Sure! Here’s a much shorter version that keeps the core story and emotional beats:
Life was going great. I was seven months pregnant, and Peter and I were soaking up every joyful moment — decorating the nursery, picking baby names, and dreaming about the future.
Then, late one night, my dad showed up out of the blue, disheveled and upset. He dropped a bomb: he was divorcing my mom after 37 years. The next morning, he was gone — leaving only a note saying he’d gone to the lake house.
But when I called Mom, she screamed. “We sold the lake house last year!” she cried. Suspecting an affair, she picked me up and drove to another house — one that belonged to “the other woman.”
We barged in… only to be met with a loud “SURPRISE!”
It was a mystery-themed baby shower. The “divorce,” the lake house lie, the midnight snooping — all part of the game. My dad was the red herring. My mom? In on it.
Overwhelmed but laughing, I had to admit — they got me good.
And it was the perfect shower.