* * *
“Mom,”Katie said once we’d all gathered around the tree with stockings a little later. “I can’t believe you bought orange juice withpulp. YouknowI hate pulp.”
“It’s fiber,” Mom said, her brow furrowing. “Isn’t it?”
“I’m not sixty,” Katie answered with an eye roll as Liz caught my eye and winked at me behind her mother’s back, jerking her chin toward Our Special Stocking.
“Why is Lizzard winking at you, petal?” Andy whispered, his lips twitching.
“Dude, I have no idea,” I lied, pulling it off perfectly.
Liz widened her eyes and mimed choking, pointing toward Our Special Stocking again. Shit. What if she was right? What if Tea couldn’t breathe?
“Ready for pictures?” William asked, propping his phone on a bookshelf. “I’ve got the timer set.”
“Wait,” I blurted, because what if Tea was actuallysuffocating? “I’ve got a present you’ve got to open right now, Da—ndy,” I said.
I tried not to call him Daddy in front of his family, even though he insisted he didn’t mind. Still, weird, right? But spoiler: I’d fucked it up so many times they all basically knew, even though they still sort of pretended not to.
“Dandy,” Liz said, snorting. “Nice save, future brother-in-law.”
She held up a hand for a fist bump but shit, why had she had to go and call methat? I suddenly felt a little queasy.HadI been playing Nichol’s ringtone too much? Did Andy think I was pushing him to give me The Box before he was ready?
“Here you go,” Liz said, oblivious to my potential meltdown as she shoved—okay, gently placed—Our Special Stocking in my hands, totally in on it just like all the fam was.
Tea was twelve weeks old, tiny, and had a super convenient habit of napping in the mornings. I peeked inside the stocking. Still breathing, thank fuck, and also looking gorg in the glittertastic Santa Hat and matching collar I’d attached this morning.
“Earth to Jordan,” Katie said, snapping her fingers and widening her eyes. “She jerked her chin toward Any. “Are you going to give him his ‘stocking,’ or what?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said, my heart suddenly in my throat for some reason. And fuck, why had I thought I wanted to do this with the whole family present? I mean, sure, when I’d first thought of it, it had seemed perfect—welcoming a new family member, namely Tea, into the whole family and sort of sharing this moment with the people who cared about us and whatnot—but would that look like another hint? I mean, who got joint pets except actual couples? Which we were, of course, but I didn’t want Andy to feel pressured to make us more permanent than he was ready to... even thoughIwas ready, and last year he’d sounded like hewouldbe ready. But since he hadn’t ever brought it up again…
“Everything okay, petal?” Andy asked, raising his eyebrows. “Is that for me?”
I took a breath. Okay. It was just a cat, not a marriage proposal. It would be fine.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s for you, Dad—ndy.”
“Oh, honey,” Mom said, laughing as she took her phone out to film, because of course she would. “Just go ahead and call him Daddy. You know we don’t mind. He practically raised the girls.”
I cringed.
“That’s definitely not the same, Mom,” Andy said, wincing, too.
“Sooooo not the same,” Lizzie agreed, laughing.
“Oh myGod,” Katie said. “Just open your stocking already, Andy! Before someone spills the Tea!”
She broke up into a fit of giggles and I finally handed the stocking over to him.
“Thank you, baby,” he said, grinning. He peeked inside, then looked up at me and winked. Smiled like… fuck—like I wanted him to for the rest of my life—and gently pulled Tea out, cradling her in his hands.
“You got us a kitten.”
“Not for us, for you,” I said. “I wanted you to have one of your own.”
“Since Ellen likes Jordan better,” Katie volunteered, smirking.
“Can you blame her?” Andy asked, because he was ridiculous like that. Not that I hated it, of course.
