“It’s instinct. You’ll know even when you don’t think you do,” Dad tells her.
What he gets in return is a snore.
43
LINC
“I’m an uncle!”
“Me too,” Ethan says.
“Hell, we all are,” Kennedy corrects.
“You want to hold her?” Tera asks.
I look down at the tiny human swaddled in a blanket. I swapped out the beanie for one that says ROCKSTAR.
“Yeah but tell me if I do it wrong.” I’m nervous. What if I hurt her? What if I drop her?
“You won’t. Just support her head and…” Tera trails off, then laughs. “She almost fits in your hand.”
I chuckle. “Not quite. My forearm, for sure though. Dang, she’s a cute little thing. What did Mama and Pop say when you told them her name?”
“They cried, then hugged, then cried some more. It was a good moment,” Tera tells me.
I nod.
Xan walks in. “Josie and the Pussycats.”
I cut him a glare and point with my free hand. “No. Stop before you start.”
“Dude,” Kennedy says to Xander, shaking his head. “No.”
Xan looks to Ethan, hope in his eyes—the last bit of it.
Ethan shakes his head. “No. Just no.”
“Aww, man. That could’ve been a lot of fun,” Xan tells us.
“Sure, back when Josie and the Pussycats were cool. They are definitely not cool now,” Tera says.
“Unless you’re watching Riverdale,” Xander replies, with a gleam in his eye.
Tera shakes her head. “Nuh uh. Even in Riverdale they broke up.”
Xan pouts.
“Get over it,” I tell him. “She deserves better than some clichéd cartoon.”
“I’ll come up with something,” he replies.
The little wrinkly baby resting on my forearm and hand, starts to make scrunchy faces.
“What’s that?” I ask. “It’s doing something.”
Ethan laughs, looking over. “She’s waking up. She’s probably hungry or needs a diaper change.”
I hand her back over to Tera. “I don’t do either of those.”
