A knowing grin lit his face as he studied the brilliant sheen on hers. "About ready?"
"Yep," I answered for her, waving a mini bottle of wine behind Reese's back so Mason could see the last thing I shoved into the hulking lunch bag before I zipped it closed. "I think you guys are good to go. Have fun. Don't come back until it's late, and feed the ducks for me while you're there."
Slinging the strap of the bag over my shoulder, I put my hand at the base of Reese's back and propelled her toward Mason. He straightened up in time to catch her around the waist and pull her close. Then he grinned at me and took the lunch bag. "Thanks, E."
Reese suddenly sent a suspicious look between the both of us. I swallowed, hoping she hadn't caught on to what was happening. But then she whirled to me. "You're really eager to get rid of us. Are you planning to throw some wild party while we're gone?"
I snorted. "Yeah, I'm having my secret boyfriend come visit and we're going to practice for baby number two." But as soon as I said that, an image of Mason's co-worker, Pick, popped in my head. But I smacked him right back out and rolled my eyes at my cousin as I patted my belly. "Wow, why are you so paranoid?"
"Yeah, Reese." Mason slid his hand down her arm and laced his fingers with hers. "Who cares why she wants us gone? Let's just go have fun."
She turned to him, and I could tell she'd already forgotten who I was. "Okay," she said. "I guess I'm ready."
I'm glad she was already wearing a cute outfit. She never would've forgiven me if I'd let her leave the house for her proposal wearing something sloppy and old. But even her hair looked adorable in a perky ponytail.
I followed them to the opening of the kitchen as they crossed the living room hand in hand. Neither of them glanced back as they left. But strangely, instead of feeling left out, I felt full and content. Huh. I guess that article I'd read knew what it'd been talking about. Make someone else happy and the feeling came back to you tenfold. What a wonderful discovery.
Still wishing I had a crystal ball so I could eavesdrop on their picnic and watch the big proposal, I settled on the couch with my healthy snack and pulled Reese's computer onto my lap so I could look up more baby sites.
I'd stumbled across this do-it-yourself-mommy website I was absolutely in love with. Since I was finally learning I couldn't go out and buy whatever my spoiled heart desired, I had started making all kinds of neat things to get my baby what she needed in an affordable way.
Reese let me have one of her old knock-off Dolce and Gabbana bags to transform into a diaper bag. It was black, gold, and leopard print, but I was thinking it needed a splash of pink along with a couple more pouches for all the necessities I was going to need to carry around for my baby girl.
As I stitched, my mind wandered back to Mason's coworker. It still bothered me that he'd guessed my past somehow. Like a constant itch under my skin, I hated knowing what he knew about me. And I wasn't so sure I liked the way he affected my hormones either. I'd just been getting used to the fact that I never had to use a guy again to go to my numb place. I wanted to wipe sex from my life completely. So why was I wondering what Pick looked like shirtless, or just how many tattoos and piercings he had under the rest of his clothes?
I wished there was a way to wipe my feelings and his knowledge about me completely from existence. Brooding, I kept sewing and thinking, and coming up with no good plan. Not that it mattered what I did about Pick Ryan. I doubted I'd ever even see him again. Who cared what he knew about me?
Unless he told Mason.
Oh, shit. He could not tell Mason. Mason would tell Reese. And if Reese knew-
I had to convince him he'd assumed the wrong thing, that what he thought wasn't true at all. Yeah. Next time I saw him-and I would find a way to see him again-that's exactly what I'd do.
When the front door of the apartment opened, I jumped, surprised to realize how much time had passed. Reese and Mason blew into the living room, full of smiles and laughter.
I had quite the mountain of material, scissors, a needle and thread piled up around me on the couch. I was so engrossed in sewing an R-the last and final letter-into the side of the bag that I screamed and stabbed my finger when the door burst open.
"EVA! Ohmigod, ohmigod. Look! Look!" Reese hurled herself at me, hand spread and waving as the diamond glittered from her second finger. "Can you believe it? Can you just believe it? We're getting married!"
I made a spectacle of studying the ring we'd both already oohed and awed over months ago. Then I looked up and dryly reported, "I'm . . . shocked."
Reese yanked her hand free and frowned at me. "Oh. You're no fun. This is happy news. Amazing news."
Grinning, I rolled my eyes. "And I'm happy for you. Honestly. Congratulations."
As Mason shut the door to the apartment and leaned against it to watch us on the couch, I glanced up at him and arched an eyebrow. "Well done, Mr. Lowe."
"Mr. Lowe," Reese sighed the name as she slid her hand from mine and launched herself off the couch toward him. "And I'm going to be Mrs. Lowe. Mrs. Reese Lowe. Teresa Alison Lowe. Ohmigod, I love it!"
She hugged him and began to kiss him all over his face. He laughed and caught her head in his hands so he could hold her still long enough to press a soft, lingering kiss on her lips. "What? Did you actually doubt this was going to happen?"
"No." Sighing, she melted against him and rested her cheek on his shoulder. "Not really. But I still can't believe it's here. It's happening now, and it's finally real."
"Of course it's real. I love you, Reese." He closed his eyes and pressed his mouth to her temple. "I'd do anything to show you that."
A big wad of jealousy caught in my throat. The only way I was able to swallow it down was from thinking about how fulfilled I was after playing cupid for them. Doing good deeds really was an amazing sensation. And I was even more satisfied because it was Reese I'd helped make happy. But why couldn't I be happy like that, too?
Because I didn't deserve it, I reminded myself.
"Give me two minutes," Reese told Mason as she pulled away from him, the look in her eyes making it obvious what she had planned.
His gaze heated and he held her fingers for as long as he could before she stepped back out of his reach. "Yes, ma'am," he murmured before grinning like a guy about to get laid.
When Reese giggled, I snorted. I think they'd both forgotten I existed. As Reese turned away, bounding from the living room, Mason sighed in contentment and met my gaze. Seeing me tempered his mood instantly. He cleared his throat and tried to blink the desire from his expression, but didn't quite succeed.
"So," he said, nudging his toe at a scrap of fabric that had fallen to the floor. "Thanks."
Shrugging as if my intervention had been no big deal, I went back to sewing my R into place. "It's the least I could do."
"Yeah, but . . . you freaking saved us. Reese and I were drowning until-"
"Oh, don't be so dramatic." I couldn't let him get all mushy because then I'd get all emotional and have to blame a whole new batch of tears of my poor, innocent pregnancy hormones. "You guys love each other. Nothing was going to change that. I just knocked a little clarity into your head."
"Well, it's the knock I needed, and I'll be forever grateful." He stepped closer and tipped his head to the side to see what I was sewing. "Is that the baby's name?"
I gasped and covered the word with my hand, even though he'd already read it . . . and knew. "Don't you dare tell anyone," I warned him. "Especially Reese. She's been having fun trying to guess."
His gray eyes glittered silver as he grinned at me. "My lips are sealed. But only because I owe you one." Then he glanced toward the doorway leading into the hall, which led to his and Reese's bedroom. "You think it's been two minutes yet?"
"I think it's only been thirty seconds, you big horn ball."
Scowling, he shoved his hands into his pockets and grumbled around a moment before muttering, "Well, I can't wait anymore." Then he was off, hurrying down the hall in pursuit of his fiancée.
I smiled and shook my head. I liked their kind of love. I enjoyed watching them make it past this obstacle, and I liked knowing they were going to live happily ever after. But it also depressed me.
I knew I had my baby girl. Once she was born, I'd probably be too busy raising her to want what Reese had with Mason, but a part of me still ached, a part of me wanted to be loved like that, too.
Chapter 7
PICK
Exactly two weeks had passed since I'd gotten married and discovered Tinker Bell's real name, and it felt as if my entire universe had flipped on its axis.