Page 120 of Ruin The Friendship
My mother looks affronted. “You didn’t hire a caterer?”
“It didn’t make sense to hire one when we are only having snack foods,” I say to my mother, turning to look at her with soft eyes. “Please?”
Mom sighs heavily and heads over to the attached kitchen, where Zoey is. I feel bad about sending Mom to Zoey, but at least she’s out of the main area for now. Dottie exhales heavily once the door closes behind Mom, wrapping an arm around my waist.
“Well.” Dottie tuts. “Someone needs to take the stick out of her ass.”
“Mom!” Fletcher scolds.
But I’m laughing so hard I can barely breathe. “You are so right.”
Fifteen minutes later, the first guest arrives, and Grace promptly throws a sash over my body that reads ‘Mama to be.’
I greet my boss as she enters, offering her a hug and another thank you for allowing us to use the space. Guest after guest arrives, each toting a gift bag or box, and everyone cooing over my growing bump and the adorable event space.
Fletcher is by my side the entire time as I mingle with people I haven’t seen in ages, and I introduce him as my boyfriend. After the first time, the term rolls off my tongue easily, but it feels like he’s more to me than simply my boyfriend. Perhaps partner is the right word.
My mom pops out from the kitchen, glowering, but I choose to ignore her. This is how I’m choosing to be celebrated, and it’s not my fault that our tastes don’t align.
When it’s time to open presents, Fletcher tries to sit in the group of people who are staring at me, but I pull him with me.
“I can’t handle having that many eyes on me alone,” I whisper, to which he laughs.
“I wasn’t sure if you wanted it to be all about you or not.” As he helps me into the chair, he pulls an extra one up beside me right as the door opens.
Three people walk in, and I can’t help but smile. I wasn’t expecting them to come, but I appreciate it, nonetheless. Calvin, Adam, and Trigg grin and wave as they enter, finding Grace, Zoey, Hattie, and Dylan at the edge of the crowd.
My mom sits in the front with a glass of punch, while Dottie settles beside her. Fletcher hands me the first present, and I get started opening the mountain of presents.
I can’t keeptrack of all the adorable clothing sets, blankets, toys, and baby gadgets I’ve received, but thankfully, Grace is making notes for me. I’ve cried more than once at just how cute and small everything is. I can’t handle it, especially not when Trigg passes a box forward that contains an adorable hat and a tiny hockey stick with the words ‘my first hockey stick’ painted on it. After that, Calvin and Adam both give me little Minnesota Blue Herons gear, including some mittens and a sweatshirt.
The gifts from his teammates and friends make me think about Fletcher teaching her how to skate and play hockey, and another round of tears starts. I’m pretty sure everyone thinks I’ve lost it, but I don’t care. I’m so incredibly happy, it’s not even funny.
To make it even better, my mother has been snapping photos the entire time, and it puts me at ease. Maybe she does actually care enough about her granddaughter and me.
With only two gifts left, I stand and stretch while Fletcher runs to get me something to drink. He comes back over with a glass of punch and a cookie for me but kisses me gently on the lips before handing them over.
“Doing okay?” he asks.
I nod, taking a kiss of my own from him before grabbing the snack and drink. Fletcher rubs a hand over my stomach as our baby girl kicks, while everyone in the room lets out an “aww.” I blush furiously, turning my head to avoid everyone's eyes, but note that my mother is snapping pictures. I’ll have to see if she can send me some of them.
Once I sit back down and set my half-empty cup on the table next to me, I reach for one of the final boxes. The tag on it says it’s from my mom, and I offer her a smile before ripping open the pristine gold wrapping paper. I pull off the top of the box to find an envelope nestled in whitetissue paper with a plaid headband with a bow underneath it.
“The real gift is in the envelope,” my mother says as she holds up her phone.
I nod, lifting the envelope and opening it carefully. I don’t want to think the worst, but my hands are trembling. There’s no saying what this could be. When I pull the stiff paper from the envelope, I open it to read a very properly written letter.
Scanning the words twice, my heart sinks farther into my chest with each beat. She didn’t.
“What is this?” My voice shakes, and I look at her.
Fletcher takes the letter from my shaking hand, reading it.
“Guaranteed admission into the top private school in the country.” She beams. “And the best part is, it’s only thirty miles from her grandparents.”
“Right,” I mutter.
Fletcher takes the box and sets the paper in it. I don’t want to get into this right now, but my mom continues speaking.
