Mississippi Roast?
Mom found the recipe back when I was in high school, always wanting to try new foods or new spices on them when she got tired of cooking the same old boring thing for us all the time.
I hadn’t had this in years. I’d even asked Mom to make it when they were here for Christmas but we’d run out of time.
“I love this meal,” I said. Lizzie knew that, too.
She set down the knife and grinned. “I called your mom.”
Oh. Now all those texts made sense. My phone vibrated in my hand and I looked down to see another text.
Gabby: CALL ME
“I hope that was okay?” Lizzie asked, nibbling on her bottom lip. “Because I’m sorry if…”
“No. No. It’s great.” I showed her my screen, scrolled down through all the texts I hadn’t opened yet. “It just explains why my phone’s been blowing up with texts from Mom and Gabby on my way home. I was starting to get worried.”
Her brows puckered as she read the texts. “Gabby sounds pissed.”
There was really no way of sugarcoating this. She knew Gabby, knew how protective she was of me. And Gabby had seen me days after Lizzie snuck out on me and had already ignored dozens of calls and texts. Now I knew at least then, she’d been sick, but Gabby could hold a grudge lasting a century. Or she could get over it with a snap of her fingers. Her texts told me she hadn’t quite gotten to the finger snapping part.
“She wasn’t all that happy with you. They were, upset, when I told them about the last time we saw each other.”
Lizzie’s brows jumped up to her forehead. “You told them?”
Internally, I cringed. Shit. But there’d been no way to hide how bothered I’d been.
“They helped me move in. Came in for the holidays and spent the week with me, so yeah, I couldn’t hide that. Not from my mom.”
“Rachel is a damn good detective.” She worried her bottom lip and I went to her, slipping my hand to her lower back.
“Yeah. They love you, though, you know that. I’m sure your call just took them by surprise, is all. What if we FaceTime them after dinner? Can we tell them about the baby?”
“I’d love it if they knew. If they won’t threaten to come down here and kill me for dragging you through the wringer.”
I typed out a text. Told my sister to chill. Then opened up our family chat and typed out FaceTime in one hour. Let me eat this dinner and then Lizzie and I will call. Now leave me alone. Everything is good. Retract the claws, Gabby.
I added a few emojis to take the sting out of that, knowing it’d piss Gabby off.
“No killing guaranteed. But I will warn you that Gabby was a bit more than upset.”
“Right. I’ll have to make that up to her.” Lizzie’s head tilted to the side and she tapped her chin with her pink painted fingernail. “Do you think an annual pass to the Château Ste. Michelle winery will help?”
I nipped at her finger and kissed her cheek. “It might smooth something over, yeah. But also, let her plan the baby shower?”
Gabby lived for that shit. After their initial anger or need to be protective of me, she’d come around. Mom always loved Lizzie anyway. Besides, we were together now. Something Mom had wanted for me for years. And I wouldn’t even get started on how often she’d hinted about having grandbabies. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if we told Mom what was going on and she showed up tomorrow with diapers and baby outfits.
“Oh shit.” A laugh bubbled deep in her chest until her body shook with it and she placed a hand to my chest, grinning up at me. “We’ll have a baby shower.”
“You will.” I stepped back, snagged a crouton from the salad, and popped it into my mouth. “I want no part of that. But when we register, I get to carry the gun.”
20
Lizzie
Gabrielle Dubiak was a force of nature. All silky black hair down to her waist, full lips, and almond-shaped eyes. This woman was a knockout. She had all of her mom’s features, making the Dubiak women some of the most beautiful women I’d ever met in my life. Coupled with Gabby’s larger-than-life personality, not only had she and I become fast friends the first time we met, but I’d missed her a lot over the last year when things with Garrett and I were so messy. Her mom called her the wild child, aimless and prone to making decisions without measuring the risk. It was true, to an extent. When Gabby was twenty-one, her college boyfriend broke up with her and she ended up calling me the next day from a beach in Florida. She’d apparently decided to get out of town, drove to the airport, got a flight on the first one out and ended up in Miami. So sure, there was truth to what Rachel said about Gabby, but not fully.
Gabby lived for adventure and excitement. She didn’t want to be stuck in one place forever. I couldn’t fault her for that even if it differed from how I’d always pictured my life.
So did I expect her to be upset? Sure. She lived bouncing from whatever emotion she felt in the moment.
Upset was putting it mildly as soon as Garrett fired up his laptop, both of us sitting on the couch pressed together and the call connected.
What I hadn’t expected was for her eyes to narrow as soon as the images cleared and for her to practically sneer when she saw Garrett’s hand tangled with mine on his thigh.
“Garrett,” she said, “hi.”
Ignoring me completely, her mom on the split screen sighed her daughter’s name and smiled at the both of us. “How was dinner?” she asked.
“Dinner?” Gabby asked. She spun her finger in a circle. “How about we start with what in the hell is going on between you two.”
“Easy, Gabs,” Garrett said, his voice barely over a growl. “We have things to say, and you love Lizzie, so I’m going to need you to take a step back or we’re talking to Mom only.”
She huffed, crossed her arms, and flopped back in the chair. For the first time since knowing Gabby, fear trickled down my spine. She was always protective of her big brother, but this was extreme, even for her.
And we were friends. Yeah, I’d hurt him. We’d hurt each other, but Garrett and I were moving past that.
“Gabby.” I leaned forward and waited until she slid that glare of hers off her brother and to me. “I love him. All my heart, babe, I swear it. We’re good.”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, Garrett leaned closer, kissed my temple. His lips were pressed into a smile I registered on the screen but what surprised me most was the glare sliding from Gabby’s face and morphing into one of surprise.
“You love him.”
“I do.” I chuckled.
“Not as a friend.”
“As a friend and more,” I promised.
“Oh!” His mom clapped her hands together and smiled over her fingertips. “Isn’t this wonderful? I always hoped you two would end up together. And if you’re in Vegas, then that means…”
I glanced at Garrett, rose my brows. In for a penny, in for a pound was what my dad always said, but I’d leave it to him to spill the news. Gabby had barely stopped looking like she could reach the screen and throttle my skinny little neck.