“He was,” I replied.
“So it’s okay to be sad,” Cody concluded.
“It really is.”
“Are you sad?” he asked me.
I nodded. “I am. I’m sad for you, and for your mommy, and for your Uncle Zach.”
He patted Zach’s face. “Uncle Zach said I can cry as much as I want.”
“That’s right,” Zach agreed.
“I don’t want to cry right now,” he said. “I’m hungry.”
I rose and held out my arms. “How about we get some pizza?”
He nodded, still subdued. “Okay.”
I took Cody in my arms, and Zach mouthed the words, “Thank you.”
I kissed Zach’s still-damp cheek and took his nephew to the kitchen to get pizza. Everyone was still hanging around, eating, chatting, and drinking beer. “Someone wants pizza,” I announced.
Gabe, who seemed to have taken a real liking to Cody, came over to us. “Hey, little buddy, I see you got your Batman back.”
Cody nodded. “I’m hungry.”
Gabe took him from me. “Then let’s get you some pizza.”
I shook my head and smiled. It was always adorable to see a big man carrying a little kid. Marco stood next to me, watching his friend have an animated discussion about Batman with a three-year-old. “He loves kids. Always has. Every time we were deployed, he inevitably found the little kids in the area and ended up playing some street game with them.”
“You served together?”
Marco nodded. “We were in the same unit for six years.”
Liam situated himself under Marco’s arm and snuggled into the larger man’s chest. Marco smiled indulgently and kissed the side of his head. “Miguel,” Liam said. “I called Sean to let him know what happened. He and Jeremy are going to come by in about fifteen minutes to check in and see what you and Zach need. Is that okay?”
“Um, sure.” I’d completely forgotten about calling Sean. And I should have called him because I was going to need to take the week off to help Zach.
Strong arms wrapped around me from behind, and Zach nuzzled in and kissed my neck. “Hey, baby. Thanks for giving me a minute to get myself together.”
I settled into his embrace. “Anytime.”
Cody was now making the rounds to all the people in the living room, waving around his Batman action figure and saying how he was going to fight bad guys when he grew up. “It looks like Cody’s gotten himself an aunt and a bunch of uncles,” Zach said.
“He’ll be the safest kid in town,” I observed. “Nobody will dare mess with him.”
“Good,” Zach replied with a hard edge to his voice.
The downstairs buzzers sounded, and I started. “That must be Sean and Jeremy.”
“Really?” Zach asked. “I didn’t know they were coming.”
“Liam called Sean to tell him about Allie.”
The door buzzed again. “I’d better go get that.” He let me go and hurried out of the apartment to open the downstairs door.
Zach came back with the two men, who were carrying takeout bags from the hotel restaurant. Liam spotted them first. “Oh my god. Did you bring desserts from Joanna?”
