Page 223 of Things We Hide from the Light

“Someday, with the right person, you’ll get there,” Amanda assured Sloane.

“Yeah. Hard pass on that,” Sloane said.

“My boys are stubborn as the day is long,” Liza J said. “Knox always tried to distance himself from every single problem while Nash got in there and tried to fix everything. He always wanted to make things right, even when there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about them.”

She looked at me and then Naomi.

“You two have been good for my grandsons. Maybe even better than they deserve. And I’m speakin’ as a woman who loves the crap out of those boys.”

“I’m thinking about quitting my job,” I blurted out.

All eyes came to me.

“Really?” Naomi asked hopefully.

Sloane frowned. “Don’t you make a butt ton of money?”

“Yes. I do make a butt ton of money. But…” I trailed off. Nash had used a moment of preorgasm weakness to get me to admit that I wanted more with him. But was I really considering leaving my job and my choose-your-own-adventure lifestyle to settle down?

I thought about Nash standing in the rain, holding on tight.

The free fall before the chute opened.

The tip-tap of Piper’s little nails on the floor as she pranced around with some new toy.

The bluest eyes.

The biggest heart.

I blew out a breath. Yep. I really was considering it.

“Would that mean you officially moving here?” Naomi prodded.

I was saved by answering when Waylay tromped into the room wearing waterproof boots and holding a shivering Piper. “The dogs got in the creek and Piper tried to follow,” she announced. “She didn’t seem to mind it too much until the current got her.”

“Brave girl,” I crooned, taking the dog from her. Despite her soggy shivers, Piper’s little tail wagged heartily. “Thanks for pulling her out.”

Waylay shrugged. “No problem. What are you guys doing?”

“We’re finalizing the seating chart, finishing the favors, and choosing between these three Knox-approved tablescapes,” Naomi said, pointing at the pictures she’d taped to the wall nextto her sticky-note seating map. “What do you think about the denim and daisies one?”

“This is what bachelorette parties are?” Waylay asked disdainfully. “I knew Jenny Cavalleri was lying when she said her aunt got arrested in Nashville during her bachelorette party!”

“Actually that was true,” Sloane said. “She had a little too much to drink, flashed an entire bar from the back of a mechanical bull, and then got caught peeing in the gutter.”

“I think you guys are doing this bachelorette thing wrong,” Waylay observed.

“This isn’t really a bachelorette party,” Naomi explained. “Knox and I didn’t want bachelor and bachelorette parties.”

“But the guys went out,” Waylay said.

“They’re just having a few drinks and some baskets of fried food,” I told her.

“The kid’s right,” Liza J announced, slapping a hand to her thigh. “This sucks.”

Naomi pouted prettily. “But what about the seating chart?”

Amanda snatched the remaining sticky notes off the coffee table and slapped them onto the wall in all the empty seats. “Voilà! Everyone has a seat.”