Page 39 of The Best Friend Problem
“Forgot? Forgot what?”
“About tonight.”
Tonight? Did they have plans? He didn’t remember making any. He glanced down at Bruiser, who stirred in his lap. The pup glanced up and cocked her head as if to say I’m your dog, not your social secretary. Okay, so no help from Bru.
“Oooooo, you are in so much trouble.”
The relentless giggling, he could do without. She was having far too much fun at his expense.
“Okay, I give. What did I forget?”
She hummed before answering. “I don’t know if I should tell you and save your ass or let you crash and burn.”
“Save my ass please. You like my ass. You told me so.”
The evil laughter on the other end of the phone died. Oops, was he not supposed to bring up things like that? It wasn’t like they could pretend sleeping together never happened. Not anymore. Not with the evidence of it rapidly growing inside Pru’s womb.
“Your ass is okay,” she finally replied. “I suppose you could say I like it, but it’s not as great as my magnificent breasts.”
Oh, so they were going to play it like that? Okay, he could joke. But not about her breasts, because she was right—they were magnificent.
“No argument from me on that one. Boobs beat butt any day of the week.”
She snorted. “You’re such a guy.”
“Guilty.”
“Anyway, much as I’d love to see you get what’s coming to you for forgetting, she would be devastated if you didn’t show up, so I’m going to remind you tonight is your—”
“Mom’s birthday dinner.”
“Bingo!”
Shit. He had forgotten. In his defense, his mother’s actual birthday was in two weeks, but she was going on a cruise with his father so they were having the family celebration early.
“At least tell me you got her a present?”
“Of course, I did.” He wasn’t a horrible son, just slightly forgetful. “I bought her that painting of the front range she had her eye on at the People’s Fair this summer.”
His mother, a retired English teacher, loved collecting local artists’ works. Made gift shopping a breeze.
“She’s going to love that. I got her some opal earrings from the rock shop up in Estes Park.”
And his mother would love those, too, because she loved Pru. Having four sons, his mom always doted on Pru whenever Finn brought her over. Which had been many times throughout the years. She liked to comment that Pru was the daughter she always wanted and never had. And now Pru would give his mother another grandchild.
Wait—did Pru want his parents to know? Another thing they needed to talk about. The list was ever growing.
“You wanna ride with me?” Because even though it was a family dinner, Pru was considered family and therefore invited. “No need for both of us to drive out to Lakewood.”
Not that it was far from the city, twenty minutes or so, but why waste the gas if they were both going to the same place?
“Um, sure. Makes sense.” She hesitated for a moment before speaking again. “Do we tell them about the baby?”
The churning in his gut was back. At this point, he might as well invest in an antacid company. He imagined he’d be buying it by the bucket load for the next nine months.
“Maybe not right now.” He hurried to add, “Unless you want to?”
Pru’s heavy sigh filled his ear. “No. I mean, yes, eventually we need to tell them. I want to tell them. I think. But maybe not tonight. Tonight is about celebrating your mom, and I don’t want to…share this with her until we know a little more. Plus, I’m still in the first trimester. They say to wait until the second in case… Well, anyway. Let’s wait a bit longer.”
