Feels Like Home (Southern Bride 5)

I knew in an instant something was wrong. “What’s wrong? Did Jim contact you?”

“What? God, no. He knows better. But I did hear from my lawyer…once the required time is up, Jim’s lawyer told him he’ll sign the papers no problem. He dropped a bomb, though. Said he’s going to sign over his parental rights.”

I shook my head. “How can he not want his own baby?”

“Who knows. I hope you have some sweet tea and whiskey. I’m going to need the sweet tea after that walk, and you’re gonna need the whiskey.”

“Why?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer.

“Let’s get into your house.”

We walked the short path from the tea room to my house. Once we were inside, Mindy went straight to the cabinet where I kept the booze.

“I’m pretty sure I don’t need whiskey.”

“You will.”

A feeling of dread washed over me. “Do I really want to know what you’re about to tell me?”

She nodded. “If it were me, I’d want to know.”

I grabbed the bottle from her and headed to the living room.

“No glass?” Mindy asked as she sat down.

“After the week I’ve had? No.”

“Did you ever hear back from Annie?”

Annie and I hadn’t been able to meet that morning to talk about Farmhouse Tea going into her boxes. Since Anson and I had to rush out of the hotel, I had forgotten to even text her until later that morning. She responded that she understood and would be getting back to me on the tea. I took that as a ‘Screw you, sister.’

“I doubt I will with how I blew her off.”

Mindy raised a brow. “I wouldn’t think that too quickly. It appears Annie had a little more to do with that night than we thought. She might have thought you found out and was embarrassed to contact you.”

I sat down with a thump. “What do you mean?”

“I went over to Ida’s today. She offered to teach me how to make an apple tart.”

“Craving?” I asked with a chuckle.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes. Big time. Anywho, Ida started to talk as we rolled out the crust. She asked me if you had mentioned anything about that dinner. If anything had happened between you and Anson. I laughed and said that if I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was Annie who set it all up.”

My stomach dropped. Everything slammed into place in a rush. How Annie knew exactly what Anson and I would eat. The clothes and shoes in my exact size. The romantic room, the lingerie.

“Oh my gosh. She didn’t,” I said as I covered my mouth with my hand.

“She did, and it wasn’t just her. Pearl was in on it too. And your mom knew. I think Pearl and Emmie got in on it later after the afternoon tea, but they were for sure in on the whole plan. That’s how Annie knew your size on everything.”

Our own mothers set us up.

I opened the whiskey and took a drink.

“So that was all a show? Pearl freaking out about Annie and Anson?”

She shook her head. “No, not at first. She really did panic. But then, Ida started to talk to Annie and gave her the four-one-one on your relationship with Anson in the short version that only Ida can do when she’s on a mission. She said she needed help getting you two to finally get together and talk. Annie thought it was romantic and agreed to play along with Ida. That’s why Annie insisted on you going to dinner.”

“But Pearl told me she thought Annie would hit on Anson, and when it didn’t go well, she would back out of our deal.”

“Pearl believed it, at first. Until Ida told her the plan she and Annie came up with. How do you think Annie found out about Kendall Inn? Ida told her! Ida had the room booked before y’all even got there. And Ida will kill me if she finds out I told you.”

I stood and started to pace. “Those little…brats!”

Mindy nodded. “I mean, no harm came out of it. Right?”

My heart felt like it dropped straight to the floor. I hadn’t told Mindy about how Anson and I had unprotected sex. She knew we’d hooked up. She knew we will still had a million-and-one things to work out, but she had no idea about the little detail I left out.

I swirled around, suddenly enraged. “How dare they! How dare they interfere with this. They…they pushed us into being together.”

Mindy smiled. “It’s not like y’all didn’t want it to happen. So you have some talking to do. Bristol, you still love him, and he still loves you. You’ll work it out.”

I chewed nervously on my lip. Why was I getting so worked up? Okay, maybe it was because of the real chance I could be pregnant. Clearly, Anson wasn’t worried since he hadn’t even bothered to reach out.