Ugh. Give the phone back to Jamie. You’re no fun, Michael.
Michael/Jamie
You just don’t get my humor. Jamie laughs for me all the time.
I’ve actually seen it happen. It’s like finding a unicorn in the forest.
Percy
Aww. I bet Jamie is adorable when he smiles.
Michael/Jamie
Like a little fallen angel.
Ty
??? okay who has the phone now? I can’t read tone!
Wren
Maybe they lost it and someone’s been fucking with us.
Percy
Nope, that was Michael. And I’ve got an idea for the next season of Group Chat …
“Where’sAsher?”Pattyaskedas Ryder and Tayler squealed their hugs and kisses with their grannan. I didn’t have a clue where they got that word from, but that was what they’d chosen to call Asher’s mother.
I nodded toward our truck parked on their driveway and winced. “Max got a hold of Mr. Pinky,” I whispered. “Cody’s having a bit of a meltdown.”
“Oh no,” Patty said as if she, too, believed it was the end of the world. And it could be. Our new German shepherd puppy was a little out of control and had demolished more than a few of the kids’ toys. “Well, let’s give ’em space. Asher’ll figure it out.”
I glanced at the truck, then turned my attention to the kids. “You hungry, gremlins? It’s not midnight yet.”
After a quick stop to drop off the dogs with Jamie to watch for us, we’d driven over to leave the kids with Patty and Ben so Asher and I could go on a long-overdue vacation. Just the two of us.
Tayler bounced on her toes and nodded, while Ryder made growling noises.
“What’s this?” I gasped and gently shook Ryder. “Are we too late? Has he become a hungry monster?”
Tayler giggled and squealed, “A cookie monster! Feed him, Daddy. Save him.”
My heart flipped over in my chest.
“I’ve got just the thing,” Patty said to the twins. “We’ll fix him up in a jiffy.”
Ryder prowled after his grannan, while Tayler softly petted his shoulder. She was going to be an excellent big sister, just like her papa was an excellent big brother to all his siblings.
We only had the three, for now, and we’d tabled the discussion for expanding our brood. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if Asher wanted more at some point.
All three were born through surrogacy. The twins had my blue eyes and pale skin, but our little Cody was the spitting image of Asher. At nearly three, he was already so spoiled because of it too. He batted those pretty eyes, and I was absolute putty. Asher had to handle his tears, though, because they made me a total wreck.
Two months after we proposed to each other, Asher and I married in a small ceremony in Hickory Bend in front of our close friends and family. I’d thought Asher would want to wait, finish college, maybe go wild, but no. He truly was an old soul, as his mother said.
We’d stayed in the city at my condo to be near campus for him, but once he graduated from Cressmann, we moved to a peaceful place in the country not too far from Asher’s roots. Our twins were born that same summer, and Cody came along two and a half years later.
Some days, it amazed me how perfect my life had turned out. How devoid of lies and hidden secrets we lived. Asher and I shared everything, and being so open, so free with myself, wassuch a gift, then the kids, and Asher’s family … It overwhelmed me in the best ways.
