He dragged his hand down the lower part of his face. “She’s going to be at the wedding.”

“The wedding?” They were attending the wedding of one of his associates the following weekend.

“You don’t have to go.”

“Not go? You expect me to let you go without me?”

He sighed. “What do you think I’m going to do, Lina? I’m just trying to protect you. I know you’re going to feel uncomfortable, I—”

“Of course I’m going to feel uncomfortable, but you’re not going alone. How far along is she?”

“Over five months.”

“Five months!” Her gaze swung to him. “That means she got pregnant in the first month you were with her.” And it probably meant he knew the sex of the baby, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask. She didn’t want to know. It would make it all too real.

“What did he say?” Katie asked as she pulled Emma’s phone from her hands. “He’s coming?” Her eyes scanned the text Ryan sent Emma. She’d told Emma to invite Ryan and the band to come to her house for a swim after they finished practice. “Wait, Ryan says he’s coming. How do we know Matt’s coming?”

“He’ll come,” Emma said. “Mondays are his day off.”

Katie hoped Emma was right. She thought of the Bible in the freezer in the basement and wondered if the spell would be stronger if he was at her house. It had been a little over a month, and so far nothing had happened. Sure, he’d been nice and she knew he liked her, at least as a friend, and sometimes she could feel him staring at her, but he hadn’t made any attempt to see her away from Emma’s house, and she knew he was still dating the blonde.

“Wear your black bathing suit,” Emma said, referring to her most revealing suit. “You look really hot in it.”

Lina’s perception of herself as open-minded was being put to the test as she watched the group in the pool. Well, not exactly the group, but the boy-man Katie seemed glued to all afternoon. When the four males arrived, Lina had made an attempt to go out and meet them, but Katie intercepted her at the door and with just one look made it clear she didn’t want her mother anywhere near the party or pool. Lina reluctantly didn’t push it, afraid she’d discourage Katie from inviting friends over and further alienate her, but that didn’t stop her from spying on them off and on all afternoon from the kitchen window. When had she become so judgmental? As a teenager she wouldn’t have thought twice about a boy with tattoos, but here she was thinking poorly of someone simply because he had tattoos on his body.

“What are you looking at?”