The Beginning of Forever (Summer Unplugged Book 5) Read online

  Before I can finish my question, Becca pulls a massive camera out of her oversized purse. “Camera? Yep.”

  At the moment, I am super glad that Jace isn’t here because he always rolls his eyes when I start to squee like a crazy girl, because that’s exactly what I do. “This is going to be amazing!” I say, bouncing on my heels. “I know I make fun of you for your Pinterest obsession, but this time it totally paid off.”

  She bats her eyelashes and waves her hand at me. “I know, I know,” she says. “Being a loser who spends all weekend on the computer instead of going on dates has finally come in handy for once.”

  “Aww,” I say, frowning. “Are you doing okay? You’re still totally over Braedon, right?”

  She nods. “Yeah, we’re cool. We’re totally better off as just friends, but it’s not him that I miss. I miss having a boyfriend. Someone to text me good morning and someone to hold my hand and all that…” She stares at somewhere off in the distance and sighs. “Oh well,” she says, perking up again. “This weekend is about you, my dear. Not me.”

  I feel a twinge of guilt for being in such a happy relationship when Becca is so single it hurts. She’s such a great person and she deserves someone to care for her. I don’t know why she can’t ever find a good guy. Of course, our hometown totally sucks when it comes to guys. If not for meeting Jace at my grandparent’s house in Salt Gap, Texas, I’d probably still be single as well.

  “Actually…” I begin, remembering my conversation with Jace the other day. I know he thinks it’d be a bad idea to try and hook up Becca with his best man, but that doesn’t mean they can’t just flirt with each other until he goes back to California, right? Becca lifts an eyebrow for me to continue. We sit on the couch and I prop the main event sign against the wall. “Okay, so, this isn’t a big deal at all, okay? Like it’s so far from a big deal that it’s not even a deal at all…”

  Becca rolls her eyes. “Then why bother telling me?”

  “Because Jace’s best man is totally hot and I think you two would look super cute in pictures together.”

  Her eyes narrow. “Why just pictures?”

  “Well...because he lives in California so he’ll only be here for the wedding. But Jace says he’s an awesome guy, so the good news is that you’ll have someone to hang out with for all the planning and festivities.”

  She laughs. “How hot is this guy?”

  “Hot. Like Jace hot.”

  “Is he into motocross?”

  “Yep. He’s semi-pro and races all over the country.”

  “Badass.” Her eyes drift off into secret Becca daydream land. After a few moments she says, “Well I guess having a hot guy to flirt with for a few days is better than having no guys to flirt with for a few days.”

  “Your time will come, I promise. One of these days, we’ll be planning your wedding.”

  “And maybe your baby could be my ring bearer!”

  “How’d you know it’s a–?” The words are out of my mouth before I can realize what I’m saying. I slap my hand over my mouth and Becca’s eyes go wide. Even though I wanted to know the baby’s sex as soon as possible, Becca wanted to wait. She said it would be more fun that way.

  “You’re having a boy!?” She grabs my hands and squeezes them tightly. “Oh my God, a little boy? I’m so excited I can’t even think straight.”

  I hang my head, not wanting to admit it but knowing I can’t deny it. “I’m sorry I accidentally ruined it for you.”

  “No way, are you kidding? I’m so excited! He’s going to be a little Jace!” Becca stands up from the couch and begins pacing the living room, ticking off ideas on her fingers. “I’m going to throw you a dirt bike themed baby shower, and we can get you all checkerboard and motocross patterned baby blankets and...do you have a name picked out yet?”

  I shrug, lacing my fingers together in my lap. “Nope. No names, no plans. I’m kind of on the verge of a panic attack about it all.” I don’t even realize I’m playing with my engagement ring until Becca’s hand falls over mine. She looks me in the eyes, giving me a reassuring smile. “We’ll focus on the wedding first and then the baby. It’s all going to be fine.” She points her finger at me as if she’s my mother. “Absolutely no worrying. I forbid it.”

  “Yes ma’am,” I say sarcastically. She punches me in the arm. “Okay,” I say, grabbing my wedding planning notebook off the coffee table. So far, it’s a whole lot more notebook than wedding plans. But I plan on resolving that soon. “Let’s plan this wedding!”

  Becca holds up an identical notebook that she bought to match mine. She calls it her Bridesmaid planner. She slaps her notebook to mine as if we’re holding champagne glasses and making a toast. “Let the planning begin!”

  Chapter 6

  “I really think I should be driving,” Becca says after a particularly annoying driver cut in front of me on the highway and I had to slam on the brakes.

  “I’m a good driver,” I say, rolling my eyes. “That idiot is just a bad driver.”

  “Should pregnant people be driving? I think I should drive.” Becca eyes my steering wheel as if by pure will power alone, she can make it lift out of my hands and move over to her side of my car.

  “I’m fine,” I say for the millionth time on this car trip. I’m tempted to slam on the brakes again just to mess with her, but Jace would kill me if he saw me treating my car badly. He’s always going on and on about taking care of the engine and what not. And since he is technically my mechanic, I should listen to him. I glance in my rearview mirror, hoping to see his truck behind me on the road. It’s no surprise that all the cars behind me aren't him.

  After Becca had made that comment about my son being her future ring bearer, I realized that I would need a ring bearer as well. So as soon as I called my mom to tell her about my plan to ask my ten year old brother Bentley to be in my wedding, she insisted that we meet up so I can ask him in person.

  It sounds legitimate enough, but I’m not fooled. I think she’s just trying to look for any excuse to hang out with me. She doesn’t really admit it, but I know she misses me since I moved out. And although we used to butt heads all time, now things are different. I’ve gotten older and she’s become more laid back. She and David eloped recently and she’s never been happier. She’s cool. I never ever thought I would say that about my mom, but it’s true. My mother is cool.

  We agreed to meet up at the Woodberry Mall which is the halfway point between Lawson and Mixon and home of the awesome smoothie place. Since Jace was at work, he said he’d meet us there as soon as he gets finished. So he’s probably an hour away for all I know, but I can’t stop looking into my mirror, hoping I’ll see him on the road.

  Gosh, I’m a freaking love sick lunatic.

  “Do you think it’s natural to be so in love with someone that all you do is think about them constantly?”

  “Where’d that come from?” Becca asks, looking up from her cell phone.

  I shrug. “Just wondering if I’m crazy for missing Jace all the damn time. Seriously, I miss him every time he’s gone. Sometimes I miss him when he’s getting ready for work because it means he’s about to be gone. Something is wrong with me. I should be an independent woman and all that...”

  Becca shakes her head. “Nothing is wrong with you, Bay. You’re in love. That’s a good thing. Now, are you trying to get a speeding ticket, or are you so in love with Jace that you can’t realize you’re going ten over the limit?”

  Mom waves her smoothie at us as we approach the smoothie shop. Bentley is deeply involved with his Nintendo DS so he doesn’t even notice us arrive. Mom hugs me, squeezing me so close to her that I can smell her shampoo. It’s a different brand than the kind we used when I lived there. Probably because Mom never cared about that kind of thing and always grabbed the cheapest stuff on the shelf, whereas I have to have the silky and sleek shampoo, otherwise my hair is an awful fuzz ball.

  Becca and I order smoothies. Green tea for her and angel food c
ake for me. Hey, I’m pregnant, okay? I deserve this. Mom slides over closer to the wall when I approach so I sit by her and Becca takes a spot near Bentley, who, for all I know, still hasn’t noticed our arrival.

  “How was the drive?” she asks, leaning forward in her seat. We’re in a corner booth at the front of the shop. It has an excellent view of the sidewalk so I should be able to see Jace the second he gets here.

  “Mom, you act like it’s some kind of three day road trip or something. It’s just an hour.”

  She rolls her eyes. “That’s still a long drive. I’m just making sure you’re okay.”

  It is so weird how things are between us now. It’s almost like we’re...friends. Becca sips on her smoothie and nudges Bentley in the shoulder. He looks up from his game and his expression goes from mildly annoyed to bashful in about two seconds. He’s only ten years old, but it’s obvious he has a crush on Becca.

  “Bayleigh has something to ask you,” Becca says, winking at him. He looks at me expectantly. I shake my head. “No, I can’t ask until Jace gets here. I don’t want him to miss out.”

  “Jace is coming?” His wide eyes sparkle with anticipation at this news. I nod and he bursts into a grin. “Awesome.”

  My brother is one of the only people I know who loves Jace just because he’s a great guy and not because he’s a famous motocross racer. There are a ton of cool things about my fiancé’s fame, but a major downside is that he can’t really know who is his friend because they truly like him or if they just want to rub elbows with someone who makes them look cool. Jace always says he has three people he can trust: his mom, me and Park. Then last Christmas when he spent the entire holiday break with my family, he added Bentley to that short list of trustworthy people after, on the fifth day of Bentley being completely obsessed with how cool Jace is, somebody asked Jace for his autograph at the mall and my brother asked why.

  Once Jace realized Bentley knew nothing about professional motocross and only liked him because of who he was as a person, my adorable little brother got added to the list.

  Sometimes I wonder if Jace would have still dated me or even been friends with me if I had known who he was when we first met. Somehow, I doubt it. But the feeling makes me ache in all sorts of ways so I put the idea out of my mind and focus on my family.

  “So what’s been up, Mom? Where’s David?”

  “He’s working,” she says with a sigh that doesn’t sound like she’s upset about it. She still smiles when she talks about him which lets me know that their love is still running strong. “But enough about us, Bayleigh. How’s the wedding planning?”

  I shrug and Becca’s jaw drops to the floor. “Bay! Don’t just shrug like it’s nothing! We’ve put a lot of work into this wedding already,” she says to my mom. “Bayleigh has her dress and we have the engagement photos scheduled for tomorrow and she’s pretty sure she wants a cupcake cake, and–”

  “Cupcake cake?” Mom asks, lifting an eyebrow. “Like a cake that’s shaped like a cupcake?”

  Becca and I exchange glances. Mom is clearly not on Pinterest, or even remotely in touch with modern times. I try to explain it to her while Becca jumps on her phone to pull up her Pinterest app.

  “It’s like a bunch of cupcakes that are arranged on a tiered stand to look like the shape of a regular wedding cake. We can’t decide on square or circular, but I think I like square the best.”

  “Are they all squished together to make a cake?” Mom asks. It’s all I can do not to laugh. Luckily, Becca has the image pulled up on her phone now. She shows it to my mom. “Ahh,” she says, nodding. “That looks awesome! Are you going to do pink icing like that?”

  “No, I was thinking purple and turquoise as the wedding colors,” I say. “Like maybe alternating each cupcake with a different color.”

  “Or swirling the icing colors together!” Becca says.

  “That would look awesome!” I say, imagining fluffy icing in deep purple and turquoise colors swirled together.

  “What would look awesome?” We all look up to see Jace standing at our booth, double chocolate smoothie in his hand. I stand up so hard I bump my knees on the table and promptly collapse back into the booth.

  “When did you get here?” I ask. Mom quickly follows my question with one of her own. “How on earth did you have time to get a smoothie without us noticing?”

  He slides into the booth next to me and Mom, placing a quick kiss on my cheek before answering. “Ya’ll were pretty involved in whatever you’re talking about. I waved but no one saw me.”

  “We’re talking about cakes shaped like cupcakes,” Bentley says.

  Jace nods as if that doesn’t sound completely weird. “I don’t see why we can’t just have a wedding cake shaped like a life sized dirt bike.”

  “Jace Adams,” I say with a pretend sigh. “Everything is not about dirt bikes!”

  “Uh, yeah it is,” he says, sticking out his tongue at me. Bentley lifts his hand and Jace fists bumps it as if they’re a part of this secret boy world that only the two of them understand. All the women at the table roll their eyes.

  “Boys…” Becca says.

  “So I have a question to ask my favorite little brother,” I say.

  “I’m your only little brother,” Bentley shoots back.

  “And that means you’re the one who gets this great honor,” I say, holding my hand to my chest. “Will you be my ring bearer?”

  He’s silent for a beat and then he looks from me to Jace. His bottom lip slips under his teeth and he sits there, looking a little confused. “A ring bearer is the boy who brings the ring down the aisle in a wedding,” I explain. “You’ll get to hold the rings on a pillow or something and bring them to us. You’ll be a part of the wedding.”

  Jace drums his fingers on the table. “What’s wrong, little dude?”

  Bentley stares at the table. “I thought the ring bearer was for babies. Aren’t I too old for it?”

  My heart sinks. My brother doesn’t want to be in my wedding. And worse, he’s insulted that I offered him a so-called baby role. It takes me a minute to realize that not only is Jace talking, but he doesn’t even sound concerned. “Nah, dude,” he says. “Ring bearers just have to be younger than the bride, but there’s no age limit for it. Besides, the rings are very expensive and I don’t trust anyone but you to carry them, so I was really hoping you could do me this favor.”

  Bentley’s demeanor changes instantly. He looks up from the table and looks at Jace. “Okay. I can do it.”

  “Really?” I say, feeling a little less anxious. “Are you sure? It would mean a lot to me.”

  He nods. “Yeah, I’ll do it. Do I get to wear a suit?”

  “Totally,” Jace says before I can answer. “You can come pick one out when I get mine.”

  My brother’s little eyes light up. “Cool! Mom, will you take me?”

  Mom’s eyes sweep to the left and she stares into the distance as if she’s trying to visualize her schedule to see when she can take him. Jace shakes his head. “I’ll come get you. You can ride with me and my best man. We’ll get matching suits and we’ll look badass.” He holds up a hand and Bentley slaps him a high five.

  I sip my angel food smoothie and stare up at Jace as he smiles and chats with my brother. He is the greatest man on earth and for some crazy reason, he’s mine. I love how he can turn any situation into a good one without even batting an eye. It’s like his brain never developed the part that makes you freak out. I hope our kid inherits his ability to stay calm and solve problems logically. I hope our kid inherits everything about him.

  Chapter 7

  Becca, in her ever growing fears of having some kind of gluten allergy, spends the rest of the day lying on my couch complaining of stomach pains. It really puts a damper on our shopping and wedding prep plans, but I don’t complain because I know she feels bad enough and she doesn’t need to feel even worse about it.

  “So what exactly is wrong with you?” I tilt my head
and look at her from my place on the couch's arm rest. “You don’t look sick.”

  She grabs her stomach. “My stomach hurts. It’s hard to explain...it’s like it just hurts but it’s a different type of hurt than a regular stomach ache.”

  “Can I do anything for you?”

  She shakes her head. “I’m sorry for ruining our day. I’ll be better in like five hours so maybe we can do something tonight?”

  “Sure,” I say, tossing a couch pillow at her. The sound of Jace’s house key shoving into the lock startles me. He’s not normally home so early. I rush over and pull open the door for him. He’s smiling and practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

  I poke him in the stomach. “What’s going on with you, mister happy face?”

  “I had two clients cancel,” he says. “I’m glad you’re home. I was thinking I could take all of us out for dinner? Becca?” His eyebrows furrow when he sees her clenching her stomach and wincing in pain.

  “I’m sick,” she says. “Ya’ll go without me.”

  “Are you sure?” Jace asks at the same time I say, “No way. I’m not leaving you.”

  She waves her hand at me. “No, ya’ll go. Have fun. Seriously!” She smiles. “You have prime cable here, so I’m all set.”

  I roll my eyes, hand her the remote control and give her a hug. “Alright, Jace. Where are we going?”

  Perry's Steakhouse is an upscale restaurant that was probably designed for entertaining celebrities and not normal people like us. Of course, one person in my relationship can actually be considered a celebrity, and he’s standing next to me acting as if this isn’t scary.

  We’re waiting in line at the hostess station behind two middle-aged couples. Their outfits alone probably cost more than my car. And here I am in a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, flats I bought from Payless and a navy blue sweater. Jace wears jeans too, but he makes them look fancy just by being himself. He’s wearing a black button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows, showing off his muscular forearms. Only they can’t be seen right now because he’s also wearing his black leather jacket, which I am completely and totally in love with.