Eyes wide, my freckled dork stares at them. “Really?”
“Of course.”
After a few brief moments of stupor, Andrea eventually nods and says, “I’d be honored, yes.”
“Perfect.”
Kevin gets a notification on his phone, and when he opens it, the wailing cries of a baby come through. “Well, speak of the devil… Looks like someone wants to see her future godparents before they leave. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll go prepare a bottle,” Shelly explains before standing up as well.
Once we’re alone, Andrea turns to me with an endearing smile. “This is so nice.”
I turn my hand into hers, entwine our fingers together, and bring it up to my lips to kiss it tenderly. “It is, yes.”
“We should do it more often.”
“Would you like that?”
“Yes, absolutely. Maybe next time we can invite them to our place instead?”
She’s had a few drinks, and given her petite physique, I know she’s likely tipsy right now. So, I shouldn’t let her inebriated words get to me as hard as they do. But maybe she means them?
“What?” she asks, noticing my silence.
“You said ‘our’ place.”
“I did?”
“Yes.”
“And… is it a good thing, or a bad thing?” she warily asks, unsure what’s going on in my head.
“I love the sound of it.Ourplace…”
Delighted by my words, she comes closer, looking up with a grin. “It does sound nice, doesn’t it?”
“It really,reallydoes.” I lower to grant her a quick but intense kiss. “We should make it official.”
She stares up at me, surprised. “Do you mean it?”
“You’ve been living at my place for months. I’m merely suggesting we move in the rest of your things.”
“Yeah, but that was because I’m stubborn. I didn’t mean it as a permanent thing.”
“Then let’s make it permanent, shall we?”
It’s like she doesn’t believe that I mean it, staring into my eyes to figure it out. She must find her answer there because her doubts turn into what resembles utter joy.
That’s when Shelly returns, followed closely by Kev. “There she is,” he coos, twisting his upper body to show off his child. I watch as he comes straight to me, around the table, and hands me Maddison.
“There you go, Uncle Lexi is dying to hold you, my angel.”
I shoot him a dark look, but don’t protest, adjusting my hold on the wriggling bundle. “There you go, love,” Shelly continues, handing me the bottle of warm milk.
While I’m not an expert, enough nieces and nephews have been shoved in my arms to know what to do. So, I proceed with Maddison’s feeding while the conversation returns.
Any time I meet Andrea’s gaze, I find her slightly flustered. At first, I put it down to the many glasses of wine she’s had. But when Maddison finishes her bottle, and I put her over my shoulder to burp her, Andrea’s affliction becomes as clear as day.
