Roxy slammed into Lucy’s legs, almost bowling her over. When she’d righted herself, she propped Roxy up on her hip, bucket and all. “Trust us when we say there’s always been some unrequited feelings on his end. But that’s not important. What’s important is how you feel about him.”
I sighed and gestured for us to walk down the sloped hill. We needed to pay for our apples and give Lucy a rest from carrying Roxy. “I guess I’ve always just put him in the friend box and didn’t even consider anything else. This new development is startling.”
Hazel snorted. “He punched Jake in the nose junior year after he broke up with you. ‘Just friends’ don’t do that.”
I nearly stumbled over a rock in the path. “What? He never told me that.” I knew he’d broken up with his girlfriend to take me to prom, but he never said he and Jake got into a fight.
“Remember when your car wouldn’t start that one night we were all set to go to a bonfire?” Lenora asked softly.
I frowned, barely remembering that night from probably six years ago. “Yeah, vaguely. It started right up the next morning, though.”
“Uh-huh. That’s because Titus spent hours fixing it in the parking lot of the hotel while we got drunk around the campfire.”
I spun around, dust flying over the toes of my black boots. “What?” My heart started beating dangerously fast.
“He wasn’t at the bonfire that night, if you recall. He stayed back to work on your car so you wouldn’t have to pay for it to get towed to the mechanics,” Lenora said gently.
My jaw dropped open and, for once, I had no words. I’d also had no idea that Titus had done both of those things. How blind was I? And how many more things had he been doing for me that I just never noticed?
Finnie put her hand on my waist and gently guided me down the path. We paid for our apples and had a seat at one of the wooden picnic tables set up outside the line of trees. My brain scrambled, trying to make sense of this new information. Titus had always been sweet to me, doing little things he knew I’d like. I’d chalked each and every one of those times up to him being my best friend. If he’d had feelings for me this whole time, how could I have missed it?
Hazel set down the picnic basket, got out five red Solo cups, and got to work on the cork on the bottle of rosé she’d brought for us to share. When she’d poured us each a small cup, we toasted to good friends and took a sip.
“But…but he’s dated all those women!” I sputtered, louder than I intended. I looked around and made sure no one milling around was paying us any attention.
“Mommy, who she talk ’bout?” Roxy asked, fidgeting on the picnic bench.
“Oh, just some boy,” Lucy answered.
“Ew. Boys yucky!”
We all laughed at Roxy’s summation of the male species. She wasn’t entirely wrong. But they could also be annoyingly yummy. Lucy pulled out a coloring book and a bazillion crayons for Roxy to play with. Then she turned to me, one eyebrow raised in challenge.
“Have you noticed that he’s only dated ‘all those women’ for like a week?”
“Think about it. He’s never dated anyone seriously or for long term. Why do you think that is?” Lenora asked.
I sat silently, absorbing everything they’d said. I was stunned. Stunned by the idea of Titus having feelings for me for years. Shocked I’d been so blind the whole time. Irritated by my own inability to accurately read someone I claimed to be best friends with. Pushing the wine away, I put my forehead in my hands.
“’Cause he’s got the hots for you, silly girl!” Hazel supplied when I let the silence go on too long.
I took a heavy sip of wine to buy myself some time.
“Why do you think that is, honey?” Lenora asked sweetly, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and squeezing me tight just when I felt everything I knew was falling apart.
Lucy cleared her throat and darted glances at Roxy’s head bent over her coloring book. “Here, Amelia. You can drink mine.” She slid her Solo cup to me on the table.
I frowned. Sharing your wine was a nice gesture, but it seemed a bit odd. All of us girls found reasons—from mundane to ridiculous—to imbibe whenever we could, so her offering up her portion was suspicious.
“Wait. Are you saying…?” Finnie let her question hang in the charged silence around the table.
Lucy’s face split in a huge grin and her eyes filled with tears. “Yep!”
We all charged at once, hugging her and giving her congratulations on her news. This was a secret I was all too happy to keep for now. Another little Sutter baby.
“Yay, Mommy!” Roxy cheered, clapping her hands even though she had no idea what we were celebrating.
We all laughed and sat back down while Lucy wiped her eyes.
“What did the warden say?” I asked.
Lucy bared her teeth. “I haven’t told him yet.”
“What?!” Hazel shouted.
“Shh,” Lucy shushed her, which was smart. You never knew where Poppy could be lurking. That woman could sniff out gossip from a mile away. “We’ve been trying for a while now and Bain’s really into it. Like, every night. I haven’t wanted to tell him for fear he’ll stop giving it to me. Mama needs the big D,” she grumbled, running her thumb along a crack in the wood.
We all burst out laughing at her pout. Lucy was crafty, that was for sure.
“So, when are you going to tell him?” I asked, eyes wide. Bain was liable to take his grumpy nature into overdrive if he found out she was keeping something important from him.
Lucy looked left and right, not meeting our gaze. “When I start showing?”
Lenora let out a hoot and the rest of us
