I’d been touched by Gabe’s hug and sweet words, heart warmed to have his blessing.

Afterwards, he’d taken Evie from Dillon to put her down for a nap, while Zoey, Dillon, and I went into Zoey’s kitchen to sit down with tea and snacks and talk shower(s).

“I love this tea set,” I said, looking at the adorable cup and saucer with books all over them.

“Thanks, it was a Christmas present from Reardon.”

“Speaking of Reardon, he’s texted me a list of requests,” Dillon said, sitting back in his chair. He’d opted for black coffee, rather than tea.

I pulled my notebook and pen out of my purse and placed them in front of me.

“Shoot,” I said.

“BB8 cake, Deathstar Puzzle Contest, white and black themed decorations, with a splash of Yoda, Star Wars themed desserts, and a bonus prize for whoever brings a Star Wars onesie for the baby.”

I scribbled furiously as he spoke, not stopping until he was done, then I read back what he’d said.

“You know, I could have forwarded you the text.”

“I like my notebooks,” I said, then chuckled at Reardon’s demands and looked at Zoey. “How will Chloe feel about all this?”

“She said, whatever makes him happy will make her happy. Honestly, she’s pretty low key about this kind of stuff, which is why she’s cool with lumping them all together. All she wants is to get married and have the baby. She wouldn’t be having a party at all if I hadn’t bugged her until she’d said yes.”

“So, no input for the invitations, decorations, overall theme,” I said, wanting to confirm. When Zoey nodded, I asked, “What about the food? Does she have a favorite, least favorite, anything that’s making her sick in this pregnancy?”

“She loves Italian food and Mexican food, and, luckily, hasn’t had anything make her sick since the beginning of her pregnancy.”

“Okay,” I stated, making a note. “What about you two? As the Maid of Honor and Best Man, is there anything special you want to do?”

“Well, I haven’t run it by Dillon yet,” Zoey said excitedly, shooting a glance at Dillon, then grinning at me, “But, I thought it would be awesome if we sang them a song. A duet.”

“What’s that now?” Dillon asked, sitting forward and gaping at Zoey.

“C’mon, it would be so sweet. We could sing, Islands in the Stream, or I got you, Babe, something like that.”

“That sounds terrible,” Dillon said, obviously not on board.

“Told you he wouldn’t go for it,” Gabe said as he walked into the room. Evie wasn’t with him, so I assumed naptime was a success.

Zoey pouted and looked up at her husband.

“Can’t you make him do it?”

Dillon scoffed.

“Shit, he hasn’t been able to make me do anything since we were in sixth grade and I found out he was terrified of spiders. All I had to do was threaten to throw one at him, and he always backed down.”

“That’s not funny,” Gabe said, shivering at the mention of spiders.

I laughed and said, “I’ll write it down and we can come back to it later, okay?’

“Okay,” Zoey said.

At the same time Dillon said, “No need, I’m not doing it.”

“Spoilsport,” Zoey said, and stuck out her tongue at him.

Dillon just laughed and said, “Call me all the names you want, there’s no way I’m going to embarrass myself by getting up and singing in front of my family, friends, and possibly strangers.”

“What strangers,” Gabe asked. “Everyone knows everyone in Cherry Springs.”

“I didn’t know if maybe some of Chloe’s friends from North Carolina were going to show up.”

Zoey shook her head. “No, no one can make it. Not even our parents are coming … which is why the duet would be such a nice touch.”

“Wow,” Dillon said, looking at Zoey with mock disappointment. “I can’t believe you’d use that to try and get me to agree to doing something you can tell I really don’t want to do. I thought you were better than that.”

“Fine,” Zoey said with a sigh, then perked up and added, “I’ll just make Gabe do it with me.”

“Hey,” Gabe complained, and Dillon and I laughed while she worked on getting her husband to do the duet with her.

While they continued their banter, I wrote up a rough schedule for the night of the party, including bits of information about theme, decoration, and food ideas. Excitement and adrenaline coursed through me at the thought of finally having my first party with my new business.

I’d dropped off the business plan and loan paperwork at the bank that afternoon, so I was just waiting to hear back from them, and Reardon, and then Party with Laurel would finally be in business.

“Okay, this is great. I’ll shoot this off to the two of you, and Chloe to get final approval, then get started. As I said before, if you want to help, I can put you on the schedule, but if not, my team and I, minus Chloe, of course, have it under control.”

“I’d like to help,” Zoey said.

“I trust you.” This was said by Dillon, who I already knew was planning on taking more of a hands-off approach.

“Perfect,” I said, rising from the table, then going to give Zoey and Gabe, hugs. “Thanks so much for meeting.”

“Thank you for agreeing to meet here,” Zoey replied.

“No problem,” I said, then turned to Dillon and asked shyly, “You wanna come over for dinner?”

It wasn’t the first time I’d propositioned him, so that wasn’t what made me shy, no, it was doing so in front of Gabe and Zoey. Even though they knew about us, it was still hard to get used to being a couple in front of other people.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Dillon said, standing, then shocking the heck out of me when he pulled me in for a kiss.

I was so caught up, I barely heard Zoey cheering in the background.