15 Minutes (Time for Love 4)

“Yup,” Shelly answered wryly, with a dramatic gesture to her now swollen stomach. I wasn’t sure how far along she was, but you could definitely tell she was pregnant. Her face had a permanent smile, and her hand rubbed lazily over her bump.

I took in the large group and asked, “What’d you do, rent a bus?”

Cal looked up at me, his face embarrassed, then put his hand over his mouth and mumbled, “We mout a ban.”

“What was that?” I asked with a laugh.

Cal dropped his hand and replied softly, “We bought a van.”

When I started laughing, visions of Cal driving around in a wood-paneled van dancing in my head, he shot me a pained expression, then promptly flipped me off. This only caused me to laugh harder, and pretty soon, TJ and Scott were chuckling along with me.

“That’s awesome,” I finally managed to say when I stopped laughing. “Are you gonna showcase that at the shop?”

“Shut up,” Cal said darkly as he grabbed his beer and took a swig.

“Oh, stop it,” Shelly said with a grin for her husband. “He’s just being dramatic. She’ll be here before we know it, and I know we’ll want more, so it was practical to buy a van now, rather than wait.”

I chuckled again at Cal’s grimace, but hid it when Shelly’s grin dropped and she shot me a warning glare. Damn, her moods really could change on a dime. At the last poker night, Cal had us dying with tales of Shelly and her pregnancy moods.

“Speaking of the baby,” Gaby said, coming to my rescue. “Did you get the invitation we sent?”

“Invitation?” I asked, unsure of what she was talking about.

I noticed Scott roll his eyes, then focused on Gaby, whose hand had come up to slap me on the forearm.

“The invitation to Shelly and Cal’s joint baby shower,” she replied, exasperation filling her tone. “Sasha and I mailed them out last week.”

“Oh … I thought you’d mailed that to me by accident,” I replied honestly. “I didn’t think you actually meant to invite me to a baby shower. Aren’t those usually a chick thing?”

This earned me another glare, this time from Gaby and Sasha, as well as Shelly. I looked around at the guys for help, but by the look on their faces, I knew they’d already accepted their fate.

“It’s a co-ed shower, for guys and girls,” Gaby explained. “So we invited Cal’s friends and Shelly’s friends. We’ll all celebrate their baby together.”

It sounded like a fucking nightmare, but I smiled at her, all while trying to figure out a way out of it.

“We’re gonna play poker in the

kitchen,” TJ leaned close to me and whispered loudly, causing Sasha to shoot him a death glare.

“No, TJ, you’re going to be with the rest of us, playing guess that baby food … and stuff like that.”

“The fuck I am,” TJ responded with a scowl, and I decided it was high time for me to get a drink.

“I’m hitting the bar,” I said out loud, to no one in particular.

I was waiting for my beer when I felt someone come up behind me. I turned, ready to give an excuse to one of the girls, but was relieved to see it was only Scott.

“Hey,” I greeted him with a smile. I’d never thought he and I would be friendly, let alone friends, but I’d gotten to know him over the last few months and realized he was actually a good dude.

“Hey,” he replied, signaling the bartender to get him a beer as well. “You aren’t going to be able to get out of it, you know. Not unless you come up with an illness or something.”

“Shit,” I responded with a grin.

“Hey, Scott,” I heard a voice say from my left. I turned to see a short girl with spiky hair, a tiny skirt, and a shredded Whiskey Heat shirt.

“Nice shirt,” I murmured. She smiled, but her eyes were locked on Scott, and she didn’t look too pleased to see him.

Scott looked surprised to see her, but managed a smile as he replied, “Hi, Abby. How are you?”