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I smiled but said nothing.
“Are you ready for this?” Her eyes were concerned. “You went through a lot of shit with Knox. And now there’s all this…baggage. I just want to make sure you’re not rushing into something because you’re afraid of being alone or Dad’s a crutch. Okay?”
“Okay.” I reached across the table and took her hand. “I can’t thank you enough for being willing to ask the hard questions. This is why I need you in my life. This is why you’re my best friend.”
She squeezed my hand. “So?”
“So,” I began, “Smoke is not a crutch. Smoke is not—I’m not transferring feelings for Knox onto Smoke. I’ve never felt like this about anyone. I think I wasn’t ready to admit things to you, or to anyone publicly, because I knew this was different. It didn’t matter how it looked on paper or that the timing of it was weird. I just knew he was special. And every moment I was with him, I just wanted more.”
“What else?” she demanded. “What else do you want to say, because you seem like you want to say something else but you won’t.”
“It’s about our sex life,” I said dryly.
“Never mind then. I never want to know about that.”
“I promise I’ll never tell you,” I agreed.
“That would just be too weird.” She shook her head. “I mean, you’re going to be like, my stepmom. Wait, can I call you step-monster?”
“If it pleases the court,” I joked. “Tavy, he wants more kids…”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
I nodded. “Yeah. He wants more kids.”
“And you?”
“Yeah. I want them too.”
“So, my best friend is about to become my step-monster and be the mother of my half-siblings? This is too bizarre.”
“How about you just call me your best friend and leave the rest of it to shake out how it will?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “A healthy dose of denial that you and my dad are gonna get frisky and make little Ember and Cole.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Baby names?”
“Just my two cents. I think that would be really cute. Besides, you owe me.”
“I owe you?” I said with a laugh. “How do you figure?”
“Aside from sleeping with my dad?”
“Ah,” the server announced at the table. “Sorry about the delay. We had an issue with the cappuccino machine.”
I shook my head as I felt my cheeks heat.
Tavy glanced up at the server and smiled. “Thanks.”
The server ducked his head and hustled away from the table.
“You’re going to make it your mission to embarrass me every chance you can, aren’t you?”
“You know me so well,” she joked. “But honestly. If you guys are happy, I’m going to be happy too. It’s just going to take me a little while to get there. Once I get past the shock of it all, I think it will be okay.”
“Fair enough.” I reached for my decaf cappuccino—my second for the day—and wrapped my hands around the cup. “There’s more.”
“More? What else is there. Oh God, you’re already pregnant, aren’t you?” she screeched.
