by Noelle Adams
“Hi.” He honestly couldn’t believe this was happening. This was his life. Serena was in bed with him, gazing at him like he was the bright star in her night sky.
“What shall we do on our day off?”
“Well, if you want to do more of this, we’ll have to do it soon. Eva is usually up by seven, isn’t she?”
“Yes.” Serena leaned over and brushed her lips against his. “So you’ll have to be quick and quiet.”
He couldn’t seem to stop smiling. “Then quick and quiet I shall be.”
He managed to stay quiet, but he wasn’t all that quick. Serena clearly had no complaints.
And both of them kept smiling the whole time.
EVA WOKE UP AT SEVEN fifteen, loudly demanding to know why no one had woken her up at seven like normal. At hearing the explanation, that they were taking the day off, she was ecstatic—at least that was what her excited shrieking sounded like from down the hall.
She was even more ecstatic when she came into the kitchen in her lavender pajamas that matched her mother’s gown and discovered Keith making pancakes.
“I want chocolate chips in mine, Uncle Keith,” she pronounced, climbing up into her seat at the bar. “Is that okay?”
“Yes, that’s okay. I already have the chocolate chips out and ready.” He gestured toward the bag on the counter. “Any other requests?”
“I want a really big pancake!”
“Got it.” He finished stirring the batter, briefly distracted when Serena walked in, looking gorgeous and rumpled and curvy in her bathrobe and messy hair. She smiled at him—that special smile that meant she loved him—and he just about melted into a puddle on the floor.
“Uncle Keith, the pancakes,” Eva prompted, frowning at him disapprovingly. “Don’t smile at Mommy. Time to make the pancakes.”
“Right. The pancakes.”
He redeemed himself by making a double-size pancake for Eva and sprinkling it with a lot of chocolate chips that melted as the pancake cooked. Eva watched with hungry fascination as he flipped it and they waited for it to be done. Then he plated it up with a little dollop of whipped cream (Serena instructed him not to add too much) and presented Eva with her breakfast.
She clapped her hands and dug in, and Keith was ridiculously proud of himself for making the girl so happy.
Serena came over to stand beside him as he made their pancakes (with no chocolate chips). She peered into the pan as they waited, and Keith pretended to elbow her out of the way, telling her he didn’t need help.
They had a silly scuffle that made Eva laugh hysterically, and it ended when Keith pulled Serena into a hug.
She hugged him back, tight and urgent. He wasn’t sure when he’d have been able to pull away had a little voice not broken the moment.
“Do you love Mommy, Uncle Keith?”
He blinked a couple of times as he pulled away from her sheepishly. A quick check of Serena’s face proved she was laughing and not awkward or self-conscious. So he answered the girl honestly. “Yes. I love her.”
“Okay.” Eva turned toward Serena. “Do you love Uncle Keith, Mommy?”
“Yes. I do.”
Eva nodded as if the matter was settled before she popped a big bite of pancake into her mouth. Then she said as she chewed, “That’s what I thought.”
epilogue
FOUR MONTHS LATER, Serena was reaching up to the top shelf of her pantry to grab another bottle of red wine when a voice from behind her surprised her.
“Please say that’s more cab.”
She jerked but her hand didn’t slip as she pulled the bottle down and turned around to show it to Taylor, who was now standing about a foot away. “It is.”
“Thank God.” Taylor made a face as she reached for the cabernet sauvignon. She already had a corkscrew in her hand, and she immediately began to uncork it. “Some jackass finished the other bottle and then left it sitting there to trick me into thinking there was more.”
Serena laughed at her friend’s aggrieved tone and expression. “I’m sure they didn’t do it on purpose.”
“I’m sure they did. Definitely an asshole move. But thankfully you are always prepared.”
“I don’t know about always, but when I’m having a party, I make sure to get plenty of extra wine. I’m not about to risk an uprising.”
Taylor’s expression relaxed into what constituted a smile for her, a faint twitch of her lips. She looked more gorgeous than normal this evening in her wine-red top and snug-fitting cropped pants. As she took a sip of her filled glass of wine, she said, “Despite my anti-romance philosophy, since you were wise enough to provide enough cab, I’ll even tell you that I’m really happy for you and Keith.”
Serena couldn’t help but grin, and she glanced down at the pretty diamond ring on her hand. It wasn’t nearly as big as the rock Steve had gotten her when she was eighteen, but it was better, more meaningful, more her.
He’d asked her to marry him two weeks ago, and naturally she’d said yes.
“Thank you,” she told Taylor. “We’re both pretty happy about it.”
“That’s what I’d call a massive understatement. I’ve never seen a man more over-the-moon ecstatic as Keith has been for the past two weeks.”
Serena giggled. It was true. Keith had been so happy lately he’d barely been able to put it into words. Nothing felt better than that. Knowing he was so happy because of her.
To be with her.
And Eva.
For the rest of their lives.
“Maybe that will be inspiration for you,” she said, pulling herself out of her sappy thoughts so she could finish the conversation.
Taylor snorted and didn’t bother responding.
“I’m serious. It’s a pretty amazing thing to happen to a person.”
“I know it is. And I think it’s great when it happens to other people. But it isn’t for everyone, and it doesn’t always last.”
“That’s true. But sometimes it does last. Just because it doesn’t work for some people doesn’t mean it won’t happen for you.”
“I’m honestly not sure I’m cut out for it. You know me, right?”
“Yes, I know you. You’re smart and funny and generous and thoughtful and really good-hearted no matter how much you try to hide it.”
“Right. And I’m also grouchy and rude and hard to get along with.”
“For the right man, that wouldn’t be a problem.”
Taylor gave a dismissive shrug. She didn’t look upset about it. In fact, she looked faintly amused. “Maybe I’ll change my mind down the line, but for now the right man is someone who will fuck me good and then never call me again.”
“Taylor!” Serena exclaimed in a stage whisper, darting a look toward the doorway as if Eva might be lurking.
She wasn’t, of course. She and Keith were reading her chapter before she went to sleep.
“What? There aren’t any children around, and I’m just telling you the truth. It’s too exhausting to do it very often, but I don’t mind an occasional one-night stand. But for now that’s about all I’m interested in.”
“I was saying something similar not too long ago,” Serena reminded her. “Minus the one-night-stand part.”
Taylor chuckled dryly. “You missed out on the fun part.”
“Oh no. I’ve got plenty of the fun part now.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You and Keith are blissfully happy. I know that already. Just don’t do too much gushing or I’ll have to vomit up all this wine.”
Serena laughed and gave her friend a little tug on her sleeve. “Please don’t do that. I’ve got to go check on Eva anyway. It’s about her bedtime.”
Taylor flipped her hand in a wave as Serena left the kitchen, walking past the living room where about twenty of their friends were gathered and heading down the hallway toward Eva’s room.
The door was open, and she could hear Keith’s voice coming from inside. He was reading from tonight’s chapter in Eva’s book. Sere
na listened for about two minutes until the chapter was over.
“That was good,” Eva said. “Uncle Keith, why couldn’t I stay at the party with everyone else?”
“Because it’s your bedtime.”
“But a party is a special occasion. I could stay up late.”
“You did stay up late.”
“But I want to stay up later.”
“You can’t stay up any later. It’s your bedtime.”
“But I missed the party.”
“You were at the party for almost an hour. And I’m pretty sure you found it kind of boring.”
Serena was still standing in the hall, just outside Eva’s room, eavesdropping on this little conversation. She felt like hugging herself for no particular reason.
“It was boring. No one did anything but talk.”
“That’s what adult parties are.”
“You should plan games and stuff.”
“Once in a while adults will play games, but usually they just talk and eat. So it’s just as well it’s your bedtime and you had to leave.”
“But I wanted to stay. I could’ve sung a goodbye song like in Sound of Music.”
Serena almost choked in amusement at that comment.
“That would have been quite a scene,” Keith replied.
“It would have been a good scene. I’m a good singer.”
Eva then proceeded to serenade Keith with her rendition of the song in question—with only about half the words pronounced correctly.
Serena was almost doubled over with her silent laughter, and she couldn’t resist the temptation to see their expressions. So she stepped into the doorway to look.
Eva was grinning as she sang the last bars, clearly proud of herself.
Keith’s expression was utterly sober, but Serena could see the unexpressed hilarity barely hidden in his eyes. “That was very impressive,” he told Eva when she finished. “You are a good singer.”
“Told you. Can I go back out there and—”
“No, you can’t,” Serena said, coming in closer to the bed. “It’s already way past your bedtime.”
Eva drooped, but she didn’t appear to be truly upset. “I miss all the fun.”
“You miss very little of the fun. And you should thank Uncle Keith for missing part of the party so he could read your chapter with you.”
“Thank you, Uncle Keith,” Eva said dutifully, her eyes brightening. “I’m glad you’re marrying Mommy!”
“I’m pretty glad about that too,” he said.
Serena put a hand on his shoulder. She still loved that she could do that. Loved that he was hers.
“Because that means I get to be the flower girl!”
Keith chuckled. “Now that’s an expression of devotion if I ever heard one.”
Eva frowned slightly as she tried to puzzle that out. How much she understood, Serena didn’t know, but she must have understood some of it because she burst out, “I love you, Uncle Keith.”
Keith’s face tightened briefly and his voice was just a little rough as he said, “I love you too, Eva.”
Eva turned to look at Serena expectantly.
She had to clear her throat from some of the emotion, but she said, “And I love you too, honey.” She leaned over to give the girl a hug and kiss. “Now it’s time to turn off the lights.”
“Okay.” Eva sounded put-upon, but the last thing Serena saw before she turned off the light was her daughter smiling.
In the hallway, after he closed the bedroom door, Keith pulled Serena into a hug.
It was a long one, and Serena melted into it.
“Thank you,” he murmured at last, his mouth right at her ear.
“For what?”
“For giving me a family. A real one. I’ve spent my whole life wanting one.”
Serena’s eyes burned as she pulled him down into a kiss. “Well, you have one now. And it’s yours forever.” She paused and then decided to say one more thing. “And maybe pretty soon we can make our family bigger.”
Keith blinked. Went very still.
“If you want,” Serena added.
“Really?” he rasped.
She saw then that his response was one of unspeakable joy rather than fear or reluctance. “Yes,” she told him, stroking his cheek. “I’d love to have a baby with you.”
He made a rough groan and pulled her into another long hug.
They were both shaking for a minute, but when she’d recovered, Serena said, “It can be our new mission since my old mission was a total bust.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Yes, it was. I was supposed to find you the perfect girl by the end of the summer, and I gave up after just a few weeks because I couldn’t stand for any other girl to get you.”
“Your mission was to find me the love of my life, and you did that. And my mission was to convince you that the perfect girl for me was you.”
Serena took his hand and started back toward their guests. After all, the hosts couldn’t hide from their party forever. “Then I guess we both succeeded at our missions.”
“Exactly. So there’s no reason we shouldn’t try to succeed at the baby mission too.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I hope you enjoyed The Mission! The next book in the Bad Bridesmaids series is The Mismatch (about Taylor and Charles). You can find an excerpt from that book on the following pages. And in case you missed it, the first book in the series is The Mistake (about Amanda and Robert).
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Excerpt from The Mismatch
TAYLOR WASN’T A FAN of weddings, and she was the world’s worst bridesmaid. So she had no idea why her friends kept getting married and asking her to be one of their attendants.
Evidently all her school friends had decided their late twenties was the right time to get married. For the past year, she’d been stuck going to at least one wedding a month, and she’d been a bridesmaid far too many times.
And here she was again. Another Saturday evening. Another bridesmaid dress she’d never wear again. Another reception where she’d be expected to smile and have fun.
She wasn’t a good smiler. Everyone knew that. She hated being forced to act happy or social or silly. She loved Serena and had been friends with her since eighth grade, and she thought Keith was great and wished them both a lifetime of happiness.
But that didn’t mean she had to laugh or dance or act like someone other than her antisocial self.
At the moment, she’d accomplished all her necessary bridesmaid duties, so she was having a reprieve in the corner of the reception room, sipping champagne and grumbling over annoying social media posts on her phone. She was enjoying herself as much as was possible in this dress and these shoes when her friend Ariana Kensington came over and flounced down into the chair next to her.
Taylor gave her the side eye. “What?”
“Why are you over here by yourself?”
“I needed a break. Too much levity for my emotional wellbeing.”
Ariana giggled. She was pretty and bubbly and loved by everyone—pretty much the polar opposite of Taylor. It was a miracle the two were friends, but they were. “Serena is going to think you’re not having fun.”
“Serena knows perfectly well that this is me having fun. I’ve done my best pretending to be friendly. Now I get to be my real, hermit self for a little while.”
“You’re not a hermit. You like people a lot more than your pretend.”
“We’ll have to disagree on that assessment.”
“Someone who really disliked people as you say you do wouldn’t have as many friends as you do.”
“I don’t have that many friends.
Just you and Serena and Amanda. Three isn’t a lot.”
“You have more friends than that, and you know it.”
Taylor made a grumbling noise and didn’t respond.
“Anyway,” Ariana continued, “You’ve had your break, so now it’s time to join the party again. Come and sit with me and Amanda and Robert. We’re not dancing or anything.”
“Maybe not, but you’re in the middle of the room. If I go sit there, people will be tempted to talk to me, and that’s what I’m trying to avoid.”
Ariana laughed again. “Okay then. Maybe you could help with Charles.”
Taylor glanced over to the far side of the room where she knew Charles was sitting. He was the only person—other than her—who was sitting by himself. He was a couple of years older than them—he’d recently turned thirty—and he was polite and serious and well-behaved and basically boring. “Why does Charles need help?”
“He’s being antisocial too. He needs someone to talk to.”
“Why don’t you go talk to him?”
“I did. He told me he was perfectly happy and didn’t need a pity companion.”
Taylor snorted in amusement. “See? He knows what he’s talking about, and he’s content as he is. He doesn’t need me to go over and babysit him.”
“But if you go over there, everyone will think you’re suitably occupied, and no one else will come over here and bug you.”
Taylor’s eyebrows lifted. That was a tantalizing offer. She didn’t mind Charles, as boring as he was. He never talked unless he had something to say, and so they could probably sit at the table together and do what they wanted on their own.
“See? It’s a good idea, isn’t it?”
“What’s gotten into you? Why this desire to pair me off with Charles?”
“I’m not trying to pair you off. I just want you to go talk to him.”
Taylor’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.
After a minute, Ariana relented. “Okay. Fine. Amanda dared me that I couldn’t get you two to talk to each other.”
“What? Why does she even care?”