Page 111 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

A giant exhale seemed to happen.

The room erupted.Chairs scraped.Somebody whooped.Lisa outright started crying.Mark smacked the table hard enough to rattle dishes.

Timothy slid the ring onto my finger with shaking hands before holding it up proudly for me to admire.The diamond was enormous.I looked up at him in disbelief through watery eyes.And there it was—that cocky, self-satisfied grin that said he’d been waiting all night for this exact reaction.That ain’t no Walmart ring.

Vinny vacated the chair next to me and pushed Timothy into it.

Lisa stood as if ready to serve, but Josh stood up and cleared his throat.He took Erika’s hand.“We have something to tell everyone.”

Everyone seemed to pause mid-action reaching for food.

Lisa fell back into her chair.“Lordy, son.You’re pregnant again?The baby is barely three months old.”

“No.”Josh shook his head, his face flushing.“I…uh…” He glanced down at Erika.Then he swallowed hard.“I didn’t want to ruin Timothy’s moment.”He nodded at his brother.“But…”

“Spit it out,” Timothy ordered.

“I got called up.”He compressed his lips.“White Sox.Chicago.The bigs.”

The table erupted.

Timothy pulled him into a hug.“So proud of you.”

Mason was on his feet and hugging him too.

Lisa demanded, “How exactly does this work with you having a job a day’s drive away, owning a clinic, and having a baby with his eyes barely working?”

Josh swallowed hard.“I told them I had to ask my wife and family first.We have to work through logistics.They seem to have big plans to market me, which is a bit terrifying.It’ll put the spotlight on all of us.”

Erika stood.“We got this.All of us…we got this.There’s no reason anyone only has to have one dream in this household.I kicked him out to do this minor league nightmare for this moment.I knew he was made to be in the big show.”She smiled at Josh.

Josh leaned in and kissed her.

Mason stood at the head of the table.“We’re still having Sunday dinners.Here.How about we get this one started?”

Timothy pulled me into his arms and kissed me.I laughed so hard I cried harder.I’d finally come home.

Epilogue

GIA

A little overtwelve months later…

I slipped outof the conference room a few minutes early, hoping to beat the rush before the hallways flooded with veterinarians chasing caffeine and the keynote speech.The lecture I’d just attended on bovine emergency procedures had been interesting enough, but this conference in Orlando was massive and overwhelming in a way that made me miss home.Thousands of people had come down here for the keynote speaker alone.I too had only agreed to come to see the speech.That and…the lure of theme park tickets.

“Gia.”

The voice behind me stopped me in my tracks.

I turned slowly to face Justin Stevens striding toward me through the thin crowd.Time had hit him hard.Gray threaded through his dark hair.Deep lines bracketed his mouth.He looked tired, worn down, and a lot older than the man I’d left behind.

Two years ago, one look at him would’ve split me open.Now, he represented the shadow of something I left behind.

I smiled softly.“Hey, Justin.Small world.Are you enjoying the conference?”

“Yeah.”His eyes moved over me, lingering on the curve of my stomach before flicking to the diamond wedding band on my hand.“You look…well.”

My hand instinctively settled over the baby bump.“I am well,” I said honestly, laughing a little.“Four months to go until this girl arrives.”I lifted my brows.“Your child should be what now?Over a year old?”