Page 6 of To Have and To Hold
As was the case any time she mentioned the twins who were nestled safely in her belly for the next six and a half weeks, Baz smiled, and it reached all the way to his eyes. From the day they realized she was pregnant—an unexpected but thrilling acknowledgment—her boyfriend had been smiling quite a bit more. JJ knew he was excited to be a dad, and now that he was going to be a dad times two, he was beside himself. And not in the panicked-we-won’t-have-everything-we-need-to-care-for-two-tiny-humans way that JJ was.
Footsteps sounded from the den behind them. JJ turned to see Holt Callahan, the world-famous mystery writer, step out of the room, a laptop tucked under his arm.
She figured it was silly to be starstruck by his presence, but she couldn’t help herself. Up until he moved to Coyote Ridge, JJ had never even heard of the guy. Since then, she’d been devouring all his books, one right after the other. He was her favorite author at the moment, so feeling giddy in his presence seemed normal.
“Hey.” Holt’s expression lit up with pleasure. “It’s good to see you.”
“Same,” JJ told him, accepting the hug when he offered it.
No squealing. He’s a normal person. He might freak out. She repeated that in her head several times until she forced herself to release him and step back.
Holt might’ve been a newcomer to Coyote Ridge, but he was settling in quite nicely. That hadn’t been the case a few weeks ago. The residents of the small town tended to look sideways at people they didn’t know well. Now that they knew Holt intended to stay, they were warming up to him. It helped that he was now in a committed relationship with Bailey and Rafe. Of course, people were still hesitant to open up to him too much since no one wanted to end up a character in one of his bestselling novels.
Holt shook Baz’s hand. “What brings you by?”
“JJ wants to hound Bailey about—”
“I donotwant to hound anyone,” she countered, smacking his arm again.
Holt chuckled, his voice lowering as he said, “Between you and me, Bailey’s a nervous wreck. She’s checked that everything’s in order at least a dozen times. She’s a perfectionist, and this is the first wedding she’s assisting with.”
“First, but probably not last,” JJ told him, feeling better that he said that. Well, not the nervous wreck part. She didn’t want Bailey to stress too much, but it definitely eased her mind to know that Bailey was on top of things.
“Tell me you aren’t revealin’ my deepest, darkest secrets,” Bailey said as she joined them, extending her arm toward JJ. “I brought you this.”
JJ held out her hand to take the napkin-wrapped cookie that Bailey passed to her.
“Oh, my God. It’s still warm.” Her eyes were wide as she looked at Baz. Yes, it was the little things that brought her great pleasure these days.
Bailey followed with a hug. “How’re you doin’?”
“Good,” she assured the younger woman. “Pretty much back to normal.”
It was a lie, but she’d gotten good at making it sound legit. In her defense, she was trying her best to pretend she hadn’t been kidnapped by Molly Ryan and Sonny Gilbert, a couple of looney tunes who’d wanted to cut her baby out of her belly so that Molly could live happily ever after with Baz.
“That’s good to hear. I’m glad you stopped by.” Bailey stepped back. “Iris dropped off the gift bags for the guests. I wanted to go through them with you. Make sure I have everything.”
JJ flashed a smile at Baz. “See. Sometimes people arehappyto see me.”
Baz rolled his eyes and shook his head, smiling as he did.
“Do you mind if I steal her for a minute?” Bailey asked Baz.
“Not at all. You can keep her if you’d like.”
JJ laughed because she knew Baz was trying hard to pretend he wasn’t following her around like a lost puppy. Not that she minded. Considering it hadn’t even been a month since she’d been kidnapped right off the sidewalk just a few dozen yards from where they stood, she happened to feel better when he was near. It was going to take some time for both of them to find a new normal.
But she had faith that they would.
“Do you mind if I eat while you talk?” JJ asked Bailey, patting Baz’s arm before following Bailey toward the kitchen.
***
While JJ went off to talk toBailey, Baz followed Holt into the living room/community space and took a seat.
“Can I get you somethin’ to drink?” Holt offered.
“No. Thank you. I figure we won’t be here long.” He grinned. “She promised me brunch at the diner after this. Knowing JJ, that was code for her to harass the Talbotts about the menu the same way she’s harassin’ Bailey.”
