I grinned at that thought, and Elise bumped my shoulder. “What are you smiling at?”
“Thinking about Dillon cooking back there.”
Elise practically swooned. “Isn’t he great? They have two other cooks here, and another chef at the restaurant, so Dillon didn’t need to fill in tonight, but he wanted to. The schedules worked out so one of their lead chefs could take a day off to be with their child.”
“It’s good that they can all step in for one another.”
“It is. Dillon still has two more years to finish his MBA, but then he’ll be here, perhaps even opening a third business with the Connollys.”
I shook my head. “They’re going to take over the world.”
“That’s the goal,” Elise said into her wine.
“And you still have another year, right?”
Elise nodded. “A year of training, and then I’m working on a paid internship, as well. I’m going to be busy, but Dillon and I are working it out. We might have even found a house in his brother’s neighborhood.”
I grinned. “Really? It hasn’t sold yet?”
“No. It currently belongs to a family friend.” She gestured towards the bar. “Beckham’s wife, actually.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Meadow has been renting it out but she wants to sell it. Dillon and I are seeing if we can scrape up the money to buy. My parents want to help, as do his brothers.”
“Would you and Dillon take the offer?” Mackenzie asked, voice filled with concern.
“With the way the housing market is here, we might. We would pay them back and do whatever we could to make sure there was no debt between us. But renting just really isn’t an option here. And we want to stay near family. We’ll find a way to make it work, and we’ll help the next generation. Plus, my parents are amazing right now. We’re closer than ever, and they want to do this.”
“That’s good to hear,” I said, ignoring the pain in my heart. Elise and her family had been on the outs because of many things in the past. Now, they were making things work. I had to hope that would be my family and me someday, but I didn’t know. It didn’t seem like that would be the case. And I hated the idea of it.
“What about you?” Elise asked as she looked across the table.
Mackenzie smiled. “It’ll be no shock to you that Pacey’s family also has another house closer to the Boulder campus.”
I snorted. “Of course, they do.”
“It’s more of a mountain cabin, but it’s not really a cabin because…hello, Pacey’s family doesn’t do anything by half-measures.”
“So, you’re going to be staying there?”
“While we save up for a house of our own, yes. It just makes sense while we’re finishing up grad school before we have full-time, paying jobs. I don’t know what we would do without them.”
“Probably what Miles and I are doing,” Nessa said dryly.
“I’m sorry,” Mackenzie whispered.
She waved us off. “Don’t be. I’m so glad that you guys have your families to help. And while Dad and Miles’ parents want to help, we all have struggles. However, Miles said we could tell you. We signed a lease for a small apartment near campus.”
“You did?” I beamed, relief sliding through me even as a pang of loss hit, too. We were all moving on, and it seemed like everything was going so quickly.
“Yep. We’ll be moving up to the university, but we got lucky somehow. The rent isn’t astronomical, and it will give us some time to save up to buy a house. The market’s crazy here, but we’re making it work.”
I bit my lip and looked at all of them. “I can’t believe we won’t be living together anymore.”
“I know. I was kind of excited to be Auntie Elise and living with you guys and the baby. Even though that’d be a little ridiculous with eight people in one house with a child.”
“It would make babysitting an easy thing,” Mackenzie added. “We’re all going on to different grad schools and programs and jobs after this. Only we’re not leaving each other, right?” she asked, and I shook my head.
“No, you’re stuck with me forever. This baby will have aunties and uncles.” I let out a shaky breath. “We’re going to need family, you know?” Mackenzie handed me a linen napkin, and I dabbed my eyes. “I know it’s just the hormones making me cry, and I hate it, but I am excited, even with everything changing. Tanner and I are looking at a few houses.”
The girls shared a glance, and I frowned.
“Together?”
“Yes. We’re looking at a few, and they’re popping up everywhere at the moment, but they sell so quickly, it’s a bit scary.”
“But you’re going into it together? As in living together?”
“Yes, that’s what we decided. It’ll be good for the baby.”
“And what about you?” Nessa asked softly.
I gave them all a bright smile, even though it likely didn’t reach my eyes. “It’s what I want.”
“Have you guys talked about your relationship? At all?” Elise asked.
I bit my lip. “We both said that we care for each other, and we like one another. And we want to be together. That’s enough, isn’t it?”
“Is it enough?” Nessa asked.
I dabbed my eyes again. “It has to be. We’re having a baby. I got into a graduate program that’s paid for, along with the job I’ll have. It’s going to take me longer to get things done, but we’re going to make it work. Tanner will be working with the Montgomerys, and we’re going to the same school. We’ll find a way to make everything make sense. And the Montgomerys even have childcare on site.”
“That’s great,” Elise said. “Only you haven’t told Tanner how you feel.”
“How am I supposed to do that? What if it scares him away? No, we’re just going to stay with things the way they are. And when we’re ready, we’ll figure it out.”
“Okay. If that’s what you want to do,” Mackenzie said softly.
“You guys are all in love, and it all makes sense to you, but things are different for Tanner and me. We might’ve started our relationship off backwards, but we’re making our way through on this new path of ours. I don’t want to rock the boat when everything else is already doing it. So, for now, we’re just going to be together. We’ll live together, raise a baby together, and then, someday, maybe I’ll finally be able to tell him what I feel without worrying he may just run away in fear.” I chugged the rest of my sparkling water, and all the girls leaned into me, patting my shoulders and trying to hug me.
“We love you. So, no matter what happens, we’re here for you.”
“Maybe you need to trust yourself and Tanner enough to open up to him.”
I looked at Elise and swallowed hard. “What if he leaves? What if it’s too much?” I whispered, my fear wrapping around me.
“What if it’s not?” Nessa asked.
“We slept together once, and suddenly we were in a long-term relationship, raising a child. It’s a lot of commitment for one afternoon of: Why don’t we? I don’t want to force him into loving me.”