Page 93 of Never Forever

“What can I do to make it better?” I asked. I had been throwing money at the problem for weeks. The house. The cruise. And I would just keep doing it until it was solved. “How about one of those butlers on the cruise? A dedicated butler just for you.”

“This is about the lamp!” Gran cried. “Can you stop thinking about men for one second?”

I leaned back. Eyes wide.

Mom struggled to keep a straight face.

“I’ll take the lamp,” Annie said. “I’ll keep it in my shop.”

“Where someone could break it? Or steal it?” It was extremely out of date and a little bit ugly. No one was stealing it no matter how much it was worth.

“I’ll put it in my house,” Annie insisted. “Beside my bed. I’ll turn it off every night and it will be okay.”

“Are you sure?” Gran asked, but she was loosening the grip on the lamp.

“Of course. Hand it over.” Annie took the lamp and set it by her purse.

I tried not to dwell on the fact that Annie always seemed to know the right thing to say to both Gran and Mom. While I was always stepping in it with them. It felt like Annie just knew them better and I didn’t know if that was because she spent so much more time with them, or if she was just more Piedmont than I was. That because I left, I sacrificed some of the DNA that bound us all together.

The thought made me sad. I didn’t want to be less Piedmont.

I didn’t want my baby to be less Piedmont.

“Are we ready?” I asked. “We need to catch this ferry if we’re going to get to the airport on time. That’s a lot of luggage.”

I looked at the mountain of bags. It was going to take a few trips to get all of this to the boat.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I asked for some extra help,” Mom said just as the squeak of the gate sent birds in the yard flying up to the sky.

Matt and Carlos walked into the yard and all the blood in my body roared to my face. Matt looked like a superhero at that moment. All long legs and lean hips and powerful arms. His triangular build was upsetting on every level.

Wait, was this hormonal horniness?

I had to turn away to gather myself.

I caught my sister’s concerned eye and I shook my head. Later, I tried to convey to her. We would talk about it later. It took everything I had, every ounce of strength not to put my hands over my stomach. Tofeelif I was pregnant. I couldn’t. I’d been trying every second I was alone for days.

“Just start grabbing bags?” Matt asked, his dark voice sent shivers over me and I knew he wasn’t talking to me. I knew, in fact, he would ignore me as much as I was going to ignore him, but it felt like he was talking to me. It felt like it was just the two of us alone in the world.

“Thank you, Matthew,” Mom said, sweet like she’d never said a bad word about him.

“My pleasure,” he said with his heartbreaker’s smile.

I made a face when he turned his back that my sister caught.

“Be nice,” Annie whispered.

Oh, she had no idea how nice I’d been. So nice I might be pregnant with his baby.

That’s what being nice to Matt Sullivan got you.

I walked up to the porch and reached for one of the suitcases. Except Matt was there trying to take it out of my hands.

“What are you doing?” I asked, yanking the suitcase toward me.

“Taking the suitcase.” He yanked it back.

“I have the suitcase,” I said.