“Well, my dear sweet husband took it upon himself to start helping out with the laundry, and Lord knows I could use the help.” She turned her attention to me as she said, “We just had a baby a couple of months ago, and I’m still trying to figure out all the day-to-day stuff while keeping another human alive.”
“Wait,” I interrupted. “You just had a baby?”
“We had a little boy.” Love filled her eyes as she added, “John Robert. He’s nine pounds three ounces of lungs and appetite. There are times when I don’t think he’ll ever get full.”
“He gets that from me,” Memphis interjected proudly. “But what can I say? I’m a breast man.”
“Eww,” Antonia groaned, slapping his arm playfully. “Don’t say that. She’ll think you’re a perv.”
“He is a perv,” Luke teased.
“Shut it, Goose,” Memphis piped back. “You’re the biggest perv of us all.”
“Any-way,” Antonia groaned. “My dear sweet husband decided to wash a couple of loads of laundry and ended up turning everything blue. And I mean everything. The socks, the towels, and all the baby’s clothes.”
“At least, I didn’t turn everything pink.”
Luke didn’t say a word. He just stood there, smirking like the Cheshire cat. When Memphis noticed, he nudged him and said, “Shut it, Goose.”
“I didn’t say a word.”
“Yeah, but it was coming.”
I leaned into Luke and smiled as I told him, “You know, you still haven’t told me why they call you Goose. Did the guys get it fromTop Gunor something?”
“Nah, nothing like that. It’s just a name. Nothing really to it.”
“Oh, come on, brother,” Memphis snickered. “Don’t go holding back on your girl like that. She deserves to know.”
“There’s nothing to it.”
“Ah, but there is,” Memphis pushed. “And if I remember correctly, this is the very park where you earned your name.”
“Earned it?” I asked. “Here?”
Luke glared at Memphis.“We’re not doing this.”
“Oh, but we are.” Memphis chuckled. “Now, tell her or I’ll do the honors.”
“It was just a misunderstanding.”
“A pretty intense misunderstanding,” Memphis added.
“And who did you have this misunderstanding with?”
“A big, ferocious, feral and probably rabid, Canadian Goose.”
“Wait? You’re telling me that you got your name from an actual bird?”
“This wasn’t your run-of-the-mill Goose, Pres. He was a psychopath, and he was out for blood,” Luke answered defensively. “I’ll lay it out. I was prospecting. I was trying to be Mr. Cool and impress the guys. I was talking to Grim and Prez about some bike shit or something when this fucking goose comes out of nowhere. And this damn thing was pissed.”
“Yeah, he had his sights set on Goose.” Memphis added, and several of the other brothers stepped over to listen as he continued, “Hell, he looked at Goose like he owed him money or shot his ol’ lady. I don’t know what it was, but he had it out for him.”
“I tried to step away from him, but he just hissed and charged at me. Full wings out. Snapping. Biting. I swear, it was trying to take me out.”
“And then the chase ensued.” Memphis chuckled as he turned to Grim and asked, “You remember that? Remember how that damn bird kept biting him, and Goose screamed like he was on fucking fire.”
“You ran from a goose?”
