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“No, I do not!”

Josh sat up straighter, and his face turned serious. It was almost too serious.

“Heather, you can ask me anything you want anytime you want.”

“Why do you keep calling me princess?”

Josh let a smile play across his face as he reached across the table, taking my hand in his. Everything in me was screaming for me to pull my hand away, but I couldn’t. It felt so nice to feel someone’s touch. Ever since my parents passed away, I longed for someone to touch me in a way that made me feel safe and loved.

“I call you princess because you deserve to be treated like one,” he said softly.

Holy hell. I was not expecting him to say that. Just when I think I have him figured out, he goes off and does something so…un-Josh like.

I could feel the heat moving into my cheeks. Josh reached up and ran his hand down the side of my face. The warmth from his hand was driving me crazy.

“You’re so beautiful, Heather, both inside and out. I’ve never met anyone in my life that always puts her friends first, and would do anything for them. You amaze me.”

“Josh…I.”

Just then, the waitress walked up and reached between us grabbing Josh’s glass.

“More water?”

I pulled my hand out from his and glared at the bitch. She totally did that shit on purpose. I looked back over at Josh, and he looked pissed off. His hand was running through his hair again. I wanted to do that so damn bad. His hair looked so soft. Then, Josh did something I had not expected him to do.

“Listen, um.. Josh paused, looking at her name tag. “Casey, we really need some privacy, I hate to sound like a prick, but, maybe after our food arrives, I’ll just flag you down if we need anything. Okay?”

She just stood there in shock. If I didn’t have the urge to laugh, I totally would have kicked him for being so rude.

“Well, of course. Can I get you another Diet Coke, miss?”

I just nodded my head. Even if tried to talk, I knew that I would lose it and laugh my ass off. I couldn’t even look at Josh. I could feel the heat from his stare. Once she walked away, I looked up at him.

“Oh my god, Josh. Asshole much?” I started to giggle.

Josh reached over and took my hand in his again.

Okay, so no harm can come from us holding hands, right? Friends hold hands.

***

After we ate, we both ordered a piece of pie. I got the apple pie, and Josh got the coconut cream pie. With my first bite, the memories were almost too much to handle.

Josh asked Casey about what was going on in town. She told us all about Meet on Main. They had dancing, live music, and shopping. Josh asked if I wanted to check it out. I really didn’t want this afternoon to end, so I said yes.

We walked a few blocks over and spent the next thirty minutes walking around, visiting all the booths and shops.

Memories of my mom and dad kept flooding my mind.

I missed them. Even a year later, the pain was still so raw. Oh god, maybe it was a bad idea coming to Marble Falls.

Josh must have sensed how I was feeling. As we walked past the band, he took my hand and led me out to where everyone was dancing. The band was playing a cover of Jason Aldean’s “The Only Way I Know”. It didn’t take long before Josh was spinning me around on the pavement. I hadn’t had that much fun in… I don’t know how long. My god, this guy knows how to dance!

After Josh and I cut up the dance floor through two more songs, the band took a break. They switched it over to music so that everyone could keep dancing. Blake Shelton’s “Over” started to play. Josh just smiled at me and pulled me into him. Even though I was only five foot three and he was six two, we fit together so perfectly. The warmth of his body made me feel so safe.

I relaxed in his arms for the first time in more than a year. I never wanted this feeling to end, but I knew that it had to. As much as I wanted, there was no way I could ever let Josh Hayes into my heart. Never.

CHAPTER NINE

ARI

I woke up from a terrible nightmare. Fuck a duck! If I had one more dream about Jeff and Rebecca, I swore that I would never go to sleep again. I looked over at the clock. It was 6:30. Jeff must already be up and out for a run.

I picked up my cell phone and called Amanda.

“Hey sweets. What’s up?” Amanda said. She sounded like she couldn’t breathe.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Oh god! Are you having sex?”

Amanda laughed. “No! I’m at the gym, running on the treadmill. It’s something you should be doing, Ari.”

“Yeah, whatever, bitch. I need you today. Are you free?”

“Yep, Brad is helping his dad out, so I’m free the whole day. Why? What’s up?”

I took a deep breath and then started to tell Amanda about my plan.

“Holy hell, Ari! Are you fucking nuts?”

“No, I’m not nuts. I really don’t think this baby is Jeff’s. I have to see her, Amanda. I have to find out why she picked now to tell him that she’s pregnant. I need to see her with my own eyes. Manda…please do this for me,” I begged.

“Gesh, Ari. Damn it. Okay. What do I need to do?”

“Meet me at Haylcyon in thirty minutes. I found out yesterday that Crysti is working this morning. Then, you and I are having lunch at Hula Hut today.”

“Oh shit. I have a bad feeling, Ari, a very bad feeling about this.”

“Just shut up, and get your ass over to the coffee shop. Parking is a bitch, so just pay to park.”

I hung up with Amanda and started to get dressed. I didn’t have time for a shower, so I just threw my hair up in a ponytail and tried to make myself look somewhat presentable. Thank God I kept clothes over at Jeff’s. I picked out a pair of black capri pants, a light blue tank top, and flip flops. Now, I was ready to get to the bottom of this Rebecca mess.

Just as I was walking into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, Jeff came through the front door.

“Hey, baby! What are you doing up this early? I thought that maybe we could continue with what we started last night,” Jeff said as he walked up and wrapped his arms around me.

Even sweaty and stinky, he smelled like heaven. The warmth from his arms relaxed me immediately. He would freak out if he knew what I was going to do today.

I let out a small laugh. I had to catch my breath. Damn, he’s so handsome. I reached up on my toes and gave him a kiss, filling it with as much passion as I could. I wished we could just go back in time and admit how we really felt about one another instead of acting so stupid. Rebecca wouldn’t even be a second thought right now.

“Wow. What did I do to deserve that?” Jeff asked kissing the tip of my nose.

My heart was breaking. Please, God. Please don’t let this baby be his.

“Nothing.I just wanted to kiss you. Do I need a reason to kiss you now?”

Jeff threw his head back and laughed. “Nope! Feel free to kiss me anytime or anywhere you’d like baby.”

I giggled and reached for my purse. “I have to go. I’m meeting Amanda for breakfast, and then I think we’re going shopping.”

Jeff’s smile disappeared as he ran his hands through his hair. I knew he was so torn about meeting Rebecca on his own, and I couldn’t be mad at him. He needed to meet with the bitch to get this over with. My hands started to shake.

“Ari, I really don’t want to meet with her today. You believe that, don’t you?”

Holy hell. I wanted to throw up just thinking about him seeing her again.

“Of course, I know you don’t want to meet with her, but….but you have to. You have to do this and just get it over with. I’m sure that it’s gonna be okay. Just meet with her, hear her out, and then we’ll take it from there. If she’s seven months now, then she’s due around the middle of August. We just have to wait until the baby is born, and then we can find out for sure.”

Jeff looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself. I was sure that he was about to ask what would happen if the baby was his. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, please don’t even say it, Jeff, or I’ll puke. I tried to smile, but I was sure that it was a bad attempt at looking happy.

“I love you, Ari. I love you and only you. I always have, and no matter what happens, I always will. We’re moving out to the property in a few weeks, so it’ll just be you and me, baby. You and me.”

He pulled me into him, and I did everything I could not to cry. I pulled away, smiling, I reached up to kiss him again.

“It’s going to be alright, Jeff. Don’t worry. I really have to run. I love you. Try to have a good day and…well, good luck with your lunch.”

Jeff kissed me with such sweetness that it was all I could do to get out the front door. I jumped into my Jeep and backed out of the driveway as fast as I could.

After I got a block away, I pulled over and cried my eyes out. I had a very bad feeling that things were not going to turn out how I so desperately wanted them to.

After I dried my tears, I head over Halcyon.

***

As I was walking up to the coffee shop, I saw Amanda was waiting outside for me.

We hugged, and Amanda held me tightly for just a few more seconds than usual.

Then, she whispered in my ear,

“Don’t worry. We’ll kick her fucking ass the moment the baby is out.”

I had to laugh. I missed Ellie. My heart started to ache from thinking about it all. All this shit was going on, and my best friend was thousands of miles away. She called last night, but I acted like everything was perfect. Perfect engagement, perfect life, perfect everything. Pesh.

The moment we walked through the door, my eyes caught Crysti’s. Her smile faded instantly, and I felt a bit of excitement, knowing that I was the last person she expected to see this morning. My morning was working for me, she was working the counter. Amanda and I walked up to her, and I acted surprised to see her. She seemed much more shocked to see me, and I noticed when she looked down at my engagement ring.

“Crysti right? You’re Rebecca’s friend, aren’t you?” Amanda asked.

Crysti pulled her eyes away from me. She smiled at Amanda nodding her head.

“Ah, yeah. You’re, um, Jeff and Gunner’s friends right?”

Oh Jesus. I wanted to laugh at that one.

“Well, I’m a friend of both yes, Ari’s engaged to Jeff,” Amanda said smiling as big as she could.

“Engaged? Didn’t you get married this weekend?” Crysti asked, clearly confused.

This just got very interesting.

“What made you think that I was getting married this weekend?” I asked.

“Oh, well… I mean one of the guys from the football team was here last week, and he mentioned a wedding. I heard your name and Jeff’s, so I guess I just assumed y’all were getting married.”

I was so going to have fun with this. “Nope, that was Gunner and Ellie who got married. Jeff asked me to marry him Saturday night after the wedding.” Ah! Chew on that, you little stupid blonde bitch.

“Wait. What? Gunner got married? Oh, wow… I mean, I guess I just never thought he was the kind to settle down.”