t thinking the same damn thing. It’s a party centered around a baby who’s not even here yet. The games are all lame as hell. All of the presents are for the alien currently taking over my body, not for me. And my giant ass can’t even drink!” she finished, then stated, “Oh, don’t you give me that look, Savvy. Your bitch ass is just as bored as the rest of us.”

A sly smile pulled at Savannah’s lips. “Okay, you’re right. I’d take a game of Flip Cup over Pin the fucking Diaper on the Baby any day.”

“Thank you!” Emmy harrumphed. “This shit’s for the birds.”

“Then why’d you insist on a coed shower?” I asked.

“Because if I’m gonna have to suffer through having every damn person in this house rub my belly like a fucking magic lamp, I’m going to make damn sure he’s just as miserable as I am.”

Lizzy leaned in to tell me, “We get our kicks from making the men in our lives suffer. It makes us all smiley.”

“Cheers to that!” Savannah yelled, and the rest of us raised our drinks in a toast. I smiled and laughed when I was supposed to, and I couldn’t put into words how much I appreciated Emmy jumping in to divert the conversation away from me. But I couldn’t push away that part of me that wished I’d had exactly what Emmy had. I’d have given anything to have a house full of people rubbing my belly and wishing me luck. Emmy was an amazing person, and because of that, the whole town had turned up to celebrate the family she and Luke were creating together. I was just glad she was the kind of person who could appreciate all of the love she had.

“Hey, beauty,” Brett’s deep voice rumbled in my ear as his arms snaked around my waist. The warm comfort of his arms around me instantly pulled me out of my slump.

“Hey, honey,” I grinned as I leaned back into him and turned my face up so he could give me a kiss.

“You looked a little sad there for a second. Everything okay?”

My sweet man.

I was constantly asking myself how’d I’d gotten so lucky to have such a wonderful guy in my life. Even from across the room, he’d sensed my mood and come over just to check on me, unknowingly decimating all my negative thoughts with one loving embrace.

“I’m perfect, baby.”

“You sure?” he asked against my lips.

Squeezing his arms tighter around me, I answered, “Yep.” And I was. Just being in his presence was a calming breath of air for me. As long as he was around I was always going to be okay.

“All right, good.” He leaned in closer and whispered in my ear, “Now can you tell me why the girls are staring at me funny?”

I turned my gaze from Brett to see the girls all huddled together, snickering and whispering, every now and then their eyes wandering down just below the belt. Yeah, I knew why they were looking at him funny. But I wasn’t about to rat anyone out.

“Our friends are weird,” I simply state.

“That they are, beauty,” Brett chuckled. “That they are.”

After several more torturous hours of games which consisted of melting candy bars in diapers and guessing baby names, it was finally time to go.
Thank God
. At one point, Emmy broke down crying when we played the game where everyone used toilet paper to guess how big around she was. Luke had unknowingly set off the waterworks when his guess was double the size of her belly. There were several choice words thrown around and accusations that he thought she was fat. All of which he vehemently denied. But the damage was done. Men needed to learn, when it came to a pregnant woman’s hormonal rages, they were
always
in the wrong…even if they weren’t.

I seriously thought Luke was going to have an aneurysm when it became obvious he wasn’t going to be able to console his hysterical fiancée.

While Emmy raged and Luke begged forgiveness, the rest of us were trying our hardest not to burst out in laughter.

“So…” Brett dragged out, breaking the peaceful silence of the car ride back to his house. I turned from the passenger window to look at him and noticed him tapping a quick rhythm on the steering wheel.

“So…?”

“Uh…well…” He cleared his throat, seeming almost nervous. “I was just wondering…um…”

“Wondering what?” I coaxed, trying to get him spit it out.

“Wondering if you ever planned on having any more kids.”

Well, that wasn’t what I had been expecting. I was silent for several seconds, trying to wrap my head around an answer. Did I ever plan on having any more children? When I was with Lance, that answer was a definitive
no
. And after I left, my soul focus was Callie and Cameron. More kids wasn’t something I’d really given much thought to, but now that Brett had asked, there were so many different scenarios bouncing around in my head.