Laurelyn chuckles. “You’re going to be a good dad.”
I stretch and shrug. “I’ll get some things right and some wrong, no doubt. That’s life.” I glance out at the water. “Can’t believe the baby’s graduation is in a couple weeks. She’s earned the shiny new sports car her big brother promised her if she graduated with honors. Here’s hoping she doesn’t crash. If she does, I’ll never hear the end of it from Kathleen. She thinks giving Ash a classic Camaro is ‘just mad.’”
“Super expensive?”
“No, actually. I told the baby—I mean Ash. Gotta stop calling her the baby. I told Ash anything fifty grand or under was ok. She found this restored Camaro for thirty-six. It’s red with thin white stripes down the sides. I’m not into old cars, but it’s pretty cool.”
“You’re really great with her. Until recently, I had no idea how close you are to them.”
“Yeah, I keep it on the down low. Don’t want to paint targets on my sisters’ backs.”
“Monet looked so good at the wedding,” Laurel muses. “So healthy and so happy. I never thought I’d see that lightness inher again. That’s down to you, too.” She puts a hand against my face and kisses me. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, it’s good to see Monet doing so well. Talk to her about going back to design school, Laurel. Tell her we’ll pay for it.”
“Scott,” she says softly and shakes her head. “You don’t have to support everyone financially. Let her work for a little bit. There’s nothing like working a hard, low-paying job to help motivate someone.”
“That’s true. When I realized how much better crime pays than McDonald’s, I got right on it.”
She laughs.
“So we’re going back tonight,” I say. “You ready?”
“I think so. I’ll miss this though.”
“Yeah, me too.” My fingers stroke her hip. “But we’ll be together at home. It’s not like we’re going back to separate places.”
“Right, but I won’t have you to myself. You work long hours, and your phone buzzes nonstop. It may pay staggeringly well, but your work is a twenty-four-seven gig.”
“You’ll have me to yourself sometimes,” I say, thinking that when I get home I’ll change my phone’s evening settings to block calls from everyone except C and ‘Vil and my immediate family. That’ll cut way down on the distractions. “Besides, you’re planning to keep working yourself. You sure you wanna do that?”
“Absolutely. What else would I do all day while you’re at C’s?”
“I don’t know. Go shopping? I ordered you a platinum card.”
She chuckles. “A platinum card? So the sky’s the limit, huh? If you keep throwing all your money at us, you may find yourself broke.”
“Betcha I won’t.”
“You’re sure, huh, that you can make it faster than we can spend it?”
“One hundred. But if you ever wanna race, let me know. We’ll make it a competition for a week.”
“No, thank you. Competing with you is not part of my ‘winning at marriage’ strategy.”
“What is? Letting me have sex with you on airplanes? Cuz that was unexpected and very successful at putting me in a ‘happily married’ mood.”
She just smiles.
“Hey, don’t forget you need to get the name on your driver’s license changed. So it’ll match your new credit card.”
Her head tips back as she laughs. “That is the fourth time this week you’ve mentioned the name change. That’s not a high priority or anything, is it?”
My smile widens. “I like all my stuff to have my name on it. House. Car. Wife. Babies.”
She sucks in a breath, and her eyes widen. “Your stuff? Trick, do not start that.”
“Start?” I shake my head. “That’s been a thing. Which you know.”
