Even if it punches me in the chest.
“Speaking of houses.” Addison perks up.
“Oh, here we go,” Jesse mutters.
“Addie,” Wes calls her out nicely.
“I said we were finishing the floor this week,” Dad reminds her.
We’ve been working on Addison’s cabin since the spring and she’s chomping at the bit for us to get it done.
“I thought you weren’t in a rush?” Mom says.
“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Mason adds.
I cut in. “She just wants a place to make out with Wes.”
“Nuh-uh!” she argues, and Mom scolds me just by voicing my name. Everyone else laughs, though, including Wesley.
After we all move into the living room, Emma’s awake. Addison’s holding her now, sitting close beside Wesley on thecouch. Karissa stays nearby, attention glued to Emma like she’s waiting for her to need her.
I sink back into the couch next to Mason, stretch my legs out, and let the noise of the TV pull me in.
Until I hear “Cody” a few moments later.
I glance over. Addison’s standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Karissa’s holding Emma now on the other couch, her nursing cover over her. Everyone else is zoned in onThe Dukes of Hazzard.
Addison gives me a look, so I sigh and get up, following her into the kitchen.
“What’s up?” I ask.
She lowers her voice. “She’s anxious.”
I step in closer. “What?”
“Karissa,” she says. “The baby barely made a noise and she jumped up like the world was ending.”
“Okay? It’s her baby, Addison.”
“I know that, but the way she reacted…it felt likemore.”
I raise a brow. “Or maybe you’re just a baby-hog and she wanted her kid back.”
Her jaw falls slack. “I am not.”
I shrug, half smirking. “You kinda are.”
Addison narrows her eyes but leans in again. “I’m serious. I know what anxiety looks like. Ihaveanxiety. And I’m telling you, she’s extremely tense. She’s wired like she’s waiting for something to go wrong.”
“She’s just adjusting still,” I say flatly.
Addison sighs. “Whatever.”
I push off the counter. “I don’t know what you want me to say. She didn’t want you holding the baby? Let it go.”
Addison scoffs under her breath as I walk back toward the living room.
I ease back onto the couch and watch Karissa for a minute.
