“You are so lucky that I love you more than I hate you.”

She laughed, fighting a smile.

“Back at ya.” He smiled lovingly at her and grasped her waist, pulling her in for a kiss.

I quickly looked away when it became heated.

“No surprise why they have a baby on the way, right?” Emma laughed at the expression on my face.

“None at all.” I shook my head.

“We’ll leave them to it,” she said, starting towards the moving truck.

I followed, happy to have something to do. She ventured onto the truck and grabbed a box labeled KITCHEN and handed it to me before grabbing another for herself.

Mathias and Remy were still making out in the front yard while their pets played. Maybe Mathias would be so distracted he wouldn’t notice the vehicles parked in the grass.

Emma knew the layout of the house already, so I trailed behind her to the back where the kitchen sat overlooking the backyard. There was a large pool and since the lot was so high up you could practically see the whole town from here. It was spectacular.

Emma sat her box down on the island in the middle of the open kitchen, and I did the same.

“This house is gorgeous,” I murmured, looking around in awe.

The floors were a dark, luxurious hardwood. The walls were all painted a neutral cream color that brightened up the space. The cabinets in the kitchen were also cream colored with a gold-brown granite countertop. The kitchen even had a built in bench with a table. Across from the kitchen was the family room that was currently in disarray. To our left was an archway where I figured the dining room was meant to be.

“Yeah, it’s amazing.” Emma grabbed a knife off the counter and cut into the tape. She handed me the knife before opening the flaps on the box.

I opened my box and discovered it was full of plates.

“Just pick a cabinet and start putting stuff away. They don’t care where it goes, and Remy wasn’t kidding about Mathias freaking out over her lifting things. He’d bust a vein in his forehead if she was in here trying to organize those.” She nodded her head at the plates I now grasped in my hands.

“It seems like they’d want some say,” I started.

She gave me a look. “I’ve been here since seven, so trust me when I say it doesn’t matter.”

I looked at her in disbelief. “Since seven? But you hate mornings.”

“I know,” she groaned. “Maddox bribed me.”

“With what?” I asked, mystified.

She cracked a smile. “Sexual favors.”

I laughed, shaking my head. The naive little Emma I once knew was no more.

I carried the plates over to the counter by the sink and opened one of the upper cabinets. I carefully stacked the plates on a shelf—terrified I’d chip them. The last thing I wanted to do was break something that wasn’t mine. Except Braden’s nose. I’d enjoy breaking that.

Once those were put away I went to work on organizing the utensils in a drawer. Remy joined us, sitting on the floor to put away dishtowels. The guys argued by the staircase about how to install a baby gate.

“I don’t know why he insists on putting that up now,” Remy muttered, folding a towel. “We still have four months until the baby comes, and he won’t walk for a while.”

“He?” Emma shrieked, dropping the cup she was holding. Luckily it was plastic and didn’t break.

Remy’s smile was blinding. “Yeah, it’s a boy. We just found out this week.”

“I’m so excited.” Emma bounced on the balls of her feet. “There’s going to be a Willow Creek baby!”

I looked at her like she was crazy.

She frowned when she saw my expression. “Sorry,” she mumbled, “I’m just a little excitable these days. I think being cooped up on tour was really bothering me. So,” she turned back to Remy, “names? Spill.”

Remy bit her lip and peered around the edge of the counter where the guys stood.

“We already have a name picked out, but Mathias doesn’t want us to tell anyone the gender or name, in case it gets back to the media. He said this was a moment in his life he refused to share with the world until he had to.” She shrugged.

“You’re really not going to tell me?” Emma put her hands up in a begging motion. “Please, please, oh please tell me.”

Remy sighed. “Give me one of those.” She snapped her fingers and pointed to the knives I was currently organizing.

“Uh, why?” I asked, holding the knives against my chest like she might maul me for them at any second.

“Because I’m pregnant and I said so,” she huffed. I reluctantly handed her one. “If I’m going to tell you guys, and go against my husband’s wishes that no one know, then you’re going to have to swear a blood oath.”

Emma held her hand out.

“Are you crazy?” I asked Remy.

“No,” she drew out the word, “I’m a Mama Bear protecting my cub, work with me here.”

I grumbled, but held my hand out.

She nicked the meaty part of my hand, Emma’s, and her own. She joined our hands together and peeked around the corner at the guys one last time.

“You both have to swear on your lives that you’ll tell no one the name of the baby or the gender. And by no one, I mean these words better not even be muttered to your reflection in the mirror. Got it?”

“Got it.” I said.

“You have to swear.” Remy huffed in exasperation.

“I swear.” I had to resist the urge not to roll my eyes at her melodramatics.

“I swear,” Emma piped in, vibrating with excitement.

Remy smiled, satisfied with our vow. “There are paper towels over there if your hand is still bleeding.”

I looked at mine and saw that it had already dried since the cut was so small. Emma made no move either.

“Come on,” Emma pleaded, “the suspense is killing me.”

Remy laughed and rubbed her stomach. “His name is Liam Maxwell Wade.”

“Awwww,” Emma clapped her hands together, “I love it! It’s such a strong name.”

“We think so too.” Remy beamed.

“It’s adorable,” I piped in, because I felt like I needed to say something.

“Thanks.” Remy smiled in my direction. “Now get back to work,” she shooed us, “Mathias will get suspicious.”

Emma reluctantly returned to organizing the pots and pans while I finished with the utensils.

Several hours later all of us were tired and starving, so we took a break and ordered pizza.

We sat around on the floor of the family room, using paper towels as our plates. Emma and Maddox talked quietly together. Remy and Mathias were absorbed in their own little world as Mathias sang lovingly to her stomach in-between bites of pizza.

That left Ezra, Hayes, and me as the odd ones out.

Good times.

I sat sandwiched between the guys, eating my pizza in small dainty bites compared to the way they gobbled it.

Ezra stretched out his long legs and picked a piece of pepperoni off his pizza. He handed it to me and I gobbled it up greedily. I loved pepperoni.

“Thanks.” I bumped his shoulder with mine.

“So, how have you been?” Hayes asked. “I haven’t seen you since…” He scrunched up his nose, thinking. “New Year’s? Whoa, has it really been that long?” He muttered the last part in disbelief.

I turned to the band’s guitar player.

Josh Hayes was a good-looking guy, with angular cheekbones and sandy dirty blond hair that he kept swept away from his face. He was put together in a way that looked effortless, but you knew it actually took him quite some time to achieve it.

“Yeah, that long.” I took a sip of orange soda.

He shook his head in disbelief. “What have you been up to?”

“Catching my fiance fucking someone else.”

Hayes shook his head. “Uh, yeah, Ezra told me.” He awkwardly scratched the back of his head and glanced over at Ezra, as if he was worried he wasn’t supposed to admit to knowing this bit of information.

“I’m pretty sure the whole town knows,” I mumbled, spinning the white soda bottle cap between my fingers.