Maggie shook her head. “He’s been dying to play with people. Thanks for inviting us. He’s going to be like a…” She glanced at Wolf and kissed his neck until he laughed. “Well, like his kid.”
I resisted the urge to ask to hold him. His face was so sweetly chubby and perfect.
Rory slid his hand into mine as the group of people started moving. I was herded with instruments, baby strollers, and general revelry. Everyone seemed at ease with each other.
Sometimes too at ease. It was a little weird that Ian Kagan was running back and forth between the groups of people like an antsy three-year-old.
Ian Kagan who had recently been on a billboard in Times Square. The billboard I’d seen with my own eyes during my annual trip down to see the Christmas windows with my bestie.
Yeah. Weird.
But Rory was right. He was a guy with energy to burn—bless his girlfriend/fiancée /lifemate—but just a guy.
Ian had the door open to a huge barn. He was waving his arms to get us to move faster. Hay was strewn across the floor, lending a rustic charm to the room. Large steel silos lined one side of the space, and a big bar was stretched in front of it with various taps. The bar top was steel and glass with half built stools situated against it.
The steel was the super industrial kind, but the stools seemed to be made from repurposed barrels with rich red cushions waiting to be fashioned to them. The rafters were high and three huge fans were lazily spinning.
It smelled like cider and hay with a bonus blast of floral notes from the blooming trees lining every square inch of the property.
Rory tugged me toward the stage and my mouth dropped. It was made of reclaimed wood polished to a gleaming shine with an apple tree coming from the far side of the stage. They’d actually built the barn around the gnarled old tree. It was gorgeous and each branch looked like it held a story.
“This is the coolest place I’ve ever seen.”
Hayes was standing in the corner looking from the small group to the stage and back again. He
was biting his lower lip and cracking his knuckles.
“Don’t mind my brother,” Zoe said in a whisper.
“He looks like he’s about to throw up.”
“Probably a close thing. This has been Hayes’s baby for awhile. He’s been working on it nonstop since before I got pregnant.”
“Well, he did an awesome job.”
“I’ve been painting tiles that I’m going to put behind the stage. He doesn’t know it yet.” She grinned. “I’ve been itching to do a huge puzzle piece of a painting, but I’ve got this basketball hampering me from climbing on my usual scaffolding.”
I glanced down at her belly. It was pretty sizable. “Scaffolding?”
She shrugged. “I’m an artist.”
“Best artist ever in the history of artists.” Ian’s voice behind me made me jump.
Zoe rolled her eyes. “Go play with your friends.”
“Just making sure you have somewhere to sit, Magic.”
“I’m fine. We’ll be fine.”
He frowned and kissed her then bent to kiss her belly. “Okay, but you’ll tell me if you need anything.”
“I’m a big girl.”
“You’re perfect.”
“Just because I’m bearing your spawn doesn’t mean you have to keep laying it all on so thick there, pal.”
He started to run to the stage before coming right back to her. “I need to steal her for a minute.”