Lennon gives me a cheesy look. “She’s got the love bug. Look at her.”
“Learned it from you two,” I playfully throw back at them. “Anyway, enough of that.”
“Mads,” Lennon says, then glances at Sophie nervously before focusing her attention on me. She lowers her voice. “So tell me, are you on birth control or not?”
I was actually wondering when they’d give me the talk. “No.”
“No? You need to be unless you want to get pregnant.” Lennon gives me a stern look.
I shrug. “I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
They’re both shocked.
“And you’re not pregnant right now?” Lennon just comes out and asks.
“No!” I whisper-hiss. “Jesus. I want kids eventually, but most definitely not for a long time.”
“Does Liam want kids?” Sophie asks.
I shrug. “He doesn’t mind practicing to make them, but we haven’t had the conversation yet. We just started dating.”
“Well, maybe you two should talk about it so you’re on the same page. I love my babies, but it’s better to be prepared for it. It’s a life-changing experience and once you’re a mother, it’s up to you to make sure a baby human is taken care of. Mads, you need to be responsible and make an appointment.”
Thankfully our food arrives and interrupts the conversation, but only temporarily.
“Mads,” Sophie says, grabbing my attention from the wrap I was devouring. “I’ll go with you. I mean, if you want to. It’s better to be safe.”
“Thanks, Soph. And I know. I just haven’t had time with everything going on lately. But yeah, I will set something up and go see a doctor.” I take a huge bite of my wrap to end the subject.
Thankfully, Lennon starts talking more about the wedding and the venue that Sophie chose. We’ve only seen photographs, but I know it’s going to be absolutely beautiful with the large windows that overlook the lake. Considering it’ll be December, she’s hoping snow will lightly dust the surroundings to make it even more magical. I love the way Sophie lights up when she talks about marrying Mason. I can tell it comes from a real place in her heart and it’s genuine.
Once we’re finished eating, we leave a tip for our waitress, then head toward the spa. After we each have a mimosa, we get one-hour hot stone massages. The whole afternoon is complete bliss as the masseuse works out all the tension and stress from my muscles. By the time we walk out of the building, we all feel like jelly.
“We need to start doing that at least once a month,” Lennon says with creases on her forehead from the massage table.
“Oh, definitely.” Nodding in agreement, I realize how great a deep tissue massage would be when I’m overly sore from dancing.
Sophie hasn’t stopped grinning since we walked out. “I feel like smoosh.”
I burst out laughing. “Smoosh? What does that even mean?”
Lennon snorts and it causes me to lose it to the point of tears rolling down my cheeks.
“I’m going to pick up Aaron from Mrs. Locke, but she begged to keep Alison tonight. Hunter is at your house hanging out with the guys, so I’ll meet you there for some afternoon coffee.” After we exchange hugs and thank Lennon for treating us both, Sophie and I head home.
“Sorry you were put on the spot at lunch,” Sophie says.
“Pfft. I’m used to it with you two, but I’m not disagreeing. I want to graduate first and actually enjoy kissing a man who isn’t married before we jump to the next step. I’ve been waiting for years, and I don’t want to rush.”
Sophie tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, because we all know I didn’t approve of your relationship when I thought he had a wife, but it seemed to all work out even though you lied to me.”
I scrunch my nose at her because we’ve already talked about it several times, but she’s not going to let me live it down. “I had to, Soph. For your protection.”
“Mm-hmm,” she tells me.
Last weekend, Liam went back to Vegas to finalize the divorce with Victoria. I was hoping this day would come though I was somewhat weary it never would. My trust when it comes to her is zero. Liam made sure to text and call me as much as possible while he was there because my nerves were wrecked when he left. He was confident everything would be okay, and it was, but I couldn’t help but worry it was a trap. Thankfully, it wasn’t.
Now that mostly everything has settled down, Tyler decided to go back too. We asked him if he wanted to stay longer, but he insisted on going home so he could get back to work and sleep in his own bed again. Considering he lives in the same city as the mob does business, it has me concerned, but he knows what he’s doing. Tyler has connections with all sorts of people, and sometimes gets caught up with some shady shit, but he’s used to taking care of himself, so I didn’t push it. I did force him to keep in touch with me no matter what because I care about him and he promised he would. We were all starting to get used to Tyler being around too. While I was sad to see him leave, because he quickly became a friend to me and was there to help when I desperately needed it.