“So it’s going to look like my brother?”
I laughed. “I hope it’ll grow out of it.” I put my plate next to his. “I have my appointment this week.”
“Yeah? What does that entail?”
I didn’t care if he was asking to be nice or if he was really interested. I had someone to talk to about it, and I had some nerves to process. “I don’t know for sure. According to what’s online, everything. Physical, blood work, and maybe an ultrasound.”
“Exciting.”
“Yeah. I think it will be.” My smile was hesitant. I had been talking myself down from excitement. I had my job and living situation to figure out first. “It still doesn’t seem real.”
“But it is.”
I nodded, a lump forming in my throat. Fear threatened to rise up, but I stuffed it down. I had a good job and a lot of siblings close by. There’d be a roof over my head no matter what. “I should probably look for an apartment.”
He pushed a hand through his hair like he was still used to it being longer. “Shit, yeah. Me too.”
“Are you staying in the area?” Did I sound hopeful? I had a lot of family, but after today, Van was like a friend.
He shrugged. The bags of ice shifted, and he put them on his plate. “Maybe. It’s cheap here.”
“Daisy said rental hunting was rough. So Alder bought them all.”
“He’s going to hook you up?”
I grinned. “He can hook us up.”
“Connections. Nice.”
“Use ’em if you got ’em.”
“You have a lot. Your family seems…really amazing.”
“They are, and they’re a lot of help.” I held my hands up like I was innocent. “I earn what I have fair and square, though. Don’t worry about me stealing off with any ill-gotten gains.”
“You mean the blood money you earned from the shale trade?”
“It’s the bribes for pretending a brine spill didn’t happen.” I put my fingers on my lips. “I shouldn’t even joke about that. Geez, I just started my job, and I don’t want people thinking I would do that or cover up for it.”
“Especially when you’re so shady in the first place.”
I giggled and collected the plates, ice bags, and chips. His dry humor was my type of humor. “Want to find Office Space while I put these away?”
“I can help you.” He got up and took the ice from me—the heaviest items.
“You’re supposed to be resting.”
“I’ll get stiff if I stay still too long. I need to move, and I’m not sitting on my ass while you work.”
“Are you sure you’re related to—” Dammit. “Sorry. I don’t want to keep bringing him up.”
I rushed to the kitchen, dropped the paper plates into the garbage, and tossed the chips on the counter. The thunk of the ice packs hitting the sink resounded loudly in the quiet kitchen.
When I turned, I rammed into his broad chest.
He caught me. We were still pressed close together, and I was back to when I knocked him over and landed on his hard body. It had felt way too natural to sit on top of him. Everyone was around, but I hadn’t wanted to move. “It’s okay. It’s okay to keep bringing him up. It’s okay if you don’t like my family. I don’t either. In fact, I’d be more worried if you thought they were great people.”
“How did you turn out so well?”
