Gilly nodded. “Okay.” She dropped her hand. “Oh my god.”
“Hello! What is going on?” Doug demanded.
She couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tease her brother. “Jeez, Doug, keep up.” She stood from her crouch. “You’re having twins.”
Her mom leapt out of her seat and jumped up and down clapping. “Twins!” Doug sat there, mouth hanging open, speechless. Her mom ran around to hug Gilly. She let her go and continued to dance around the dining room, fists raised, like she had just scored the winning Super Bowl touchdown.
Her father had his usual, bemused look on his face. “I take it Mom is excited about being a grandma,” she said.
He stood and patted her back. “Don’t think this is going to give you that big of a reprieve. It’s probably going to make her worse.”
Emme groaned. “Great.”
Close to nine o’clock, Gilly yawned and looked down at her belly. “I guess this explains why I’ve been so tired.” She rested her head on Emme’s shoulder, where the sat on the couch, having left the men alone to talk on the back porch. “I’m glad you were the one who told us.”
Emme laid her head against Gilly’s. “Me, too.”
Gilly raised her head, dislodging Emme. “Mostly I’m just glad you’re here.” Her eyes teared up and she waved a hand in front of her face. “Don’t mind me. It’s the hormones.”
Emme laughed and bumped her shoulder against her sister-in-law’s. “I’m glad, too.”
Pushing up from the couch, Gilly said, “Time to go home. I need a foot rub before bed, especially now that I know I’m carrying twins.”
Following her mom and Gilly through the house, they said their good-byes on the back porch. Her mom and dad walked Doug and Gilly to the front door with a parting, “Don’t stay up too late.”
Alone for the first time in what felt like days, rather than hours, she curled up next to Jordan on the outdoor sofa. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her even closer.
“How close are we to the ocean?” he asked.
“Twenty minutes with traffic.”
“When did your parents move here?”
“About six years ago.” She stared out into the blackness of the small back yard. “There’s no gazebo.”
His fingers toyed with the ends of her hair where it rested on her shoulder. “A what?”
She tilted her head back to see him. “A gazebo. That’s where you kissed me the first time.”
He smiled. “I remember.”
“I never thanked you for beating up David Baker.”
“Hmm, wasn’t sure you knew about that.”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Kind of hard to miss the matching black eyes and broken nose he had at school the next day. He also said he was sorry for being a dick and he wouldn’t do it again.”
“Good to know he got the message.”
“I also never had another date in high school.”
He smirked. “Good.”
She gasped. “How was that good? That was not good!”
“You shouldn’t have been dating in high school anyway.”
“I— You—” She sputtered, trying to find the words to express her outrage.
