My bestie was a lucky girl.

Five days a week, Dee ran Beachy Bride alone. Lark came in to bring new dresses and meet with clients by appointment to design a made-to-measure gown. Her two seamstresses actually worked from their homes, and all Dee had to do was take measurements and pin up hems, and one of the seamstresses would come to pick the dresses up and deliver them back when they were ready. Dee lived in the cottage next door, so it was all very convenient. After she’d delivered and arranged her part of the party food, she gave Tori a gift certificate for the expensive baby shop downtown then went up to work.

When the shower was in full swing and the Sangria flowing, I went down to Bear Claw to see my man.

Saturday afternoon was steady with most of the seats taken. Gloria’s book club had an impromptu meeting because today was a special movie outing. Apparently, if they read a novel with a movie adaptation, they re-read the book, saw the movie, then discussed all the ways the book was better. I had to agree, a lot of times the book was better. However, sometimes it was nice to see your favorite stories brought to life by a hot guy and some chick you wished you could hit in the face because she wasn’t you. But I had my own movie, and everything that could have gone wrong, already had…

Or so I thought.

Standing behind the counter, Holst smiled at me. His hair had that mussed look of saltwater and sand from his morning surf. He had a navy blue, long-sleeve tee on that was fitted, not skin tight, but tight enough that, every time I looked at him, all I saw was abs and nipples. Honestly, it made me want to fuck him. Blow him, then fuck him, which, by the grin plastered on his face, he knew was exactly what I was thinking.

He was just finishing orders for a couple, so I kept myself busy and helped out by washing two mugs and a plate with custard tart remnants. When he was done, he came up behind me and put his hands in the soapy water to join mine.

His lips at my ear, he asked, “Are you wet?”

“My hands are wet,” I clarified.

Then he licked the edge of my ear, sending a message straight between my legs, and asked, “How about now?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that did it.” I laughed.

My happy little moment with Holst was broken when Cam’s brother, Drew, threw the front door to Bear Claw wide open. “Something’s happening.”

“Leo,” Holst called out.

“Got it,” he called back, and Holst and I were out the door, through Tori and Cam’s gate, and up her stairs.

“Get some towels,” Paula told her son, Cam, trying to calm him and everyone else down.

Me? I was shoving people out of the way to get to Tori.

“Babe?” I asked, that one word conveying the billions of questions I wanted to ask.

“Really sharp pains,” she said through a gasp, holding her breath as another pain hit her.

“You think it’s labor?”

“It’s…” she breathed. “Hurts,” she answered, tears falling down her cheeks. She leaned her head close, and I put my ear near her mouth. I could tell, whatever she wanted to say, she didn’t want anyone else to hear. “I’m scared,” she whispered.

“You want me with you? I promise I can keep my shit together, honey.”

“Don’t let me go.”

“I won’t, Tor,” I promised. “I won’t.”

Cam was talking to 911. I heard someone call out that the car was ready in the alley out back. Before I knew it, Cam and Drew were both carefully helping Tori. When another pain hit, she let out a blood-curdling scream, and by the look on her face, I knew something was very wrong. So wrong, she let go of my hand, her head rocking from side to side as Cam decided slow was no longer an option.

Suddenly, the house, all the activity, chaos, and fear, just hung in the air and everyone else stood there feeling helpless and lost.

“Katherine,” Holst said, holding my hand as tight as I was holding his. “The hospital is only two minutes from here. Let’s go. She’s gonna be okay.”

“Lana…” I said, not crying, just trying to keep my shit together, because I knew this day was going to be a long one.

“Remember Teensy went into labor early and they stopped it, and she and baby were absolutely fine.”

“Yeah.” I stared out the window as he entered the parking lot.

I don’t know how they did it, but Drew was already there with his mom and Tori’s mom. Ruby had to go back to Paper Petal, but I knew, over the next few hours, the waiting room of Laguna Beach Private Hospital was going to be filled with Tori and Cam’s family and friends while we waited.

And prayed.

Holst

Three hours later and we were still waiting.

Katherine paced for a while then said, “Give me the car keys.”

“I can get whatever you need,” I said. “She might need you—”

In a calm, even voice, she said, “Give me…the goddam…car keys.”

I dropped them into her hand.

Just over an hour later, Katherine returned with one of two loads from the car. The first was bags of burgers, fries, and cans of soda, which she gave to me with the directive, “Feed everyone.” The next, was a box of cake and sweets from the baby shower. “When it’s time, call Frodo, and he’ll bring coffees.”

“Baby…” I said and tried to stop her as she stood in the doorway, the automatic door that led to the waiting room opening and closing behind her.

“I have shit to do,” she said. “I love you. Be back in a little over an hour. If people are ready for coffee before that, call me, and I’ll bring it.”

“Katherine,” I started.

But she walked to me, squeezed my hand, and said, “I have to keep moving or I’m gonna go nuts, H.”

For the next forty minutes, I watched Cam wait near the door that stood between him and his wife. Someone came out now and then and spoke to him. He nodded, his brother close by, the rest of their extended family in a huddle. All we knew was, Tori had been rushed into surgery.

I hadn’t called him, but Frodo did show up with an urn of brewed coffee, milk, sugar, and cups. He then went around to everyone and took orders. Dee was the last person he served, and instead of giving a coffee order, she threw her arms around him. He pulled her head into his neck, her body moving with tears. His hand gently brushed down her hair as he whispered in her ear. It was a sad and beautiful sight.

I kept my focus on my coffee, on the piece of yellow cake with white frosting and lemon filling, and waited until Katherine sat down beside me. She had two small suitcases, and before I could even ask about them, she explained.

“The red one is Tori’s. It has all her stuff in it for the hospital, and she’ll be pissed if I didn’t bring it. The other one is the baby stuff. But she’s thirty-four weeks so everything is gonna swim on Lana. So when I left here, I called Baby Gap…” She turned to face me. “I know I shouldn’t talk and drive, but it was on speaker.”

“Okay, baby,” I said gently.

“And they picked out a bunch of preemie clothes, took off all the tags, and let me pay for it over the phone. I picked them up, went to Tori’s, and got her bag and the baby’s bag, got the special laundry detergent she used on all the stuff we bought before, and put all this in to wash. Then I had to go and buy the tiny diapers. Holst, they are so little. I thought the newborn ones were little, but these are so small and…”

“Baby, I think you need to—”

“Don’t even say it,” she whispered. “She wants to give Cam a baby. He would never, ever be upset if she couldn’t or if something happened. But his ex was pregnant when they split. It wasn’t his, but for months before she left, he thought it was. He was devastated, Holst. He lost her, and he lost a baby that wasn’t even his. Then…he said it was seeing Tori smile that kinda made him start to live again. It was quick, I mean, like, he saw her, he wanted her, but she was someone else’s. Anyway, he wants this, and she wants to give him everything. So…it has to be okay, H. Tori and Lana have to be okay.”