That’s right. My big brother is going to have a baby. His fiancée Billie is almost three months along. It’s certainly not the life I ever expected to see for him, but damn, does it make me happy.
“Twice a month,” he responds without hesitation. It’s a hefty promise while living on opposite sides of the country, but his willingness to make the effort is what counts. It feels so good to know he’s missed me too.
“God, I still can’t believe you’re engaged and you’re going to be a dad.”
“I still can’t believe you had a baby with Harrison fucking Hughes.”
Now would probably be a good time to tell him that Harrison fucking Hughes is also my husband—that we eloped at city hall about a month after Ellie was born in a little ceremony with just the three of us, and once we said our “I do’s,” we met our whole crazy group of friends for a pancake breakfast at Kline and Georgia’s house. That it was private, quiet, and intimate, and that the boy he hated so much when we were kids turned into the best damn man on the planet.
But it’s going so well, and there will be plenty of time to talk about it later. Maybe during dinner or something. You know, when I can really give him a good shock. No, no, that’s not an evil smirk you see.
“A beautiful baby, I might add.”
“On that, we can certainly agree. Speaking of which, I need to hold her, so can we skip to the end of this powwow for now?” He pouts dramatically, and I roll my eyes. “Forgive me, Rock? I promise I won’t do such a shitty job of being your brother this time.”
“I forgive you,” I say with a laugh and reach out my arms to pull him into a tight hug. “I’ll probably never stop giving you shit for this for the rest of our lives, but I definitely forgive you.”
“Love you, sis.” He chuckles and squeezes me tightly one more time before letting go.
“Love you too, you big jerk.”
Just as we walk back toward the inside of the house, he pauses and stops our progress.
“Mind if I ask what ended up happening with Heidi?” he asks, and a devilish smile crests his lips. “I always hated that woman, and I’m really hoping some fucking justice was served for the bullshit she pulled.”
Even back in the day, Luca never liked Heidi. I can still hear him in my head, all those years ago, calling her a total fucking bitch.
Harrison and I tried to keep the whole Heidi Morris thing private, but she made it pretty much impossible. Shortly after she got word that we were not going to let her off easy—aka drown her in lawsuits and legal fees—she tried to turn the tables on us. Acted like I fired her for no reason, countersued for wrongful termination, and even tried to pretend I was some kind of evil-witch boss who made her life a living hell and treated her unfairly while she was working with me.
Yeah. I really wouldn’t be surprised if her house is filled with 101 Dalmatians and closets of fur coats.
But with Caplin Hawkins and the team of lawyers he put together for us, Heidi Morris will never be working in Hollywood again. Once they started digging really deep into the case, they found that, not only had she been illegally toying with my phone and messages, she’d also been stealing money from me.
Legit stealing money from me. As if her ten percent wasn’t enough! No wonder that wench was always wanting me to work as much as possible.
Needless to say, between all the emotional damage of her deceit and the actual financial damage I incurred from her, Heidi is quite possibly looking at a stint in prison and the stark reality that she has to pay back everything she stole.
“Oh, trust me.” I grin over at Luca. “Justice is going to be served.”
“Thank fuck for that.” He chuckles. “Besides you forgiving me, that might be the best news I’ve heard all day.”
“Dive in, everyone!” Billie announces with an adorable grin as she sets the last dish on the large dining table and all of us take our seats. Bailey curls up in the corner of the room and lays his head down on his paws while I concentrate on the feast in front of us.
Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob—hot damn, I think I’m in love with my soon-to-be sister-in-law already.
“It smells amazing,” I say, and Harrison agrees.
“It sure does.”
“Thank you. The chicken is my Granny’s recipe. It has enough butter in it to grease a wheel bearing, but it’s so good, it’s worth it,” she says through a little giggle.
I smirk a little at the reference I in no way understand, and Luca shrugs. “She’s from West Virginia.”