Promise Me This by Hannah Bird

Author:Hannah Bird [Bird, Hannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hannah Bird
Published: 2024-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

The first thing I smell when I step into the bed-and-breakfast is the sweet aroma of fresh crepes. It’s nearly eleven at night, so I wonder for a moment if my senses are deceiving me. When I round the corner into the kitchen, though, I find Siobhan plating up one of the thin pancakes next to a spread of toppings she’s laid out for the two guests standing by the door to the garden, embracing haphazardly.

“That’s not who I sent to give you a lift,” Siobhan says.

I glance over my shoulder at Callum, who is trying desperately to contain his grin as he ignores her and asks, “Why are you cooking at this hour?”

Siobhan aims her spatula at the couple in the corner. “Meet Chase and Eden. They’re taking a belated honeymoon around our beautiful country and stopped in for the night. Glad you came back, Leona, as I was just about to give up your room!”

I roll my eyes at her as I reach out to shake their hands.

“Nice to meet you both,” I say, sounding surprisingly chipper even to myself.

“Nice to meet you,” the woman, Eden, says. She has dark auburn hair that falls in a straight curtain down to her collarbone and eyes even greener than Callum’s, which I didn’t realize was possible. Her skin is littered with freckles from a lot of time spent in the sun. She leans into Chase’s side, a man with dark hair and a half-sleeve tattoo, and affectionately pinches his waist. “This is my husband, Chase.” She preens as she says the word so sweetly it comes out honey-coated.

Chase’s chest puffs out with pride. He offers us a lazy grin. “Are you guests here, too?”

I smile. Wow, I’m doing that a lot tonight. “No, I actually work here, for Siobhan. I sleep up in the attic.”

“And the starstruck one back there is my son,” Siobhan adds gruffly.

Callum steps up to shake their hands. His cheeks are flushed red when he turns to his mother. “Do you cook in the middle of the night for all your guests?”

Siobhan’s gaze cuts to Eden, who exchanges a glance with her husband before he nods softly. Immediately, in a gesture I’d recognize in a heartbeat, her hands fall to her stomach.

She smiles at him as she speaks. “We’re actually pregnant,” she says, her voice taking on a dreamlike quality. “Not too far along, but the morning sickness has set in. Though why they call it morning sickness is beyond me.” A heavy sigh escapes her lips as she turns to face me. “I’m sick all. The. Time.”

Callum snorts. “I remember that with my ex.” He waves a hand to excuse himself. “Sorry, I know it must be miserable. But congratulations on the baby.”

His voice becomes warm velvet as he offers his congratulations. I can see in the way his features soften, in the far-off look in his eyes, that just the mention of a baby brings him back to a wonderful place.

I’m so jealous in that moment I can barely breathe.

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