“Yes. Starved.” That’s her usual response these days, she’s loving blueberry pancakes, I’m sick of them, she had them every day. If she’s not with me she’ll get one of the men to bring her some, she even brings Aaron them when she goes to visit him. He’s threatened to move if she keeps bringing them.
“IHOP?”
Her nose turns up, “Ugh, no, I want gumbo.”
I frown. “Gumbo? Princess, we’re in Cali not New Orleans.”
She shrugs. “There’s a soul food place not far from where Synergy is. Your dad got some food from there yesterday.”
Fucking dad. “He did?”
She nods. “Yes, he told me Aaron didn’t want pancakes and we stopped off to get him some food.”
She shrugs. “I didn’t realize I’d been making everyone hate pancakes.”
I look at her, wanting to see her reaction when I say this. I don’t want her to feel like she can’t have anything just because the guys are sick of it. “Princess, you want pancakes? We’ll get pancakes. I’ll eat them every day, five times a day if you want them.”
She smiles at me. “No, it’s okay, ever since Harrison got the food for Aaron, I’ve been wanting it.” Her cheeks flame. “It smelled so good.”
“Wait, you haven’t tried it yet?” She shakes her head, a cute little smile on her face. “Okay, let’s go get you some Gumbo.”
I put the car into drive and head towards the restaurant that sells gumbo funny I’ve never had any either so it’ll be a new thing for the two of us
My cell rings just as Mia and I enter the restaurant. “Go ahead and order, get two of whatever it is you’re getting. I’ll be there in a minute,” I tell her reaching into my pocket and taking out my wallet. I give her a fifty, she takes it and walks into the shop, her ass swaying as she does. Putting my wallet back into my pocket I pull out my phone and see that it’s Jagger that’s calling. “Yeah?” I answer it, my eyes on the inside of the restaurant, I keep an eye on Mia as she’s ordering.
“Everything is setup, boss. The caterers are ready, Sarah has gone all out on decorating the reception room, not to mention the church, she also has Mia’s dress waiting.” I can hear the smile in his voice.
“Good, what about that other thing we spoke about?” I glance at my watch, two hours remaining until everything falls into place.
“Yes, that’s done, it looks fucking amazing. Although I should punch you, it made Sarah cry.”
I smile, if Sarah cried, Mia’s going to cry. “Mia’s just getting some food.”
He makes a gagging sound. “God, she needs to lay off those pancakes.”
I smirk. “She’s getting gumbo.”
“Thank fuck. I thought she’d give birth to a damn pancake the way she was inhaling them.”
“Jagger,” I warn. He’s right though, she was consuming a hell of a lot of them, I’m just grateful that she’s getting something different.
“Right. I’ve got shit to do, see you later.” He ends the call just as Mia exits the restaurant.
“Everything okay?” she asks softly. Every time my phone rings she tenses, she’s waiting for Martin to hit, for us to find out what he’s done next. We all are, it’s fucking weird that the asshole has gone silent. It’s not sitting right. Tonight, Coby and I are having a meeting, we’re going to find that fucker and end him.
“Yeah, Princess, everything’s fine. Just Jagger, I had him in a job and that was him checking in.”
Relief washes through her, happiness shines so brightly in her eyes. “Did you tell him that we’re having a boy?”
I shake my head. “No, Princess, I didn’t. I thought we’d do it together.” I wink as I take her hand. We walk back to the car and I help her in, “I’ve a surprise planned. Once you’ve finished eating, I’ll show you it.”
She smiles. “What sort of surprise?” I close the door on her and walk around to the drivers side. “Hudson, what is the surprise?” she asks, but I don’t answer her as I slide into the car. “Hudson?”
I start the car and put it into drive. “Mia, it’s a surprise. That means that you don’t get to find out until I’m ready. So just wait, okay?”
She glares at me but nods. “Okay, I’ll wait. Do you think we’ll be able to go to visit mom and dad tomorrow?” she asks softly, she’s not been to the cemetery since Tina was buried.
Thankfully there’s not a lot of traffic, we’ll be home in no time. “Yeah, Princess, we’ll go and see your mom and dad.”