Babymoon or Bust: A Novel by Ava Hunter

Author:Ava Hunter [Hunter, Ava]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: novel
Publisher: Ava Hunter
Published: 2023-05-31T23:00:00+00:00

“Did you get the photo?” Solomon asks the next evening as he steps out onto the terrace to watch the beach come alive. In the distance, faint strains of music. The lights of the pavilion lightsaber the sky, signaling the beginning of the event to come.

“We got it,” his dad says, voice tinny over the speakerphone.

With a sigh, he rests his hip against the railing. If Tessie’s ballsy enough to quit her job, then he can call the family he’s been screening since he arrived in Mexico.

“So you’re staying,” Evelyn says, her voice flat and dry.

“You’re smiling,” Jo pipes in.

“You’re smiling a lot,” Melody adds. Ten years younger than Solomon, Melody’s the baby of the family. “Oodles and oodles of smiling.”

Solomon rubs his brow. Christ. He sends his middle sister Jo the photo of him and Tessie on the beach, and it’s passed around the family like news down the AP Wire. He swears under his breath, picturing his entire family, minus Evelyn, crowded around the kitchen island, the cell phone passed between them. It’s the way of the Wilders. Family dinners. Group phone calls. Group texts. Things he hasn’t been part of in a long damn time.

He sighs. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“No. It’s a great thing,” Melody says. “I haven’t seen that smile since—”

Her voice cuts off in a strangle, but he knows what she was going to say. Hell, they all do. Since Serena.

His mother’s voice now, edging in, chasing away the awkward silence. “So that’s her? Tess?”

Solomon clears his throat. “Yeah.” Unbidden, a smile hits his lips. “Tessie.”

At the thought of her, he straightens, glancing over his shoulder to search her out. His heartbeat ticks up a notch as she exits the bedroom, her own phone pressed to her ear. She’s fresh from the shower, wrapped in a fluffy white towel. They spent all day at the beach again, and tonight, dinner and dancing.

Before Tessie, it’s the last thing he’d be doing. But now, by her side is where he wants to be.

Relief fills him. He doesn’t have to leave her yet. He still has time.

A vacation he didn’t know he needed with a girl he didn’t know he needed.

Tessie glances up and gives him a small wave before disappearing back into the bedroom.

“I see her little bump,” Melody coos, bringing Solomon back to the phone call.

Evelyn sniffs, unimpressed. “She’s wearing a bikini when she’s pregnant.”

Jo now. “God, you’re stale, Evelyn.”

“I like her,” Melody announces.

“You haven’t met her,” Evelyn snips.

Jo says, “Jesus, let the man live, would you, Evil?”

Mom sighs. “Girls.”

“Listen,” Solomon barks. “I wanted to call and tell you that I’m staying down here for a few more days.”

“How long’s a few more days?” his dad asks.

He paces. “Monday.”

A yelp from Melody.

“Well, son. If that’s what you need to do, you do it.”

“Yeah, Sol,” Jo says. “Keep that smile on your face.”

Solomon appreciates how even-keel they are about this whole situation. Even after what he put them through with his disappearing and distancing act, they’re loyal as hell.

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