She was right. There was no point in dwelling on what could have been. “I hope Jane will be okay with all of this,” I said.
“She loves you. She’ll understand. She’ll always be a part of this family.”
I nodded. “I think she’s coming up on Sunday.”
“Good, we’ll have a barbecue. I already invited Luke and that adorable Liam. Too bad Asher won’t be here. He’s taking the kids camping.”
“Don’t try to matchmake Jane and Asher again, please. She was humiliated last time.”
Mom scrunched up her face and shook her head. “I feel so bad about that. She’s had a crush on him for so long. I just love her so much, and Asher needs a sweet woman like her. I mean, she’s a doctor, for goodness’ sake. Why wouldn’t he want a sweet, beautiful doctor to be a stepmother to his kids? Plus, his kids already love her.Everybodyloves her. That boy is stubborn. He should listen to his mother.” She raised her eyebrows at me.
I shrugged. I wasn’t getting into their business, at least not with my mother. She was about as subtle as a sledgehammer.
“Mommy, Mommy! Look at me!” I looked up over to the trees on the other side of the driveway. Dylan was on Luke’s shoulders, touching the high branches and picking leaves. “I can touch the trees. When she’s big enough, Calla can too,” he shouted, and Luke smiled over at us. My two lives had intersected again. What might have been was now real, and it eclipsed what used to be. It blazed a trail of beautiful pain, and I shut my eyes as a tear fell.
“Oh, honey...” Mom put her arm around me. We both remembered a few years ago when Will had done the same thing with Dylan. “There will always be moments like this one, when we will remember him. Sometimes, the happy memories are what hurt the most.”
I leaned my head against her shoulder, and we watched Luke and Dylan together. Calla broke our bittersweet reverie by saying “Mama” for the first time. We looked at each other, and Mom squeezed me tighter.
“New memories are being made every second, sweetheart. Don’t miss them. Don’t be afraid.”
“I won’t be afraid,” I promised.
When it was time to go, we stopped by the garage apartment and said goodbye to Gram, then loaded up my car and headed home. The drive was uneventful until we pulled intothe driveway. The second the car was in park, we noticed a foul stench originating from the back seat—specifically from Calla’s side of the back seat. Dylan’s exclamation of “Ew, Calla pooped, and her onesie is brown now” confirmed the source of the smell: blowout diaper. Shit just got real, and Luke was about to get a lesson in parenting that he’d missed with Dylan. It seemed like Calla’s scheduled bath time got bumped up before dinner prep time.
“I have to give Calla a bath, Dylan. Judging by the smell, it will take a while. I’ll make fried chicken tomorrow, and we can have something fast tonight, okay?”
Dylan grumbled from the backseat, “Aw, man. She needs to poop in the toilet. When’s that gonna be?”
I felt bad. I’d promised his favorite dinner tonight. “Well, first she has to finish learning to crawl, then walk, then start talking. I’m thinking at least two more years. Sorry, bud.”
“It’s okay. I hope I never pooped like that. Yuck.”
I turned around to peek at him in the back and informed him, “You totally pooped like that.”
He scrunched up his face, then laughed. “Sorry, Mommy.”
“It’s all part of being a baby. We’ve all done it.”
He laughed harder at that thought. Why did kids find poop so funny? And butts. What was funny about butts?
There was nothing funny about Luke’s butt.Luke’s butt isfiiiine. I found it bizarre how my mind could wander from blowout diapers to how hot Luke’s ass was. I shrugged and decided to just go with it.
“I can make fried chicken,” Luke volunteered with a smile.
I grinned back at him over the console, and he tugged one of my curls.
“Yay! Can I help you?” Dylan asked.
Dylan never wanted to help me in the kitchen unless it was tasting cookie dough or putting sprinkles on top of cupcakes. “Thank you, Luke.” I hopped out of the car to get the kids out. Luke beat me to Dylan’s side and helped him outof his booster seat, and I grabbed Calla’s bucket car seat out of its base. “My gosh, little girl. You sure are stinky.”
“How can something so foul come out of something so tiny and cute?” Luke asked as he looked over my shoulder at Calla. “Don’t worry about dinner, Lily. I’ll take care of it. I’ll take care of Dylan too. You just rid us of that stench.” He pushed my hair aside and bent down to kiss the side of my neck before heading to the front door to let us all inside.
I shivered.I could get used to this.
“Grandma fed her more of that gross baby cereal today. Calla gobbled it up like crazy. I wonder what she’d poo out if you gave her regular food?” Dylan asked.
I turned away from the car and shut the door. As I faced Dylan with Calla in my arms, he recoiled at the smell. So, I did what any responsible parent would do. I chased him up the driveway, brandishing his stinky little sister as a weapon.
