“I’ll never let you go,” I whisper, kissing his neck. “Never. I love you so much.”
He stamps a kiss on the top of my head. “I love you more. Now, quiet. It’s about to get interesting.”
“How would you know? You said you never read this.”
“I haven’t, but you’re pumping your hand around my bicep, so I know you’re excited.” He pulls me in closer, resting his cheek on my hair. “The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: ‘No room! No room!’ they cried out when they saw Alice coming. ‘There’s plenty of room!’ said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large armchair at one end of the table.”
EPILOGUE
Nico
A LOUD THUD JOLTS ME UPWARDS. The clock on the nightstand shows seven on a Sunday morning, but a quick pat on the right side of the bed tells me Mia’s no longer here.
The mattress is cold, so she’s been up for a while. I can’t remember the last time she got up before me.
I rub the sleep from my eyes, flinging my legs over the edge when another thud fills the silent morning air.
“What the hell is that?” I mutter, throwing a pair of tracksuit bottoms on to leave Mia’s bedroom at the exact same time Jimmy emerges from his across the hallway.
He’s back in Newport for a week ahead of the Austin Grand Prix next weekend. Once again, he decided to make it a surprise visit, so Mia and I had to pack a few things and move here for a few days.
She’s been unofficially living with me since the start of summer. Unofficially, because not all her stuff is in my house yet, but once college broke up for the summer, I stopped taking her home for the night.
Unless Jimmy flies in for a few days.
Sleeping here while he visits isn’t usually problematic, but this weekend we’re babysitting Noah. Logan took Cassidy away to finally pop down on one knee. Took him long enough.
“Was that you?” Jimmy asks.
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“It’s me,” Mia sing-songs from the living room andthudagain. “Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you.”
“You’d wake the dead,” Aisha grumbles, exiting her bedroom. “It’s the middle of the night! What the hell are you doing?”
Toby stumbles out behind her, wearing nothing but boxer shorts, and we all move to the living room, where Mia sits on the floor with Noah. Anotherthudwhen she drops a big flat thing on the floor. It pops open at impact, turning into a ball.
“It makes him laugh,” she explains, smashing the ball to flatten it out again. “It’s seven in the morning, don’t look so grumpy. We’ve been up since five.”
“Five?” Aisha gasps, plopping down beside her sister. Her five-month-old bump makes the task less gracious, but it doesn’t stop her shooting Toby a dirty look. “I amnotgetting up at five with your kid. Forget it.”
“You find a way to detach your milk-making boobs, and I’ll get up at whatever o’clock,” he assures, pulling out cups. “Who wants coffee?”
Everyone save for Aisha, who has to tame her moody morning self with a healthy shake Toby’s making.
Noah flips onto all fours, crawling across the floor toward Jimmy. He spent last evening in his lap, playing with his car keys and whatever else Jimmy gave him that wasn’t a toy.
“Who are you going to be for Halloween?” he asks, scooting the seven-month-old boy off the floor. Two seconds later, he wrinkles his nose. “Never mind. You’re all set, Poopy Monster.”
“It’s your turn,” Mia tells me, beaming from ear to ear.
“We had a deal. I take care of feeding and putting him to bed. You deal with diapers and baths.”
“Fine,” she mutters, taking Noah from Jimmy’s outstretched arms. He’s holding the kid like he’s a ticking bomb. “But we’ll renegotiate this deal when it’s our kid.”
A surge of pleasant warmness fills my chest. She has no idea what she does to me. One sentence and I’m fucking floating.
I pull her into my side, my thoughts swirling around her words. “Give me a baby, and I’ll change every diaper, Mia.”
