“Keep it. I’ll get another.” He studied her. “So...what’s this news you have to share?”
“Nope. Not spilling until everybody is here. Having to repeat myself ruins the dramatic punch.” Which was something of an untruth. The news itself was so shocking, she doubted anything would dim the punch.
“Does this have something to do with why you’ve been MIA for the last couple of weeks?”
“Yes.”
Miranda slid in next, grabbed the beer from Piper and took a long pull herself.
“I’ll just go get a pitcher.” Tucker rose and headed for the bar.
By the time he made it back, juggling a pitcher and several glasses, Norah and Tyler had arrived.
“I feel like I’m interrupting a hen party,” he said. “Where’s Cam?”
“At a City Council meeting,” Norah announced.
“You didn’t have to be there, too?” Piper asked. As the city planner, Norah worked closely with her fiancé, City Councilman Campbell Crawford.
“Not tonight.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be a total hen party if Brody wasn’t in Portland,” Piper pointed out.
“He’ll be home next weekend,” Tyler said. “Two more months on this project and then he’s all mine.”
After years apart, Tyler and B
rody had come back together during the production of White Christmas that had saved The Madrigal Theater—with some creative manipulation on the part of Piper, Tucker, and Myles. He’d had one last job to take as project coordinator for Peyton Consolidated before he was free to come home to Wishful permanently and open his own construction firm.
“Okay, everybody’s here,” Tucker said. “Spill it, Parish. What’s going on?”
Suddenly nervous, Piper rolled her glass between both hands. “I have news. Well, and a confession.”
“Oh please God, tell me you haven’t taken another better paying job somewhere else,” Miranda said, looking stricken.
“What? No. Nothing like that.”
“It’s good news,” Norah declared, a grin spreading across her face.
Piper pointed at her. “You know. How do you know? Who told you?”
Before she could answer, Tyler interrupted, “How about you just tell us whatever it is you’re being squirrelly about?”
“Okay, fine. So when I made that whole big deal about not dating my co-star and giving time for the intimacy of the stage to wear off after the show? I was full of crap. Myles and I have been dating. Secretly.”
“Why secretly? It’s not like any of us have a problem with him,” Tyler said.
“Because you were there when I did the same thing with Brandon, and I didn’t want any reminders of how that blew up in my face.” Which was a half-truth. Not wanting those reminders was one of the few things that had allowed her to keep her personal vow of distance.
“So you hauled us all out tonight to come clean about the fact that you’re dating a guy you’ve clearly liked since the day you met?” Tyler asked. “Give us a little credit, Piper. We’re not going to judge you for that. For God’s sake, Brody and I fell in love on the stage. It happens.”
Norah bit her lip, obviously trying to hold in a grin.
“No, the fact that Myles and I have been dating was the preamble.” She reached back to unfasten the clasp of the chain, pulling the necklace free of her shirt and sliding the ring onto her finger. “I dragged you all out tonight because Myles and I are getting married.”
“Woo!” Norah did a fist pump. “I’ve been sitting on that all afternoon. If you hadn’t called, I would’ve tracked you down at home.”
“How is it you knew all afternoon and nobody told me,” Tyler complained.