Nothing happened at first, and I glanced at Trent, worried Andi was going to be disappointed. But then T made a soft sound and gestured for me to look. I turned in time to see a small white cat with black paws and a black ear slowly approach my daughter. Andi rubbed her fingers together, and the cat hesitated before going right to her and rubbing against her hand.
Andi looked at Rimmel, excitement spilling over in her eyes, and Rimmel gave her a thumbs-up.
A few seconds later, the cat climbed onto Andi’s legs, sat down, and looked up at my dark-haired baby girl.
Andi smiled and started stroking its head and back. The cat started to purr so loudly that Andi giggled.
“She looks like a panda,” Andi said, looking up at me and Trent.
“You’re right. She does.” Trent agreed.
“She’s so little. How old is Panda, Aunt Rimmel?”
Rimmel checked the paperwork at the door. “Panda is female and approximately nine months old. She was found on the side of a road, and we think she was probably born in the wild.”
“That must have been scary,” Andi said, still stroking the cat. “You can come live with me. My brother looks scary, but he’s not.”
I laughed under my breath.
Andi looked up. “Dads, can Panda come home with us?”
Even if Braeden had been here shouting,Oh, hells no!, no one would have listened.
So yeah, everyone, meet the newest members of the fam: Panda and Sampson.
10
Trent
Travis sleepswith his bedroom door closed. He didn’t when he was little, but probably about two years ago, he started closing it when he played video games late at night and didn’t want to bother his little sister.
He probably hoped we would think he was sleeping too, but we ain’t fools. Even so, the tradition continued, and now I think he just liked his own space.
The closed door was the perfect opportunity for birthday shenanigans.
Shenanigans, as in Drew and me staying up late to hang caution tape across his door, securing it on each side of the frame. It crisscrossed and zigzagged from floor to ceiling, making it look like a bona fide crime scene. Once the caution tape was up, we blew upa lotof balloons—a mix of black and hot pink—and stuffed them between the tape and the door.
We were lucky he slept with AirPods in his ears because the noise we made wasn’t exactly nonexistent. And also… when did blowing up a massive pile of balloons get to be so hard?
I mean, sure, Drew had gray hair and was talking retirement, but me? I was a spring chicken.
Once that was done, we set up a camera in the hallway and angled it to the door, you know, to send to the fam later.
Trav’s seventeenth birthday dawned, and we huddled in the hallway, drinking coffee and waiting for him to wake up. I knew he wouldn’t sleep half the day away because our entire fam was here for his party.
Down the hall, a bedroom door opened, and Arrow’s dark head peeked out. Even years after he’d buzzed all the blond off his head and let it grow in to his natural shade of brown, I was still sometimes surprised when I saw him. I guess he’d be a bleach-blond kid to me forever.
Seeing Drew and me, he lifted his chin. “He awake yet?” he whispered.
We shook our heads.
The bedroom door opened farther, and Hopper appeared, wearing nothing but a pair of sweats. Arrow took one look at him and pointed into the room. Hopper smirked like he knew exactly what he did and sauntered out of frame as if he were proud of himself.
Farther down the hall, another door opened, and Joey came out with Lorhaven towering behind her.
Joey’s dark hair was the longest I’d ever seen it, hanging almost to her waist, and she was wearing a pair of silky-looking pajama pants with a matching button-up top.
“Is he awake?” Joey whispered.
