“COME ON, GUMMY BEAR, you gotta wake up for Daddy. Kick for me, buddy.”

Harper laughed softly, and her hands went into my hair. “I’m telling you, babe, he’s asleep. He’s not gonna wake up.”

“You’ll wake up for Daddy, won’t you? You don’t want me to go to the party; you want to kick the crap out of Mom’s belly while I talk to you, don’t you?”

Still nothing.

I sighed and ran my nose back and forth across Harper’s stomach. Graduation was on Sunday, so the guys at my house were throwing one last Friday night party . . . and I didn’t want to go. I’d started working a lot more back when Harper and Brandon were dating, so I hadn’t even been to a party in who knows how long; and it just didn’t interest me anymore. Besides, Princess wasn’t going, so if she wasn’t going, I definitely didn’t want to go. She’d been pushing me out the door, saying I needed a good weekend with my friends, and, as a last attempt, I told her that if I could get GB to kick for me, I didn’t have to go. But five minutes of talking to her swollen stomach, and he hadn’t so much as rolled over.

Harper tugged on my hair gently, and I reluctantly stood up. “Go to the party, Chase. Have fun.”

I grumbled, but cupped her cheeks and kissed her soundly. “I’ll be back later tonight.”

“Just have fun. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Shaking my head, I kissed her forehead and unlocked my truck. “I need you in my arms when I fall asleep tonight, Princess. I’ll text you when I’m on my way back here.”

Ignoring the urge to turn my truck back around to go be with her, I reasoned that at least I could grab the solitaire engagement ring I’d bought Harper last week. I had everything planned to propose after graduation on Sunday, and it felt like the next day and a half would drag by. Princess was always saying she didn’t need to be married just because she was pregnant. But what she wasn’t getting is that I couldn’t wait to marry her. I wanted to be with her forever and didn’t see the point in waiting to start my life with her.

I’d just gotten done showing Sarah and Brad the engagement ring before stowing it away in my desk and locking my room back up when my phone started chiming. Trish. I sighed and opened up the texts. Almost every night over the last two weeks, she’d tried to get me to come hang out at her apartment either after work or for the night when she wasn’t working. She said her girlfriend was always working graveyard shifts, and Trish was cool and all—but I knew Harper still couldn’t stand her, so I’d continued to say no. You’d think after two weeks of that she’d get the hint. Apparently not.

Trish: U should come keep me company. I’ll make you dinner

Can’t. Sorry

Trish: :( u gonna make me spend another night alone?

Where’s your girlfriend? Graveyard shift again?

Trish: . . . yep

Sorry dude. Having a party at my place. Catch you Monday

Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I made my way through the house toward the kitchen. Drew and some girl I’d never seen were doing shots, and I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge, working hard not to shake my head at everything happening in the house. I couldn’t remember how I’d ever found these entertaining. But I was already counting down the minutes until I could go back to my parents’ house. I’d already been here for almost five hours, and I figured if I gave it another hour, Princess wouldn’t think I’d missed out on anything because she wasn’t here.

Brandon walked past me to grab a beer out of the fridge, and I tensed when he came back to hop on the counter next to me. We hadn’t talked in almost a month, but when he didn’t immediately try to hit me, I started to relax a bit.

“What’s going on?”

“Not much,” he said gruffly, and took a long drink. “Think I’m gonna go hide in my room soon. These just aren’t as fun as they used to be.”

“Agreed. I’ll be going to my parents’ in a bit. You going back to Arizona as soon as the year’s over?”

“Nah. Mom bought a house in Carlsbad, she and Jeremy move here in a week.”

“Huh.” My eyebrows shot up. “That’s good then.”

He nodded, and we fell back into an awkward silence. A couple times he’d start to say something before stopping himself. And just as I was about to tell him to spit it out, he shakily asked, “How’s uh—how’re Harper and the baby?”

My chest tightened, and guilt ate away at me. Every time I thought of them, I couldn’t help but smile—a fact Brian, Jeff, and Trish teased me about relentlessly. But with Brandon, I just had the need to apologize. “They’re really good. Look man, I’m—”

“Don’t apologize.” He drained his beer and hopped off the counter, turning slightly to look at me. “I—I hate what you did. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever get over it, but I . . .” He trailed off and took a deep breath before looking me in the eye. “I forgive you. I know you love her, and I know she loved us both. All I want is for her to be happy. And if she’s happy with you, then that’s all I need.”

I stared at him for a long time, trying to figure out exactly what to say. But nothing seemed right. When he started to turn away, I called out, “Thank you, brother. That means a lot.”

With a hard nod, he turned and made his way toward the hall his room was on. I was still sitting there dumbfounded when someone gently punched my arm. Looking to my right, I saw Trish, and my head jerked back, “Hey, dude.”