Broken Love (Broken 4)

She asked exactly as I was taking a drink of Diet Coke. I started choking as she jumped up. “Are you okay?”

After I finally got done hacking up my right lung, I looked at her. “Why would you ask me that?”

Jennifer started laughing. “I was about to ask the same thing, truth be told. The way you’ve been eyeing Lindsay, and you have that look.”

I swear my voice raised in pitch. “I don’t have a look!”

Dani sat back down. “Oh yes you do, Ava Moore. I know that look, I’ve seen it on my own face.”

A heavy feeling settled in my stomach while my eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. “You’re both crazy. That’s like saying Nate is going to settle down and get married.”

Both of them started laughing. “Yeah, that’s not happening any time soon,” Jennifer said.

“Neither is a baby. Let me get through marrying your brother and trying not to beat Vanessa’s ass.”

Dani’s eyes darkened. “Vanessa, huh. She has been after Ryder for as long as I can remember.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure after today she knows that is not going to happen. Or she put a restraining order out against me.”

Both girls chuckled. “Why, what happened?”

I shook my head and took a sip of soda. “She rubbed me the wrong way and I may have gone off on her while flashing my engagement ring in her face.”

“God, I knew I liked you the moment we first met. I’ve always wanted to just walk up to Vanessa and punch her right in the mouth,” Dani said while motioning with her hands like she was punching someone.

“Holy shit balls, Dani. What did the girl ever do to you?”

She rolled her eyes. “That little bitch cut off my Barbie’s hair and then said Ken would never love my Barbie like he did her Barbie ‘cause her bitch Barbie had hair. That … that … C-word!”

I forced myself not to start laughing. Holding up my hands I said, “Whoa, bring it back in, Rocky. Deep breath in and blow it out.”

Jennifer shook her head. “Do you remember when that little boy, Tommy, moved in across the street and every time we came into town he would come over to play. I had the biggest crush on him. He even tried to kiss me once. He told me I was the prettiest girl in the world. Problem was he said it in front of Vanessa. The next day she told him I was actually a boy and he stopped talking to me. Still to this day, if I run into him he will totally cross the street to avoid talking to me.”

Dani gasped. “Is that why he stopped coming over?”

“Yep. Sucks too, because he is drop dead handsome now. And single!”

With a giggle, I said, “Man she is a cu—”

“No!” Dani and Jennifer yelled out. I wasn’t sure how Lindsay slept through that outburst but she did.

Jennifer frantically shook her head. “Don’t use that word. I hate that word.”

My phone buzzed. Pulling it out of my purse, I saw Ryder’s name.

Ryder: Heading home, buttercup.

Ugh. I was feeling so many different emotions today. The pull to have a baby, the excitement of what I might find in the house that Kate left behind, the nervousness of meeting Jackson for dinner, guilt for not telling Jennifer and Dani about their sister Kate’s pregnancy, and to top it off, planning a wedding that was just a couple weeks away.

“Ryder is on his way back to the house. This was so much fun. Dani, thank you for driving in.”

I pulled enough money out of my purse to cover lunch. Standing, I walked over and kissed them both on the cheek and then kissed the baby on top of her head. I took in a long deep breath.

Oh lord … she smells so good.

“Tell Ryder we said hi,” Jennifer said.

With a smile, I nodded and replied, “I sure will. Bye, girls.”