“They play games too.” Cash glances up at the afternoon sky. “Mollie had me printing these little game cards with pictures on them. You have to guess if the pictures are boobs or baby butts.”
“That’s…weird.” Colt turns his head. “Hey, Dean, this way, buddy! Junie and Ella are gonna be so psyched to see you.”
Wyatt shrugs. “The whole concept of showers is weird.”
“Not when you’re showering with someone else.” Duke is grinning like the Cheshire cat.
“Dude.” Cash shoots him a look.
“Sorry. Just excited to see my girl is all.” He glances through the nearby window. “Looks like we got some good loot.”
I climb the wide front steps that lead to the New House’s front door. “Like I was saying, the girls open the presents, and we?—”
“Load them up and get ’em to my place?” Duke nods. “Yup.”
I run a hand over my face. “Y’all really gotta work on letting me finish my thought.”
“Surely they’ll let us have some cake, though?” Cash grabs the doorknob. “A fee for our services?”
Dean sticks out his lower lip. “Daddy said there’d definitely be cake. What if there isn’t any left?”
“Buddy, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” Colt grabs his hand.
“I’m gonna be really mad, Dad,” Dean whines. “If the girls get cake and I don’t?—”
“I’ll make it right.” Colt closes his eyes, clearly taking a second to gather himself. “Let’s cut it out with the whining in the meantime, okay?”
“I’mnotwhining.”
Colt sucks a breath through his nose. “Sure you’re not.”
“Here.” Sawyer takes Dean’s hand. “Can you keep a secret?”
That gives Dean pause. “Yeah.”
“I have a stash of popsicles in the freezer inside”—Sawyer nods at the house—“for emergencies like this. I promise I’ll get you one if there’s no cake left, all right?”
Dean is still pouting, but at least he’s climbing the steps now. “Fine.”
“What do you say, Dean?” Colt asks.
“Thank you, Mister Sawyer.”
“Anytime! And look at those manners. Let’s go see everyone, yeah?”
“Thanks, Sawyer,” Colt murmurs.
My brother waves him away. “They listen better when it’s not you telling them what to do. Trust me, I get it.”
My chest cramps. From what I’ve gathered, parenthood is hard. Single parenthood? Even harder. Before Ava showed up, stole his heart, and became his co-parent, Sawyer tried to hide the fact that he was drowning, but we all knew he struggled.
“No good deed.” Colt shakes his head. “I bring him all the way out here thinking he’ll get a kick out of seeing his friends, but instead, he’s being a serious pain in my behind.”
I put a hand on his shoulder, feeling like I’m going to be sick. “Hang in there, man. It’ll get better.”
But not before it gets worse after you find out I’ve been sleeping with your sister.
Neither of us, me nor Billie, have been able to pin down Colt since we decided to tell him. I want to give her the opportunity to have the discussion with him first, but it’s killing me not to say something.
