My Husband Left Me in Labor to Be My Best Friend's Groom, So I Prepared for His Return novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Welcome Home

By five forty on Friday, Alder Lane was full of cars.

They parked on both sides of the street and up on the verge, in their church clothes, with their sunglasses on.

Alastair had not sent three hundred invitations. He had sent one text to the wedding's guest list, and a second one, an hour later, that said only: She asked.

Two hundred people came.

They stood along my front walk and across my lawn and on the neighbors' lawns, in silence, watching my front door.

I watched them through the nursery curtain with my daughter against my shoulder.

"That's a lot of people to hold a grudge for you," said Hazel.

"It's not a grudge."

"What is it?"

"A return," I said. "He's coming home."

At five fifty-eight, Brennan's car turned onto the street.

He drove slowly, and I saw him see the crowd.

He stopped in the middle of the road with his hands on the wheel.

Then he got out, adjusted his blazer, and came up the walk with a suitcase in one hand and a bunch of grocery-store roses in the other.

He was smiling the smile he used on clients.

People moved aside for him without a word.

Bridget's father stood near the mailbox with his arms crossed. Bridget's mother stood beside him. Behind them, a little apart, Bridget stood alone, pale, in a gray coat.

Alastair was at the very back, by the hedge, with his hands in his pockets.

At the bottom of my porch steps, Brennan stopped and looked up at the closed door.

I opened it from inside, with my daughter on my arm, and stepped out onto the top step.

← Chapter 11 · All chapters · Chapter 13 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend