“I have to meet Maysie, Mom.” I got to my feet, not able to sit there with her any longer.

“Oh. I was hoping we could have some dessert,” my mom said, looking disappointed. Her made-up face softened momentarily and she took my hand. “I like your shoes, I meant to tell you that.”

I looked down at my plain, black pumps with their short heel. They weren’t the sort of shoes my mother would ever consider wearing.

She gave me a smile and I smiled back. I leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Mom.”

I left thinking that maybe I wasn’t the only one trying to change.

“Wow, this place is awesome!” I exclaimed, getting out of my car and joining Maysie on the front porch of a beautiful colonial style house.

“It is, isn’t it?” Maysie remarked giddily. She jingled keys in her hand in obvious excitement.

“So you want to tell me why we’re here?” I asked as Maysie unlocked the front door and stepped inside. I followed her into a small foyer.

“This is my new house. Well mine and Jordan’s,” she said, walking into a large living room with a fireplace against one wall and a bay window looking out onto the street.

“What?” I gaped. “You got a house? When did this happen?”

“Well, we can’t live in Garrett’s spare room forever. As much as I love the guys, we need our own space. Especially now with so many changes happening.” She started pulling dustcovers off furniture and dropping them in a pile on the floor. “I took that PR job. I got the phone call confirming everything this morning. I’ll be working mostly from home with a handful of existing clients, but there will be some traveling required, which is cool.”

I followed Maysie through the downstairs as she turned on lights and removed covers from the rest of the furniture. It was a cute house. Small but quaint, with hardwood floors and lots of natural light. It was the perfect kind of house to start a family in.

“You guys are settling down, aren’t you? Jordan’s not going to go back out on the road is he?” I deduced, leaning against the counter in the kitchen as Maysie went through the cabinets, making sure there was nothing left behind by the previous tenants.

Maysie’s shoulders sagged a bit. “He’s really not sure. Things are up in the air with the label. But it doesn’t look good. Jordan and the others are sort of preparing themselves. And on some level, I think they’re all ready for the hammer to drop. To just know one way or another where they stand. This whole band thing was a dream. They never thought in a million years they would get as big as they did. It’s been one hell of a ride, Gracie, but at the end of the day, it proved to be more stress than I think any of them anticipated. It’s been hard. And with Jordan and me getting married and starting a family—”

I held up my hand. “Back up a second. Starting a family?”

Maysie smiled, her entire face lighting up. “I’m pregnant, G.”

“Oh my god!” I shrieked, all but launching myself at her. “What the hell? When did you find out?” I demanded.

“I had suspected for a few weeks, especially with how crappy I’ve been feeling. I took a test when we got back from the show over the weekend. It was positive. I’m waiting for Jordan to get back into town so we can go to the doctor’s appointment together.” Maysie put a hand on her flat stomach. “It’s early days. I can’t be more than a month along, but yeah, we’re having a baby.”

“Oh. My. God!” I squealed louder, grabbing her hands as we jumped up and down like little girls. “You’re having a baby! I can’t believe it!”

“I know. I can’t really believe it either. But Jordan is so excited. We both are. Which is why we wanted to get into our own place as soon as possible. We want stability. We want roots. We’re starting our family, G. We need something solid.”

“I’m just so happy for you, Mays. I can’t believe my best friend is going to be a mom!”

“You’re going to be an auntie. I guess it’s official. We’re getting old,” Maysie laughed and I bumped her hip with mine.

“Speak for yourself. There’s a lot of living left in these bones.” Then I stiffened. “So the guys are on their way back then?”

Maysie nodded, wiping a hand along the counter top. “They stopped for the night in Richmond but they should be back this evening after dropping off the bus. We’ll be at Garrett’s for the next few days but then we’re hoping to move in over the weekend.” She gave me a mischievous smile. “You up to helping me clean?”

“Do I have a choice?” I asked weakly, already thinking about other things .

“Not really,” Maysie giggled.

“So they’ll be back…” My voice drifted off.

Maysie gave me a sympathetic smile. “Yeah. They’ll be back. Look, I’m not sure what happened between you and Mitch, but maybe with him being home it’ll be a good time to talk. To sort everything out,” she suggested.

“I tried that this weekend. It didn’t turn out so well. He doesn’t want to hear anything I have to say.”

Maysie squeezed my hand. I knew she wanted to ask more but she didn’t push. “Come to Garrett’s tonight. We’ll all be just hanging out, ordering pizza. The guys will no doubt be playing a million rounds of Minecraft. Vivian and I will both be there. Please come.”