“So, what else have I missed, since apparently the Dixon boys like keeping me out of the loop?”
Amusement and affection played on her lips as she thought. “Oh!” she suddenly gasped, leaning forward and tucking her legs up under her. “Oh my gosh, so much has happened.”
“Oh my God, are you pregnant too?”
Her head jerked back, a startled look dancing across her face for a moment. “What? No.” Leaning forward again, she dropped her voice to a low whisper. “You were so wrong about the whole Hunter-and-Isabel-Estrada thing. And, oh my gosh, the whole that with them was . . . friend, it was whoa. Raf broke up with the homewrecker not long after getting traded to Dallas, and Avalee’s so happy to have her dad here. And he and Hunter are really cool with each other, which makes things so much eas—”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said quickly, holding up a hand as I tried to back through what she’d just said about her ex to the first part. “Hunter and Isabel?”
Her eyes widened significantly. “Yeah. So, right before I blurted out everything about that drunken night and the following months to Hunter, I found out he was also in love with Isabel. That they’d been in some kind of extremely long-term, non-relationship relationship before I came back. And I’d ruined that too.”
I stared at her for a while, completely dumbfounded. “Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything?”
“No one knew,” she said with a slow shrug.
Sitting back against the couch, I gestured between us with a finger. “Tell me everything.”
Madison’s laughter slowly faded as she reached for where her phone sat on the table a while later.
“It’s my Dixon,” she murmured with a secretive smile as her finger swiped across the screen.
I gasped and reached for my purse, only to realize I’d left it in the car. Not that it mattered, I was pretty sure I’d left my phone at home when the calls and texts about Beau had gotten to be too much. “Oh God, what time is it?”
She turned her phone so it was facing me. “Someone’s looking for you.”
Hunter: Beau called looking for Savannah. She still there?
“I have to go,” I said, already standing.
Madison’s brows pulled tight, but she tried to huff out a tease. “You in trouble?”
A wicked grin slowly crossed my face. “I hope so.”
Her mouth fell open and she smacked at me with her phone. “Gross. Gross. I don’t wanna know.”
“You asked.”
“And I regret it! I don’t need to know about your thats.”
“Speaking of,” I said a little too innocently as I headed for the door. “Y’all better be using protection.”
“Thanks, Mom,” she said dryly.
I turned at the door, failing miserably at fighting my excitement. “Emberly’s fourteen weeks, right?”
She squinted her eyes at me, trying to figure out where I was going with this as a hum of acknowledgment sounded in her throat.
“Rae’s ten.” I let my hand pass over my stomach and added, “Almost seven.”
She sucked in a gasp, looking like she was ready to burst from excitement. “Are you serious?”
“You’re next, and with those gaps, I’d say you might already be pregnant.”
Her expression fell. “I’m gonna need to fit into a wedding dress first.”
“Would you be mad?”
“Not even a little bit,” she said with a grin. “We’re . . .” A sharp exhale left her, and her smile softened. “I’m so lucky, Savannah. So lucky to have him. He loves Avalee, and everything he does is for me and her. She’s never an afterthought for him. He’s also very respectful of the fact that she has a dad even though he already views Avalee as his own. But we very much want kids.”
“You . . . want kids with Hunter Dixon . . .” I said sarcastically as I fought a smile. “I never would’ve known.”
She playfully smacked at my arm.
“I’m pretty sure y’all had names picked out for your kids when we were in middle school.”
“Okay, but they also changed every year,” she reasoned before lifting her shoulder in a little shrug. “But, no, I wouldn’t be mad. We’re getting started on everything thirteen years late, so we’re not trying to put anything off. Just taking some things a little slower for Avalee.” She gestured to the side with a jerk of her chin. “Moving in with him. The wedding. But we’ve been taking her to pick out things for her room at his place a little bit at a time, and we’re both gonna stay there this weekend to see how she reacts.”
“And a baby takes time,” I said thoughtfully.
“Exactly.”
“On that note . . .” I gave her a suggestive look and opened the door. “I have a husband waiting for me.”
A breath of a laugh left her, but she reached for my hand before I could make it all the way outside, her face falling into something more serious. “Thank you. For coming, for this. It means everything.”
I squeezed her hand. “I missed you,” I said simply as I stepped back, thankful that it felt like the world was finally settling back into place. “See you soon?”
“Please.”
I offered her a nod as I turned and hurried to my SUV.
Excitement slowly wound through me and filled my veins as I started up the engine, making the small distance that separated me from Beau and his carnal promises seem so great when I was beyond eager to be there. Making me ache for him long before I ever arrived home.
I pounded my fist on Sawyer’s door, ready to get what I needed and get home.
The last hours of the day had dragged. Taunting me with each minute that crawled by that I was only one minute closer to being home with my wife when I’d mentally never left our bed that morning. That I still had hours and minutes before I could crush her body to mine and show her exactly what she did to me.
Then a handful of minutes before I could leave, I’d gotten an email that everyone needed to be present for a last-minute, all-staff meeting on misconduct.
I’d nearly lost my shit.
“I need Savannah’s rings,” I said as soon as Sawyer answered the door, already pushing my way inside.
“Where were you earlier?”
“Busy. I told you to bring the rings to the school.”
“When?” he asked on an irritated laugh as he finished shutting the door behind me.
“I’ve been texting you for the last—what the fuck?” I ground out, my stare narrowing on the vulture who’d shown up a year ago, trying to buy our family’s land.
A development company had been sending out someone ever since the year Dad died and Hunter took over, trying to buy up the land and turn it into some retail shit I really didn’t care about.
Every year, Savannah and I hosted them at Blossom and joined the entire town in hating every minute they were there. Last year, it’d been the asshole walking across Sawyer’s living room, face lighting in recognition when he saw me.
“The fuck?” I repeated, narrowed stare shifting to Sawyer when he placed himself in front of me.