June

“Gunner, dude, you need to settle down. It’s all going to be okay, trust me. Come on.” Brad handed me a beer and led me out to the deck that overlooked Lake Travis. I didn’t want a bachelor party, so a few of the guys decided some male bonding up at Brad’s parents’ lake house would do the trick. Gus took his normal position at my feet. I was surprised Ellie let him come with me and not her. She fucking loved this dog and he loved her just as much, if not more. Damn dog followed her everywhere she went.

Ellie and the girls were at Ari’s parents’ lake house, which was actually two miles up the road. All I wanted to do was talk to Ellie. We were getting married in three days, and I was a nervous wreck. We were leaving tomorrow for the ranch. Ellie seemed so calm. Ari, Amanda, and Heather were amazing friends to Ellie. They were handling so much of the planning for Ellie and were in constant contact with Jenny, who we were using as the wedding planner. It helped Ellie not to stress too much so she could finish up school.

The only real break she took from school was for Brad and Amanda’s wedding on Valentine’s Day, and spring break, when we all headed to the ranch. Jeff and I spent most of spring break getting his property ready for the horse stables he was having built this summer. He was going to tear down the small ranch house and start from scratch by building something bigger. He thought Ari wanted something big, but it turned out she’s just a simple country girl at heart and wanted a simple ranch-style home. They would stay in the existing house until they built their house. Jeff and I had both been putting in a shit ton of hours at the firm where we had been interning for the last two years. I was still surprised they asked us to stay on as consultants.

Fuck, just sitting here and relaxing felt great. Graduation was over, and now we looked forward to the wedding. Jeff came walking out and slapped me on the back as he ran his hand through his hair. He sat down and let out a sigh.

“She still pissed?” I asked as Jeff took a drink from his beer.

“Yep. God, she has me all tied up in fucking knots.”

Brad and I just laughed. Ari had not spoken to Jeff ever since graduation night when he failed to pop the big question. Little did she know he was asking her the night of our wedding. He had Jenny working on the side taking care of it. I thought it was pretty cool he was going to ask Ari to marry him in the same cabin I asked Ellie. Grams said it was a good sign. Ellie and I were going to be living in the cabin until we could get a house of our own built.

“Did you even acknowledge to her that you knew why she was upset?” Brad asked with a laugh.

“No. She’s so pissed and just started calling me a motherfucking dickwad for no reason when we got back to her place, so I just left and came home.”

“Damn, dude, no wonder she’s pissed at you. You better make it up when you do ask her this weekend,” Brad said as he tipped his beer back and finished it.

“Shit . . . I think I’ll text her.”

Jeff sat there and typed out a text message to Ari as Brad and I talked about some last-minute shit that needed to be done before the wedding.

“There. I just sent her a text telling her I knew why she was upset and that I wanted to wait until after Ellie’s wedding. She just doesn’t know it will be the night of the wedding.”

Jeff’s cell phone started ringing, and he must have thought at first it was going to be Ari. He pulled it out and frowned when he saw who was calling.

“What do you want, Rebecca?” Jeff said with no emotion at all in his voice. “Well, honestly, I don’t see what in the hell we would need to meet for lunch for. I have nothing to discuss with you. Fuck, I haven’t even seen you since what? Last November?”

Just then Jeff dropped the beer that was in his hand and it crashed onto the patio. Beer went everywhere and Brad jumped up.

“What the fuck, Jeff!”

Jeff’s face was pale. What the fuck was going on?

“Are you fucking kidding me right now, Rebecca? That’s impossible, I saw it, and it was not broke . . . No, you listen to me, you’re wrong . . . I can’t talk to you now. I’ll call you next week . . . No, I’ll call you next week.”

Jeff sat there for a second stunned.

“Jeff, what the fuck was that all about?”

“Jesus Christ, Jeff, you look like you’re about to throw up! Man, don’t do it out here or my parents will kill me!”

Jeff turned and looked at me and he had tears in his eyes. Oh, holy motherfucking shit . . .

“She’s pregnant, isn’t she?”