"You three look so fancy shamncy, you're definitely Ben's parents. My daughter has to look fancy for her job. She's a teacher so she loves kids. I think their first kid is going to be a girl! And I know I'm never wrong because I used to work with animals and I did their ultrasounds whenever an animal was pregnant and I would always guess their baby and then their owner would call me and say I was right! It was really cute, I have pictures of the babies too!" Janis rambled as the Barnes family sat on Ben's sofa.
"That's wonderful," Tricia Barnes nodded, jamming her elbow into her husband's side. "Right, Thomas?"
"Yes, very wonderful." He forced a smile on his face.
"Can I call you Tommy? I think it's a cute nickname. Tommy, Tommy, Tommy . . Anyways, I think Ben and Claudia should be here soon, wedding planning is a bitch." Janis laughed.
"Wedding planning?" Tricia asked. Ben never mentioned anything about a wedding. She assumed that Lucy was getting married and Ben was simply being a good best friend and helping her. If Ben was getting married, he would tell his parents even before proposing, right?
"I'm telling ya, Mrs. Barnes, this is going to be the best wedding you'll ever been to!" Janis confidently said.
Before Janis could continue her rant about how much she was excited for the wedding, Ben and Claudia bursted through the door looking like they were out of breath.
"Took you long enough, lovebirds, I was just telling Ben's family about the wedding!" Janis smiled brightly.
Ben looked nervous to even look at his parents. Thankfully his brother attempted to make things less awkward for the couple as he got up from the couch and hugged Claudia since it was their first time officially meeting.
"Surprise?" Ben chuckled nervously.
"Very," His father nodded. But he took a liking to the blonde woman. She was smart, kind, a joy to be around. So he got up from his spot and walked towards the nervous couple. "Welcome to the family, Claudia." He smiled at the woman he already considered his daughter-in-law.
"Thank you, Mr. Barnes." Claudia couldn't contain her excitement so she went in for a hug, which Mr. Barnes was more than glad to hug back.
"Mum?" Ben turned his head to face his mother, who looked like she was still processing the news.
Tricia Barnes stood up. "Claudia Barnes, I love it," She grinned as she walked up to Claudia and brought her into a warm hug. "I just wish you would've told us!"
"Oh . . You didn't know?" Janis gasped. "I'm so sorry you had to find out through me."
"Mum, dad, Jack, this lovely lady is Janis Donovan . . Claudia's mum." Ben introduced his family to the woman that had accidentally spoiled the bug surpise.
"Well, this has been a very interesting day." Claudia commented.
An: me everytime I think about Ben and Claudia: SHE'S A SHE'S A LADY AND I AM JUST A BOY SHE'S A SHE'S A LADY AND I AM JUST A LINE WITHOUT A 😩😩
anyways here to confirm that we are almost to the end. . . and i don't plan on doing large timeskips. this book has been my absolute favorite to write and i'm sad that it's coming to an end, but don't worry, ben and claudia will appear in my lucy and andrew book <3 thank you all for giving this book so much love.