Rissa pushes the curtain aside to stare after Gideon. “You need to forget all about that asshole Derek and get with the fine ass man right there,” she gushes. “I know, Thanksgiving is in two weeks. Why don’t you invite him over?”

My best friend in the whole world is here. Between helping me unpack, and shop for odds and ends, she’s been dishing out some serious life advice. “First off, I’m not interested in him. Second, even if I was, he has a big family and will probably want to spend Thanksgiving with them. Third, anything between us beyond friends is a big giant nope.”

Dropping the curtain, she twists to face me. “Why the hell not?”

Breaking down the box I just emptied, I set it beside me. “Oh I don’t know, maybe because I’m pregnant with another man’s baby.” I cringe at my own words and cover my face. “Even saying that makes me feel like I belong on one of those daytime talk shows for their promiscuous unwed Mom segment.”

Sinking gracefully into a cross-legged position beside me, she giggles. “If you’re promiscuous for considering a man, I wonder what I am.”

“I’m not considering him.”

Her gaze shifts to the window. “Why the hell not?”

Shifting onto my back I look up at the ceiling. “He’s not into commitment and I don’t think he’ll be interested in me once he finds out I’m pregnant.”

She lies down as well. “He’s interested, trust me.”

“Well, I’m not. My life is already complicated enough. I don’t need to add him to the mix.”

“I’ll give you your life being complicated but I’m still curious why you think he’s not into commitment?”

“It seems he has quite the ladies’ man reputation in Woodlake. Granted, from what I hear he’s not a one night stand kind of guy, more like a one week or weekend stand guy.”

She sits back up and looks down at me. “His reputation. Lordy, Lulu, don’t you go casting him into one of my romance novels.”

It’s my turn to sit up. “Please don’t. I’m not sure I could handle narrating a Gideon based on him.”

She points at me. “See, you are interested. There’s no point arguing with me.”

Shifting to my feet, I carry the flattened box over to a pile of more flattened boxes. “It’s not like that. Things are so crazy right now. My focus is on my doctor’s appointment and the fact that Derek handled me telling him we’re pregnant by telling me it was my decision to stay here therefore I’m on my own on this.”

She hugs her knees. “I still can’t believe he turned out to be such a gigantic asshole. You need to go after him for child support or something. So what if he doesn’t want to deal with a baby you both created? He doesn’t get to decide that.”

My skin starts to get itchy at the thought. “No, all I want is him to sign away his rights. Screw him. I don’t want him to show up in a couple years suddenly wanting to be a dad.”

Rissa stands, and pushes her long black hair off of her shoulder. “You’re letting him off too easy.”

I shake my head, chilled at the memory of our call and rub at the goosebumps that form on my arms. “No, I don’t want to ever speak to him again.”

There’s a knock at my front door and we both turn our heads at the sound of it.

“Expecting anyone?” Rissa asks.

“No,” I reply, moving toward it.

She follows me, whether out of curiosity or to act as my bodyguard, I do not know.

When I open it, it’s Gideon on the other side.

“I think I left my phone in the bathroom,” he explains.

Rissa and I shift out of his path. “Okay.”

He’s halfway down the hall when Rissa asks, “Want to join us for dinner tomorrow?”

Luckily, he misses it when I smack her arm and bug my eyes at her.

As he turns, I school my expression. “Sure. What time should I get here?”

Rissa glances at me. “What time will we be back from your doctor appointment?”

I shush her while Gideon says, “Doctor?”

My hands come up and act like mini windshield wipers. “It’s nothing. No big deal or need to worry.”

My words seem to have little effect, he looks one hundred percent worried. “If it’s nothing why is Rissa going with you?”

I start to speak but Rissa talks over me. “I’m only tagging along because I love writing in waiting rooms and we’re going to check out the cutest little strip mall near the office afterward.”

I shouldn’t be surprised she rocks at making something like that up on the fly, she does write fiction for a living. With a serene nod in agreement, I wait to see if Gideon buys it.

His worried expression clears instantly. “You like to write in waiting rooms?”

Rissa bobs her head. “Yep, not just waiting rooms though. I like to write in bars, amusement parks, and in coffee shops.”

He leans against the wall. “I know a great bar that’s up by my brother’s cabin. It’s called the Drunken Moose. If you’re in town long enough, I can take you both up there.”

She grabs my arm. “We have to go. I need to write words in a bar named The Drunken Moose.”

“Um.” Is all I can come up with.

While I have heard of Asher Thompson, and his cabin on a lake, I’ve also heard it’s a bit of a drive to get there.

“Asher has a guest cabin you two could sleep in. Let me know what day works for an overnight and I’ll call Asher.” He laughs to himself before adding. “Scratch that, I’ll call Paige because Asher never answers his phone.”

Rissa lifts up her index finger. “Let me get this straight, we get to stay at a cabin on a lake AND go to a bar called The Drunken Moose?”

He looks confused by the intensity in which she asked but still manages to nod.

With his assent confirmed she swings her body to face me fully and grabs my forearms. “Please, please, please, please, please, please can we go?”

No, is what I should say. I mean, in the span of three minutes she’s invited Gideon to dinner, almost spilled the beans on my condition, and is swinging a trip to a lake. She’s lucky I love her because my mind is still reeling from my own mess.

Gideon smiles warmly at both of us before turning and jogging down the hall to where he was working earlier.

“I can’t believe you invited him to dinner,” I hiss.

“Why? He seems really nice,” Rissa whispers back.

He’s back, phone in hand before I can answer her.

“Want me to call Paige now and ask about the cabin?”

Rissa says, “Yes,” as I say, “No.”

He holds my gaze as Rissa makes prayer hands beside me. “Fine.”

A dangerous smile spreads across his face, its only danger the effect it has on my heart. A heart that is now thumping wildly in my chest.

Rissa takes my arm and hugs it. “Thank you so much.”

I don’t pull my arm away. “It’s not me you need to thank and there’s no guarantee the cabin is free.”

Gideon locks eyes with me as he speaks into the phone. “Anytime is good? Are you sure?”

There’s a pause while Rissa’s grip cuts off my circulation. “Great. Thanks Paige. See you soon.”

He ends the call and slips his phone into his pocket. “No one is using the cabin for the next couple of weeks so just pick which days work for you and let me know.”

Rissa drops my arm and throws her hands up. “This is awesome. Thank you so much.”

He dips his head. “I’m happy to help.”

“This is really cool of you,” I add.

A different smile appears, one that’s sweet in its subtlety and is no less dangerous than the last one. “That’s what friends are for.”

I don’t even like him. Not in that way. So why does him calling us friends suck?

This whole time his eyes have not left mine. “I should hit the road.”

“Thanks again,” Rissa says as we follow him to the door.

As soon as it closes behind him, she jumps up and down. “I’m so happy.”

Her excitement is contagious. “I’ve heard this place is gorgeous.”

She rubs her hands together. “When should we go?”

Reality chooses that moment to make a comeback. “Let’s wait until after tomorrow’s appointment to decide.”

It sucks, but my words instantly deflate her. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I wasn’t even thinking. Are you sure? We don’t have to go if you’re not feeling it.”

It’s my turn to grab her arm, and once I have it, I give it a squeeze. “And miss seeing this place? Yeah right.”

“Say something,” Rissa urges.

I stare out the windshield at the building where I had my doctor appointment. Women in various stages of their pregnancies bustle into and out of it while we sit there.

“Lu.”

My gaze remains on the entrance. “It feels real now.”

It should. I’m not only pregnant, I’m further along than I had expected. It turns out what I thought was my last period was probably heavy spotting.

Based on their calculations, I’m only a couple weeks away from the end of my first trimester. Not only that, but I was just barely pregnant while Derek and I were still in Colorado.

What sucks most of all is how much I want to tell him, even though I know he doesn’t care. Some piece of my heart wonders if knowing this baby was conceived before things turned rocky in our relationship would change his reaction to the news.

My hand moves to my midsection. “I’m not even really showing.”

Stretching out her arm, she covers my hand with hers. “You’re going to be okay.”

At least one of us thinks so. As scary as realizing I was pregnant has been, the one thing I thought I had on my side was time. To find out I now have about a month and a half less of it is freaking me out.

“I never asked how far along Finley was.”

She squeezes my hand. “Huh?”

“Gideon’s sister-in-law, the one who lives across the street from my grandpa, she’s pregnant too.”

“Oh, do you think you guys might be due around the same time?”

I shrug, still staring at the door. “The last time I saw her she didn’t look pregnant.”

Rissa gives my hand a tug and I turn to look at her.

Her gaze moves like my face is a page she’s reading from a book. Something she reads in me must soothe her since her expression goes from worried to more calm “It might be cool for you to have a pregnant buddy right now, someone who understands what you’re going through.”

I nod. “I can ask her if she wants to schedule something at the engagement party.”

Her lip curls. “Schedule? Why be so formal about it. Just show up on her doorstep and make her be your pregnant friend.”

Typical force of nature Rissa. “I’m not being formal. I just know they’re out of town a lot fixing up a beach house in Texas.”

She tilts her head. “A beach house?”

I smile. “Yep.”

Her head remains tilted. “Why Texas?”

Glancing back at the entrance one more time, I thank the universe for Rissa and her uncanny ability to stop me from full-on freaking out. “Finley is from there, and I think she still has family there.”

She settles back in her seat and looks up at the roof. “One brother has a cabin on a lake, another has a beach house. I think you should hook up with Gideon and invite me to stay at their properties.”

“I’ll get right on it, after I single-handedly achieve world peace and invent stilettos that are both cute and comfortable.”

Rissa presses her hand to her chest. “Why do I keep wearing them when they kill my feet?”

“Because someone somewhere told all of us no pain no gain when we were little and we’ve been abusing ourselves ever since.”

She squints at me. “We? Please, you practically live in pajamas.”

She’s not lying.

“Only when I don’t have to leave my house.” I tug on the side of my corduroys. “Look, real pants.”

Shaking her head, she laughs. “Can we leave this parking lot and go home already?”

I shift into reverse. “I suppose.”

We’re on the road all of three seconds before I say, “By Thanksgiving I’ll be about to start my second trimester. That’s crazy, right? I’m not the only one who thinks that’s crazy, am I?”

My gaze flicks in her direction in time to catch her nod in assent. “You’re almost a third of the way there. The doctor said your due date is June eighteenth, right?”

“She did,” I agree. “Less than a month after my birthday.”

“That’s right. Too bad the baby won’t be a Pisces like me.”

I choke out a laugh. “What?”

She smacks her leg. “Come on, you had to have thought about it a little bit. You know, if the baby will be a boy or a girl and possible names. You have to let me help pick a name because I’m amazing at it.”

“I’m so not ready to think about any of that. I’m still freaking out that I have less time than I thought I would.”

“Even less if the baby comes early.”

Luckily, we’re stopped at a red light so I have time to glare at her. “Are you insane? Don’t even put that into the universe.”

She rolls her eyes. “I was two weeks early and am awesome.”

“Well I was right on time, I think, and turned out just fine.”

The light changes.

“When are you going to tell your parents?”

This sucks. The last thing I want to do is make my family worry.

“They’re coming up for Thanksgiving. I guess I’ll tell them then.”

“It’ll be fine. Just make sure your mom has a couple of glasses of wine in her first.”

I focus on the bumper of the truck in front of me and gulp. “I might not be able to. She’ll be pretty suspicious when I don’t have any with her.”

“Hmm. Good point. Hey, do you want me to stay longer? I can be a distraction.”

My heart clenches. “Really? You’d do that?”

She makes a psssh sound and says, “I don’t have any book events until 2019.”

I make the turn into my neighborhood. “But will it be cool for you to skip out on Thanksgiving with your family?”

“Please, my dad will be so busy watching football he won’t even notice.”

“Yes, I’d love it and you know my family loves you. Honestly, it would make it so much easier to tell them if you were there.”

With eyes blurry from tears, I park. As soon as I turn the key and kill the engine, tears stream down my face.

I cover my eyes, embarrassed. “I’m just so happy.”

There’s a click as she unfastens her seatbelt seconds before her arms go around me. “I’ll always be here for you.”

You don’t get to pick your blood relatives, but she’s my sister whether we share blood or not. “I love you.”

“I love you too Lu.”

We hug until her stomach growls loudly.

Both of us burst out laughing, me as I wipe my tears away. “Hungry?”

She nods. “Starved. I was too nervous to eat anything before your appointment.”

I unfasten my seatbelt. “You can snack while we cook.”

Her face lights up. “That’s right, we have company coming for dinner. You go shower and change into something cute, I’ll cook.”

Turning my wrist, I glance at my watch. “He’s not coming until tonight. We have tons of time.”

She pushes open her door and steps out, then bends until she’s eye level with me. “You need time to get all dolled up.”

I start to argue but she’s already straightened and stepping away, closing the door before I have a chance to say anything.

It’s not until I catch up with her on the front porch that I say, “I know your heart is in the right place. All you want is for me to have someone. I get that, trust me, I do. But, right now, especially after what happened with Derek, I need to be single.”

“I disagree.”

With a shake of my head, I push open the door. “I’m not going to argue. I’m also not going to change my clothes or put on makeup.”

She follows me to the kitchen. “Fine.”

Turning I grin at her. “If you think he’s so hot, why don’t you hit on him?”

She slumps against the counter, using it to hold herself up. “But he doesn’t live in Japan.”

Oh, this should be good.

“Japan?”

She perks right up. “Yes, I’ve decided I want to live in Japan so it would be convenient if the next guy I dated did too.”

“What happened to South Africa?”

Folding her arms over her chest, she sighs. “It was beautiful, and as fun as Alfred was, in the end, we wanted different things.”

I’m not going to guess. “Which were?”

A mischievous smile spreads across her face. “To move to Japan.”

Before South Africa it was Greece, before Greece it was Brazil. Now it’s Japan. Thank God she always comes back to the U.S. before she sets off on one of her international romances.

“You’re impossible.”

Her shoulder lifts up in a gentle shrug before she meets my gaze. “There’s nothing wrong with falling in love over and over again. It’s only practice for when you fall in love forever.”