"Tell me again," Lanie begged.

I chuckled and sipped my herbal tea. "Do I have to?"

"You owe me this."

I exhaled a heavy sigh. "My room has beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows with amazing views of the city and the beach."

Lanie groaned into the receiver. "Damn. I can't believe you're in Barcelona! I should be there!"

"I wish you were here too," I replied honestly. "It's not the same here without you, Karma, and Jamie."

"Yeah, I bet. The Five Musketeers!"

"It's The Three Musketeers, Lane."

"Um, there are five of us, not three. So it fits!"

I laughed at that. She was right, The Five Musketeers did fit. That was a new one for sure.

She was also right about one other thing. There was a part of me that wished she and our other best friends were here, too. Yes, this was a family trip, but I still missed them every day.

"Where's your hubby?"

I got up from the plush couch and walked toward the large kitchen in our suite. Only the best when you were married to a Hale.

I reached into the bag of healthy snacks I brought and pulled out an apple.

"He and Gwen went for a walk. A family bonding thing."

"That's cool. How ya feeling? Any weird cravings yet?"

"I'm feeling pretty good actually. The morning sickness is a lot better. As far as weird cravings, I seem to really enjoy putting steak sauce on sliced lemon."

Lanie made a gagging sound on the other end of the line. "Steak sauce? On lemons? Yuck!"

I grabbed a paper towel and my apple before walking back over to the couch. "You're one to talk. You put ketchup on your ice cream!"

"It was the hormones!"

"Exactly," I snickered. "So don't talk crap about my weird cravings, Lanie Jenkins."

"Fine, fine."

I took a small bite of my apple and nearly moaned at the sour taste of the Granny Smith.

"How's Ayden? Is he doing better?"

"So much better." The relief of that fact was heavy in her tone.

"No more nightmares?"

"He still has them, but nowhere near as much as he had before. He's finally sleeping through the night most nights. No more waking up in cold sweats and..."

I paused before taking another bite of my apple. "And what?"

"For awhile he would wake up screaming," she explained softly. "I knew whenever that happened he was back there. In Afghanistan. He would keep replaying what happened over and over again."

"I'm so sorry, Lanie. But you said he's doing better now, right?"

"Yes. Yes, he is, and I am so grateful for that."

"Good. I'm glad he's better, too. Have you seen Karma lately? Harper and I have been worried about her."

"She'd better-ish."

"Better-ish? What does that mean?"

I never knew Karma's mom as well as the rest of the group, but I still felt that loss and I felt for my friend.

Me and the rest of the girls were there for her when her mom passed away. We were there when she cried. We were there when she depended on pastries and desserts to get through the day. We were also there when the drinking started to get out of control.

When she got overwhelmed in her grief like that, I was terrified that she wouldn't be able to dig her way out of that hole. Thankfully, Jackson was able to help her. I don't know what he did, or how he did it, but I've started to see little glimpses of the old Karma start to come back.

And Nate...

The first time I met Nathan Jenkins was when he came home for Christmas leave. Lanie and Harper had told me all about her big brother, the soldier. When I met him, he came off as strong and brave—like nothing would ever get to him.

But when Laine got into that car accident, I did not see a Special Forces officer. I saw a loving brother who was nearly ruined by the fact that his little sister and nephew almost died.

The only other time I saw him like that was when Karma's mom died. He had been hurting, too. He tried to hide it from us. Most likely because he was more concerned about Karma's well being. But they were both doing better now.

Everyone was doing better.

"That means," Lanie started to answer, "that she is doing better. She still gets these crying spells sometimes and I can tell when it really gets to her, but for the most part, she's doing better."

"Good," I breathed happily. "I was so worried about her. How's the bar? Are the boys managing okay without Ryan and Jackson?"

Lanie laughed at my question. "Oh, they're handling it. Of course they have there days where they start PMSing and whine about wanting Jackson and Ryan to come home so they can take their own vacation."

"PMSing? Really?"

"Yes! Seriously! I wish you could be here to see this."

"Soon enough," I replied.

As much as I was enjoying my vacation, there was a little part of me that was home sick. Aside from the little bit of culture shock I was feeling, I wanted to continue preparing and planning for the arrival of this baby.

"Hey, D, Ayden just got home. I gotta go."

"You gotta go knit, you mean."

"You know that's right," Lanie whispered. "Love ya. Have fun!"

"Bye, L," I chuckled before hanging up.

We all knew what 'knitting' meant in the Jenkins/Sawyer household. I swear sometimes those two were like teenagers.

That was a good thing, though. Real passion like that was hard to find. I felt so lucky that I found that with Ryan. I sure as hell didn't have that with my other boyfriends. Perhaps that was because they weren't really boyfriends. 

I pretty much only dated guys exclusively. They never lasted any longer than three months. I never went beyond the whole drawer and a toothbrush stage. Whenever I had a hunch that the guy I was seeing wanted more, I ended it. I made up some excuse about why it wasn't working and never spoke to him again. 

Until Ryan. 

But my relationship with Ryan was definitely not of the norm. Especially the first time we met...

"Bone dry cappuccino!"

I went to reach for my coffee and my hand collided with a bigger, rougher one. The lid to the coffee cup popped off when it tumbled over. The hot liquid spread everywhere. 

"Oh, shit," a male voice said from beside me. "That was my fault."

We both grabbed a handful of napkins and tried to cleanup the mess. 

"It's fine. With the way my day is going, this is just par for the course." 

Once all the coffee was cleaned up, the barista placed another coffee on the counter. 

"Bone dry cappuccino for Ryan!"

"Lucky you," I said flatly. 

I glanced at my now empty cup of coffee. I was going to have to order another one—which meant that I was going to have to wait in that long line. Great. Just great. 

I grabbed the soiled napkins and walked over to the trash to throw them away. When I started walking back to the end of the line, The Coffee Spiller followed after me. 

"Wait!"

I turned towards him and waited for him to ask me whatever it was he wanted.

"Here," he said and held out his coffee to me. "That first cup was clearly for you and it was my fault that it spilled. Take mine and I'll order another one." 

"Really? I know how good that tastes. Sure you wanna give it up?" 

He chuckled and shrugged a shoulder. "Consider it my punishment or making your bad day worse. Maybe this will help? Even a little?" 

I wanted that coffee and I wanted it now. I took the cup from him and smiled. "Thank you." 

"You're welcome." 

I stepped out of the line and he took my spot. I glanced over my shoulder at him, trying to get a better look. He had blond hair that was brushed to the side. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but somehow that didn't seem like his style. Something about this guy shouted Wall Street business. 

He was probably taken. Married, most likely. Married with three little rugrats running around. 

"You okay?" 

Oh shit! I was staring, wasn't I? 

"I'm fine," I mumbled as my cheeks heated with embarrassment. 

I kept my eyes to myself and walked away to sit at an outdoor table. My day started with my car having a dead battery. Then I broke heel. Now my coffee spilled? What was next? 

I put my coffee cup to my mouth and took a big gulp. A little moan slipped past my lips as I swallowed it. 

This...this was better. 

"Enjoying that, are we?" 

My eyes snapped open. It was him. The hot blonde coffee spiller. 

"Yes, it is." I glanced at the cup in his hand. "I see you got another." 

"Yeah," he chuckled. "I'm meeting someone here and kinda needed some caffeinated courage." 

Ah, of course. He was meeting someone. For a date. Just my luck. 

"Caffeinated courage? Clever." 

He stuck out his hand. "I'm Ryan. It's nice to meet you...Can I get a name?"

Against my better judgement, I wrapped my hand around his. "It's nice to meet you, too. I'm—"

"Danielle?" 

I looked to the right when I heard Harper's voice. She walked over to where I was sitting and looked from me to The Coffee Spiller. 

"I see you too have met already." Harper kissed him on the cheek before she smiled at me. "Danielle this is Ryan, my fiancee. Ryan, this is one of my best friends, Danielle." 

My eyes locked with Ryan's. There was a moment of silent awkwardness between us before he nodded. I didn't need to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking. 

He wasn't blind to the brief connection we had anymore than I was. But he was engaged to my best friend. So whatever that brief connection was, it didn't exist anymore. 

"It's nice to meet you, Ryan." 

I chuckled at the memory. Our relationship definitely didn't start out like most people's. Yes, that first day I met him I considered what it would be like to date him. But when I realized who he was, I buried those feelings. I buried them deep, deep inside me and never thought of them again. 

Not until that night at his condo. 

The night that officially kick-started our relationship. 

Now here we were—happily married and expecting a child. 

And if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.