IF I THOUGHT THE worst part of all my best friends being pregnant at the same time was being the only one able to drink, I was dead wrong.
No, it was swapping girls’ nights for girls’ brunches because none of them were able to stay awake past nine o’clock at night. Natalie was literally passing out during the third period at Comets games these days.
I was not a morning person.
But never let it be said that I was a bad friend, because I dragged my ass out of bed at the ungodly hour of 9 AM to have brunch at Natalie’s on this early April Saturday morning.
Cal was gone when I woke, electing to join Jaxon at Beau’s hockey game. Preston and Liam were on babysitting duty for the rest of the crew while we had our girl time. Not that Natalie’s older two needed much supervision— they were both twelve at the moment, with Amelia’s thirteenth birthday fast approaching. Charlie was the only one who needed a watchful eye, but she’d keep both men on their toes, that was for sure. She was a wild girl after my own heart.
Letting myself into Natalie’s house, I was met with the smell of cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven. Jackpot. It was a little-known secret that Jaxon was a master baker, and it would appear he’d left us with a parting gift before heading to the rink to watch seven- and eight-year-olds chase after a puck with the ice split in half for their tiny legs.
Natalie and Jaxon lived in what could only be called a mansion. The foyer showcased a sweeping curved staircase leading to the second floor, where six of the seven bedrooms were located—the seventh was situated in a basement apartment, of sorts. Her kitchen was bigger than my apartment, and the first floor easily rivaled the square footage of Cal’s penthouse.
Funnily enough, this behemoth of a home hadn’t been purchased with hockey money. When Liam snuck Natalie home from Europe, he’d bought it. And when Natalie and Jaxon got married, he signed it over to them.
In a twist of fate, Jaxon’s smaller bachelor pad next door now belonged to Amy and Liam, where they lived during their time spent in the States. The two couples were living forty yards apart.
Walking through the entryway and hanging a right into the kitchen, I found our girl gang already assembled. Natalie and Amy were busy plating more food than the four of us could ever eat. Lucy sat perched on a stool at the kitchen island.
The four of us knew no boundaries, so I didn’t need to ask before placing both hands on Lucy’s growing belly. She was the most petite of our group and looked like she had merely stuffed a basketball under her tight-fitting shirt. The rest of her body remained tiny.
“Do we know what we’re having?” I asked hopefully.
The Remington genes were strong. So strong, in fact, that most of them had the same brilliant blue eyes—like the ones that twinkled as Lucy looked back at me now—and raven black hair. The only one who looked completely different was Leo, with his blond hair and brown eyes. Not one of his and Natalie’s kids had gotten the blue eyes. Amelia and Beau had gotten the dark hair, but that was from their mother. She was the furthest thing from a natural blonde herself. If it weren’t for the pictures from her wedding to Jaxon being shared publicly, most would never know her hair was midnight black as well. Whoever her stylist was deserved major props
—it wasn’t easy to turn black hair to blonde without it turning orangey.
“I was waiting for you to get here,” Lucy replied. “I wanted to tell all of you together.”
“Wait, you found out?” Natalie asked, surprised.
Lucy looked like she might burst, she was so excited. Nodding, she blurted out, “It’s a girl!”
Our delighted cheers rang out across the kitchen. We’d gotten our chance to spoil a little girl when Amelia was a baby, but that felt like a lifetime ago.
I felt like an old lady every time reality hit me that she was almost a teenager. We all thought Natalie was done having kids after Beau, so Amelia was set to be our one and only. Then came Charlie, who was ten years younger than her older sister, and we got to do it all over again.
“Can you imagine if all three were girls?” Joy filled me at the prospect. “It would be like the next generation of our girl gang!”
Lucy laughed. “Preston is already panicked about what to do with a girl.
He grew up with only a brother.”
Natalie waved her off. “He’ll be fine. Jaxon was the same way, and he adores Charlie. She’s had him wrapped around her finger since the day she was born.”
I pointed a finger between Amy and Natalie. “Are you two finding out?
We need to make plans!”
Amy shook her head. “Not us. There are too few surprises in life, so why spoil it?”
Natalie shrugged. “Jaxon wants to, but I kind of don’t. We’ve got two of each, so it really doesn’t matter. And this is definitely the last one,” she said with conviction. “So, why not make it interesting?”
Groaning in frustration, I glared at the two of them. “Lucy might be my new favorite. I’m putting you on notice.”
Eyeing me, Natalie put her hand on her hips. “Are you hoping that if you steer the conversation toward the babies, you won’t have to talk about what Cal did for you in LA?”
Trying to put on an innocent face, I replied, “I mean, it would be nice if that’s how it worked out. Maybe we try it, see how it goes.” Turning to Lucy, I asked, “Have you thought of names yet?”
Cutting off Lucy before she could answer, Natalie called out, “Not so fast.”
Damn. I was really hoping to make it out of here without a deep dive into my relationship status.
Green eyes sparkling with interest, Amy asked, “What happened in LA?”
Giving Natalie a death glare, I sighed. “I can’t have this conversation on an empty stomach. Can we please eat first? It’s the least you can do for me, making me come out here at the ass crack of dawn.”
“It’s eleven in the morning, Hannah,” Natalie stated. “Yeah, and I could still be sleeping. So, you owe me.”
Smirking, she gave an exaggerated eye roll. “You really are living the life.”
I pointed a finger at her. “Hey. You don’t get to judge me. I’m happy with my life choices. I have a job that lets me travel and sleep in because of late nights. And you know what? I fucking love it. So, yeah. I’m allowed to be cranky in the morning. Feed me, or else there’s no telling what kind of monster I might turn into.”
Amy was struggling to keep a straight face. She always tried to remain neutral, but I knew she had a soft spot for my theatrics.
“Jeez, you’d think she was the one eating for two,” Natalie remarked. “She’s about to cross the line past hangry. If we want any information out
of her, we better get some food into her . . . and fast.” Amy hid a snicker behind her hand.
Loading up our plates, we took our time eating. I brought the conversation back to the babies, hoping they would forget about me.
A girl could dream, right?
Natalie was used to deflection techniques with four kids, and the second our plates were empty, she went right back to business. “All right, Hannah. Time’s up.”
“Fine,” I huffed. “But I want it known that I am treating this like an ambush and will be wary of every brunch invite from now until the end of time.”
“Duly noted. Now, start talking.”
Narrowing my eyes at her, I tried to condense the story. Maybe if I made it sound boring, they’d let it drop. “We went to LA for a Comets game. Cal set it up for me to record some covers. Then, I seduced him as a thank you. End of story.”
Natalie wasn’t going to let me off the hook that easily. “So, we’re just glossing over the fact that Cal’s in love with you?”
Amy’s eyes widened. “Wait. Did he say he was in love with you?”
Crossing my arms, I declared, “No. That’s all Natalie and her romantic bullshit. You know how she gets when she travels. Too much time to read, and it messes with her brain.”
“Okay, I was there. Let me tell you what actually happened, and you can all be the judge,” Natalie declared. “Cal told her a car was waiting to take her to a surprise. We go down, and it’s not just a car; it’s a limo. Then, we are dropped off at some fancy recording studio in LA, where the guy in the
booth is an old college friend of Cal’s. He sent over a set list of songs that he’s caught Hannah singing at home. Raise your hand if you think Hannah could see it in skywriting and still wouldn’t believe that Cal is in love with her.”
All three of their hands went up. Traitors.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” I argued. Pulling my hair into my hands, I twisted it into a bun at the back of my head before letting it fall with nothing to hold it in place.
“Your hair twisting is giving you away, Hannah,” Natalie calmly accused. “You know it means something.”
Damn her. Each one of us had our nervous tells. Natalie was the lip biter, Amy was the cheek chewer, Lucy was the ring spinner, and me? I was the hair twister.
Lucy reached out to touch my arm. “I get that it’s easier to brush it off than to accept the signs. When Preston’s acts of love were shoved right in my face, I nearly had a mental breakdown. We are talking ugly crying. He did something selfless because he knew it mattered to me. That’s love.”
“Are you afraid that you may not feel the same way?” Amy asked.
“Natalie tried to explain it, but I’m more afraid that I don’t know what love is. Maybe I am in love with him and I don’t know how to label those feelings properly. What if all those meaningless nights with guys from the club broke me?” I closed my eyes. I hated being vulnerable.
“I thought I was broken, but Liam changed all that. Answer me this: do you want to be with anyone else?”
“Of course not,” I scoffed.
“Are you willing to come clean to your dad?”
“We already decided that once the season is over, we will talk to him together.”
“If you got home today and Cal decided it was best if you parted ways, how would that make you feel?” I pressed a hand to my stomach. The mention of Cal not wanting me anymore made me nauseous. Amy didn’t need words. My physical reaction was answer enough. “That’s what I thought. You’re in love with him.”
Terrified out of my mind, I blurted out, “Well, I’m not saying it first. I’m not going to put myself out there to get rejected. He’s never even had a girlfriend before. He probably doesn’t know what love is like either. I don’t want to wreck what we have going.”
A ghost of a smile passed over Amy’s lips. “I think it’s sweet that you two are growing together. You’re both finding your way in the relationship world at the same time.”
“We’ll be lucky if we don’t drive off a cliff riding around in the dark,” I muttered.
Natalie took my hand across the island. “Strangely enough, you’re the only one of us who has gone about building a relationship the ‘right’ way— doing the ‘dating and getting to know each other’ part first. You might be scared, but know we all were when love found us. When you fall, you’re counting on blind faith that your other half is there to catch you.”
Lucy and Amy nodded in agreement.
God, what would I do without these ladies? We were always there for each other, and today, they were ready to talk some sense into me. Having their support, knowing they’d been where I was now and had been just as frightened, gave me comfort.
Cal was willing to stand by my side when we told my dad. Any man willing to take on Ace Moreau—at the risk of his career, for me—wasn’t scared of anything, least of all love.
It was time for me to put my big-girl panties on and accept that sometimes you had to push through the hard parts of life to get to the reward on the other side.
