“Oh no!” Kacie shook her head adamantly. “This momma needs a break.”
“We’ll see.” Brody reached out and squeezed her leg. “I told you I wanted a dozen little Brodys, remember?”
Kacie rolled her eyes and pushed his hand away playfully.
“I think we’re waiting a while too, homie.” I laughed, putting my arm around Michelle’s shoulders. “We aren’t ready to share a house yet, let alone a fetus. And wait a minute, if we’re taking bets, I’m thinking the newlyweds over there should be in the running.” I nodded toward Jodi and Vince.
“Oh, hell no,” Jodi said. “We’re sharing lilies, not babies.”
“Well if you’re throwing baby bets around, can we get in on the running after the wedding?” Darla grinned.
“What wedd—” Kacie’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my God, are you engaged?”
Darla proudly held her left hand up, revealing a brand new diamond on her ring finger. Everyone got up and started hugging them in congratulations. Right away, the girls started babbling about bridesmaid dress colors, and I walked over to shake Neil’s hand, staring him straight in the eye. “She’s a sweet girl,” I said sternly. “Be good to her.”
“I will.” He nodded, shaking my hand back.
“So wait a minute…” I turned back toward the group. “Michelle and I are together, Jodi and Vince are married, Darla and Neil are getting married… that just leaves you, Andy. We gotta find you somebody now.”
Andy shook his head and was about to argue with me when Brody blurted out, “Louie’s available!”
Four more hours later and everyone was gone. Michelle and I had collapsed on the couch, completely exhausted and trying our hardest to ignore the mess in the kitchen.
“That was fun,” she sighed. “We should do it again soon.”
“We should,” I agreed. “At Brody and Kacie’s house, though. Have you seen that kitchen?”
“Don’t remind me,” she groaned. “Can’t we leave it till tomorrow?”
“I say we don’t even clean it tomorrow. Let’s just throw everything out and buy new dishes,” I joked.
“Deal!” She laughed as she looked off to the side, deep in thought about something. “It’s been a weird year, huh? Kinda makes you wonder where we’ll be a year from now.”
“Do you ever wonder what if?” I asked cautiously.
Her eyes turned sad as she shook her head. “Don’t.” I stared back at her, not saying word. Selfishly, I wanted to know the answer; I needed to know the answer. Finally, she took a shaky breath and let it out slowly. “I have thought about it, and it kills me every single time, because while I can’t imagine my past without him, I don’t want to imagine my future without you.”
“Babe, you won’t have to. You want my prediction for the next year?”
“Of course.” Her voice rose in anticipation as she wrapped her arms around my waist and laid her head on my chest.
“I think we’ll be sitting right here with the same two great kids and the same amazing friends, except I’ll be begging you to finally let me move in with you.”
She scoffed, “You won’t have to beg hard.”
I closed my eyes as I kissed the top of her head and took a deep, contended breath, filling my lungs. Within a few minutes, her breathing became rhythmic and I knew she was sound asleep. Carefully lifting my feet onto the coffee table, I laid my head back against the couch and looked around the room. The room that Mike had told me I had a cement heart in. The room that my cement heart had finally broken in when Michelle told me about her dad. The room that I’d promised to always be there for Matthew in. The room I’d promised never to take his father’s place in.