Nora hopped over a puddle, the heel of her purple velvet stilettos catching on the edge of the water, making a little splash.

Sorry, super cute shoes, she thought. But dinner waits for no one. Especially when it comes to fried chicken.

She hurried down the rainy Portland street, her shoes making wet little clicks against the pavement. She hated being late, but she was still learning the area around her new apartment and had gotten lost on the way to the restaurant.

This move to Portland from Seattle had been the right decision. Or so she kept telling herself.

She needed a fresh start. To leave everything from Seattle behind and start anew. But as she entered the Screen Door, the southern restaurant where she was meeting Hunter and Margaux Oakes, she felt anything but new.

She hadn’t seen her old friends since before Gregory had casually told her over breakfast that he’d been having an affair, and oh, he’d cancelled their wedding. That had been three months ago.

I guess I should be glad Gregory took care of all the vendors and venues, she thought dryly as she scanned the cheery restaurant for her friends. The smell of fried chicken and shrimp and grits filled the air as she spotted a curly blonde halo of hair—Margaux.

“Hi, sweetie!” she called, making her way through the crowded restaurant. Her friend rose to her feet, a smile breaking across her angelic face.

Margaux was tall and willowy, with just the barest touch of an accent from her French mother. She was always impeccably and stylishly dressed. Tonight, she was in a black-and-white jumpsuit, the neckline cut jaggedly across her skin.

“You look incredible,” she told her.

“Me? Look at you!” Margaux said, kissing her on each cheek. “What is all this color you’re wearing? I love it! Where’s all the black I’m used to?”

Nora smiled, because she had a point. She used to wear a lot of black and gray and beige. Gregory had always made pointed little comments when she wore bright colors, and she’d taken it to heart back then.

Well, not anymore. She was going to wear neon green if she wanted to.

Not that she would want to, since it would make her look sallow. But for tonight, she had chosen a fit and flare dress of bright orange, festooned with shiny purple dots the same color as her shoes. And she felt fabulous. Like a cute-as-hell pumpkin.

“I’m trying some new things,” she told Margaux, who gestured for her to take a seat. She looked around. “Where’s Hunter?” she asked.

“He’s parking the car,” Margaux said. “He couldn’t find a spot and insisted on dropping me off while he found one because God forbid I walk a block.” She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “He’s on this whole protective kick since we found out I was pregnant.”

“What?!” Nora almost shrieked in surprise as Margaux burst into a wide, sly smile. “Oh my gosh! Sweetie!” She hugged Margaux. “Congratulations!”

“You told her without me?” an amused, scolding voice asked behind her. She turned to see a tall, blond man who looked more like he belonged on the side of a mountain chopping trees than in a suit.

“I couldn’t resist,” Margaux said with a wink at her husband.

“Hunter!” Nora leapt to her feet and hugged him. “I’m so excited for you two!”

“Thanks,” he said, hugging her back and then taking a seat next to his wife. “We’re excited.”

“And we’re so happy you’ll be here,” Margaux said. “You’ve got to help me with the baby shower… or this one’s mom—” she jerked her thumb at Hunter, “—will take over!”

“Your mom must be so excited,” Nora said to Hunter with a laugh. Marie Oakes was a formidable woman who was her own mother’s best friend. She had grown up with the Oakes family, and had actually been the one who’d brought Margaux—her lab partner in college—into Hunter’s life. Watching the two of them fall in love had been like witnessing a fairy tale. For a long time, Hunter and Margaux were the reason Nora believed in happy endings.

“She has bought so many things for the baby already,” Margaux said with a laugh. “Meanwhile, my mother will talk about nothing but the baby spending summers in Paris with Grandmere. The two of them are conspiring now, I think.”

“Typical,” Nora giggled, ordering a sweet tea when the waitress came by to take their drink orders.

“How are you settling into your new place?” Hunter asked. “Did the movers I sent get everything squared away?”

Nora nodded. “Thanks again for that,” she said. “I was so overwhelmed at the idea of packing it all up and getting out, they were a godsend.”

“Anything for you,” Hunter said with a smile, looking over at his wife, a dreamy expression in his eyes. “After all, you’re the reason this beautiful woman crossed my path.” His roguish grin widened. “Somehow, I tricked her into marrying me.”

“Oh, is that how you see it?” Margaux asked with an exaggerated air. “I seem to remember me doing the tricking!”

“That’s just what I want you to think, fleur,” Hunter said, brushing a kiss on Margaux’s cheek as she smiled at the endearment.

“You two are going to have the most beautiful family,” Nora said, unable to stop from tearing up a little at the thought. “I cannot wait.”

“Well, there is something we’d like to ask you,” Margaux said, leaning forward a little to be heard over the din of the restaurant as it began to fill for the dinner rush. “We were wondering if you would do us the honor of being our child’s godmother.”

“Oh my gosh,” Nora pressed a hand against her heart, her eyes welling up again. “Seriously?”

“You’re the reason we met, Nora,” Margaux replied. “We would be so honored, and our baby would be so lucky to have you help guide them through life.”

“I am so touched,” Nora said. “I would love that so much.”

“Then it’s settled!” Hunter declared, just as the waitress came to take their orders.

“Fried chicken for me,” Nora said.

“Ooh, that sounds good,” Margaux chimed in, touching her stomach lightly. “What baby wants, baby gets! Fried chicken for me, too.”

“And I’ll be the outlier and get the po’ boy,” Hunter said, handing the menus to the cheerful waitress with a smile. “Thanks.”

“Okay, so tell me everything,” Nora said. “How far along are you?”

“Eighteen weeks,” Margaux said. “We decided we’re going to wait to see if the baby is a boy or girl, so it’s a surprise.”

“No one does that anymore—I love it!” Nora said.

“My mother thinks I’m crazy,” Margaux smiled. “She asked how I expected her to buy clothes if she didn’t know if the baby was a boy or a girl, and I said she’d just have to buy clothes suited for either!”

“It’s another part of the adventure,” Hunter said. “I figure we’re swimming into the unknown anyway with parenthood, so what’s another surprise on top of it?”

“Now, what about you?” Margaux said, reaching across the table and grasping both of Nora’s hands. Her friend had always been a tactical person, an affectionate hugger and kisser. It always struck Nora as very European, part of Margaux’s effortless charm. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” Nora said, and then deflated a little when Margaux raised a perfectly arched brow. “Okay, I’m better,” she corrected. “I really do feel much better now that I’m out of Seattle… and away from Gregory.”

“That guy…” Hunter muttered under his breath, his jaw going tight. “I still say you should’ve let me and some of the other Oakes boys teach him a lesson.”

“No,” Nora said firmly, though she appreciated the offer. “What Gregory did was terrible, but by doing it, he also did me a favor,” she said. “It didn’t feel like it at the time, because the wedding was only three weeks away, but now that I have some space? I am glad. Or…I’m trying to be. Think about how much more horrible it would have been if he hadn’t come clean about his affair? What if I had actually married him? Had children with him? Then I’d be dealing with a messy divorce or custody issues or all sorts of things.”

“He’s still a scumbag for cheating on you instead of breaking it off then and there,” Margaux said.

“I’m trying to look at the positive,” Nora said. Because otherwise, she felt like her head might explode. It had taken what felt like all her strength to get her apartment—what had been their apartment—packed up and moved in the three months that followed after the broken engagement. But she’d done it. And now she was here, among her friends, about to start a brand new job in six weeks, and in a few months, she’d have a goddaughter or godson. How amazing was that?

Life can be good again, she reminded herself. Just look for the sun peeking through the clouds.

“I will be okay,” she promised Margaux, who was still looking a little worried. “So, who are you thinking of for the baby’s godfather? Leo?” she asked, naming Hunter’s older brother. “Or maybe Rhett?” That was Hunter’s cousin. He was a bit of a loner in the big, boisterous Oakes family, but he and Hunter had always been close.

“We’ve asked my oldest friend, Lucas Stone,” Hunter said. “We went to boarding school together, back when we were kids. He runs the Stone Foundation.”

“The nonprofit that does all the charity work?” Nora asked.

Hunter nodded. “He’s a great guy. He and his brother were dealt a really rough hand when they were young—their parents died in a plane crash. Luke’s spent his life—and the family fortune—doing good.”

“He’s the one who funded the new building for the domestic violence shelter downtown,” Margaux said. “Katy’s been able to add 100 new beds, and there’s a job placement center now.”

“That’s fantastic,” Nora said. “He sounds like the perfect godfather.”

“You know…” Margaux shot her an assessing look, a smile lighting across her lovely face. “I think you and Luke would get along. Don’t you think so, Hunter?”

“Hmm?” Hunter asked, looking up from the food that had just arrived. “Nora and Luke?” he paused, thinking about it, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Wow. They’d be perfect together. Why did we never think of that before?” he asked Margaux.

“She was engaged!” Margaux shot back. Her eyes were lit with a fervor that made Nora a bit nervous. “Oh, this would be wonderful! He’s such a solid guy, Nora. Very gentlemanly and sweet. And funny.”

“Take your matchmaking hat off, Margaux,” Nora said with a laugh. “I am so done with men.”

“Oh, bosh!” Margaux waved her objection away, grabbing her phone and paging through the photos for a second. “Just look at him.”

She held out her phone, and when Nora’s gaze fell on it, her heart actually, honest to God, skipped. The man in the photo was standing next to Hunter, the two of them on some deck in front of a lake somewhere, clutching beers and smiling at the camera.

Luke had dark hair with just a hint of curl, and chocolatey eyes, and he was tall and broad-shouldered… and handsome as hell.

But it wasn’t that that drew her attention. Sure, he looked like a GQ model come to life, but there was something in his deep, brown eyes. A soulful earnestness as he smiled at the camera.

He looked like the kind of man who’d do anything to make things right.

“Isn’t he cute?” Margaux asked. “It would just take one text and you’d be on a date with him… and who knows what would happen after that?”

Nora bit her lip. Margaux was so sweet and earnest, and she loved her friend so much. And really, it probably would be wise to she meet the man who was going to be her co-godparent. She knew not everyone took those sorts of roles seriously, but she did. Margaux and Hunter were like her family, and she would do anything for their child—including spoiling it rotten, like a good godmother should!

“Maybe we could just get coffee,” she said, laughing at Margaux’s delighted expression. “Just to talk about our future godchild.”