She's the One (Boggy Creek Valley 3)

Willa’s hand went over mine, and I met her gaze. “I’m sorry, Abby. I never knew until Greer told me.”

I placed my other hand on top of Willa’s. “Thank you. And I know you didn’t know.”

“Are you okay?” she asked with a slight tilt of her head.

“Yes. I do have some lingering issues I need to work through, but I’m fine. When are you due?”

She rolled her eyes. “January twenty-sixth.”

“Wow, another two months!”

“Don’t remind me,” she sighed, but then she winked. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to pee.”

Brighton came barreling in with Greer right behind her. “And that, ladies, will be the number-one phrase Willa says all night: ‘I need to pee.’ She pees more than any person I’ve ever met.”

“Someday, Bree. Someday you’re going to get payback for all the hell you give me,” Willa called over her shoulder as she made her way to the closest bathroom.

Bree huffed. “I don’t believe I ever signed up for the I Want Kids Club, but thanks.”

“Okay, Bree, I need to know why you felt the need to bring the largest speaker ever,” Greer said.

A wide smile erupted over her face. “It’s wireless, and we’re going to get our dance on.”

“Our dance on?” Greer and I said in unison.

With a wink, Bree added, “And I brought dress-up clothes.”

“Dress-up clothes?” Candace asked as she walked into the house. “I’m all about dress-up clothes. What kind of dress-up are we talking about?”

Bree clapped her hands and did a little jump. “The kind that says I’m a badass woman, and I don’t need a man—that’s for us single women—and we are sexy AF.”

“What does sexy AF mean?”

We all swung around to see Arabella standing there. Her eyes darted between each of us.

Bree walked up to Arabella and smiled. “Sexy as fuck.” She wrapped Arabella in her arms and whispered something to her. Arabella drew back and gifted Bree with the sweetest grin.

I looked at Candace and Greer, and we all exchanged tentative smiles.

It was Candace who lightened the mood. “I call any outfits with whips.”

“Damn,” Brighton whispered as a horrified look moved over Arabella’s face.

She and I exchanged surprised looks, but Greer just ignored them. “If you brought wine, put it in the kitchen,” Greer told Candace.

“Wine? Please,” Bree answered. “I brought vodka and whiskey.”

Candace groaned. “Why do you not live here full time, Bree? Why?”

They both chuckled, picked up some of the bags—which, from all the clanking, I was positive were filled with liquor—and followed Greer into the kitchen.

“I’ll take Arabella upstairs to pick out her room,” I called out.

Willa joined us and said, “I think I’ll head up as well. I need to make sure I’m close to the bathroom.”

“There are two with bathrooms attached. Greer insisted I stay in the one with the full bath, but if you want to trade—”

Willa waved me off as she took her bag and started for the staircase. She moved up the steps better than I did, and I wasn’t seven months pregnant. “Nope, all I need is a toilet close by.”

As Willa made her way into the room with the half bath, Arabella took the one that was next to my bedroom. It had a large bay window with a huge built-in sitting area.

Arabella set her bag on the bed and went over to the window. “This is stunning. I could get lost in this little nook for hours.”

“You’ve seen the library, I take it,” I asked, sitting down on the bed.

“I have. Isn’t it amazing?”

“It really is.” I watched Arabella make her way slowly around the room, taking it all in. “Are you okay with Bree being here?”

She stopped and looked at me. “Of course I am.”

I lifted one brow.

“Fine. I will admit that I’ve been a bit jealous, knowing she was with Hunter a couple of times, but I think we’ll be okay. Bree called me earlier. She was really sweet, Abby. She explained that she remembered we’d dated in high school, but didn’t know how we’d broken up. She said had she known I still had feelings for him, she never would have slept with him. And I explained that Hunter was a free man who could see whomever he wanted.”

“And did she call you a liar?”

Arabella shot me a dirty look. “Hunter doesn’t belong to me, Abby.”

I bit my tongue. I wasn’t exactly one to sit here and preach. I had already heard all the rumors and whispers about how many women Bishop had slept with—or was rumored to have slept with.

Willa knocked on the door and walked in, then softly shut it behind her. She spun around and looked at us with desperate eyes. “Brighton brought outfits!”

Laughing, I replied, “I heard.”

“No, you guys don’t understand. She brought outfits that like…strippers would wear. No offense to strippers.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.