Page 31 of Summer Ride

They waited until Scarlett took another sip of the cool drink.

“Levi and I have been trying for almost two years now. We thought… well, I’d heard horror stories of couples trying for years. Having to go through in vitro, being on all those hormones.” She shook her head. “Then last month we found out and—boom—suddenly, I can’t keep anything down.” She smiled slightly. “Sorry for interrupting your romantic evening walk.”

“You didn’t,” Kara reassured her. “We were heading up for dinner and to let everyone know that Julie and Damion had their baby.”

“What?” Scarlett jerked her head up and then jumped up and pulled Kara up from the bench. “We have to go tell the others and have a party.”

As Scarlett and Kara rushed into the building, he followed them inside. Kara had been right; they really did use any excuse to have a party.

Chapter Nine

“It’s not fair,” Aubrey said with her hands on her hips. “I was actually the closest to the time.”

It was officially after work hours, and more than two dozen employees were gathered in the employee dining room.

Kara sat with the others and felt the stress of the past few days drift away. Hanging with her friends worked better than Andrea’s massage or the quick sex with Carter. Being surrounded by laughter always got her in a better mood.

Everyone was enjoying food and drinks as they celebrated the new baby among friends. A video call was placed to Damion and Julie, who were happily eating dinner with their families in the hospital room in Hawaii.

Baby Malia was introduced to everyone via video while Damion happily held onto his beautiful daughter. She had a full head of dark hair that curled around her flawless face. The baby stared back at the screen with huge dark eyes, as if she understood what was going on.

Kara was instantly in love.

After the call ended, someone produced a massive chocolate cake and a few cases of beers, which really kicked the celebration off.

“But you went over. That’s the rules,” Zoey pointed out to Aubrey. “Carter was closest to the birth date and time without going over.”

Carter waved the wad of cash he’d won, more than eleven hundred dollars, in Aubrey’s face. Kara wanted to warn him that, even though Aubrey was small, she could easily take him down with her fighting skills.

“Maybe you’ll win next time.” Carter winked in Scarlett’s direction, which instantly earned him an elbow in the ribs from her.

She knew Scarlett had mentioned that the other Wildflowers knew that she was pregnant, but still, Carter had just made it clear to them that he knew as well.

Aubrey’s eyes narrowed slightly. Then she glanced between them and Scarlett, who quickly threw her hands up and said. “Fine, yes, they know. They saw me puking in the bushes and figured it out.”

Several employees around them overheard and rushed to congratulate Scarlett and Levi.

“Does that mean we can put you up on the board finally?” Zoey asked, erasing all the bets for Julie and Damion.

“Not unless you put them up there as well,” Scarlett said, pointing towards her sister.

Everyone turned towards Zoey, who shrugged and smiled. Then she split the board in two and wrote Scarlett and Levi on one side and her and Dylan’s names on the other. “Lea says this time everything is going smoothly. It looks like we’ll have a boy a month before his little cousin will come along.” She laughed, rubbing a hand over her stomach.

“Wow. More babies,” Kara said with a sigh as she and Carter sat in the booth, nursing cold beers and nibbling on chocolate cake.

“Everyone’s joking about needing an employee daycare on campus,” he replied.

“That’s a great idea. Or at least one somewhere near campus.” She thought about it. Then she turned to Zoey. “Hey, is River Cabin still empty? That would make a great daycare, wouldn’t it?”

Zoey’s eyebrows shot up. “It would.” She turned to Aubrey. “What would your husband have to do to make it suitable for a daycare?”

The friends continued talking as she turned back towards Carter, who was giving her a strange look.

“What?” she asked. He shook his head. But she knew what he was thinking. The one thing she had yet to shake was feeling strange about praise. Especially when it came from Carter. “Andrea and I were chatting about it a while back. It’s really her idea.”

“Something tells me you’re being modest.” He took her hand.

“You like kids, right?” she asked him, trying to change the subject.