She lifts a shoulder and smiles. “Guess we’ll see.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
ASHLIE
When Kayla leaves the dressing room with a grimace, I slide my phone in my purse. She’s ethereal with the soft display lights glowing around her, but her frown deepens as she twists from side to side in her bridal gown. It’s the one she found in LA months ago, but it just arrived at the San Francisco location this week. Maybe she hates it now? “Samson just confirmed the bulk order of peonies. We’ve got the ceremony location booked, the catering menu settled, and it’s your final dress fitting. Everything’s coming together, so what’s with the face? You look like?—”
“I’m going to throw up.”
My widened eyes track her through the three-panel showroom mirror. She better not be dropping this news in a bridal shop.
“Again,notpregnant,” she says quickly, holding up a finger to stop the question before I ask it.
“Honestly, no one would be surprised after how long you’ve been together…”
“One crisis at a time, please. I can barely think about becoming a wife; I can’t imagine throwing a kid into the mix.”
“Girl,still? It’s February. You get married in three months…”
“Ugh, I know.” She muffles a groan with her hands.
“Have you talked to Chase yet?”
Face still hidden, she shakes her head furiously.
“Kay, you promised!”
Kayla throws her arms at her sides, clapping her hands against her thighs. “I know, okay? But if you saw how excited he was when we got the confirmation email for Crystal Beach, you wouldn’t be able to tell him either.”
“He needs to know…”
“Why? I’m not doubtinghim. He’s everything I could ever ask for. It’s ameproblem. I just have to get past it.”
“Naw, if you don’t tell him, I will.”
“Naw?” she teases, effectively throwing me off her case. “You’ve been hanging out with Hunter a little too much.”
“It’salmostlike we’re friends or something…” I say with a bite of sarcasm. I haven’t talked to her about the new Hunter arrangement. The last time she and I were together was on New Year’s, when I soaked through three boxes of tissues telling her mostly everything that happened with Hunter to that point—including theloving-him-but-he’s-no-good-for-mepart.
“So he fixed it with you? I was so pissed and told him he better fix it.”
“Yep, all fixed.” I grin and drop my eyes to my shoes. She doesn’t need to knowhowhe fixed it, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to stress her out even more with details of snuggling up to her brother multiple times a week.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing! It’s all fixed. Everything is fine.”
More than fine, really. There’s a lot more romance up his sleeve than he lets on. I didn’t think he’d make it a week, but most of my worries have been met with a lot of effort on his part. The make-out sessions areverysteamy; however, I still refuse to tell anyone about us. He won’t have me looking like a fool in front of everyone when he slips up. A month of consistency isn’t nearly long enough for me to unsee years of the player excelling at his game. This can remain a low-key friends-with-benefits thing until it’s done. I can do casual.
“You do knowthey have new and improved boy bands, right?” I turn a teasing smile to Trevor, who’s bopping his head along to the beat. A ’90s boy band croons through the speakers of his SUV while we cruise down the street toward our dinner reservation. The moon peeks through the dark clouds in the sky, casting shadows over his brown thermal Henley.
“New, maybe. Improved? That’s debatable. Nothing beats the stylings of the ’90s.” He chuckles at my scoff. “It’s infinitely better. You’re gonna tell me your little shoulder shimmy would be happening with a boy band from today?”
“You’ve seen me dance to modern music.”
“But the shoulder shimmy? Today’s music is all about twerking and beat drops. Those can be fun, don’t get me wrong. But don’t knock the simplistic grooves of old-school tunes. A good shimmy never hurt anyone. Plus, the lyrics are just”—he kisses his fingers—“mwah.”
“Touché, Grandpa. You’ve got some good points.” I shake my shoulders and wink at him, making him laugh again as we pull into the Poblano’s parking lot.
