“Baby, that thing is like ten feet tall,” Axel groused, craning his neck to look at the tree I had in mind.
“So?” I queried with my head cocked to the side.
“You gonna lug it through the lot into the truck and then into the house?” he demanded.
“Well, no,” I replied, biting my lip and eyeing the tree again to see if maybe I could somehow do just that.
He chuckled, shaking his head at my antics. Maddox whined in the backpack I had him strapped in. He was over it too.
“Fine, we can find a slightly smaller one,” I gave in, giving him my best dejected expression.
“Christ,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Fine.”
“Yay!” I clapped my hands together.
“You and those damn big eyes,” he lamented. “If we have a girl, I’m seriously screwed.”
“Yeah you are,” I agreed, suddenly wanting to give him just that.
******
“That’s a big fucking tree,” Sal commented when he and Kat came over later that evening.
“It’s gorgeous,” Kat smiled, elbowing Sal in the ribs. She scooped Mad up off the floor trying to position him over her burgeoning belly.
“Jesus, babe, don’t try to hold him. He’s too heavy,” Sal argued, seeming stressed as he pried my son from her arms.
She rolled her eyes but let him take Maddox. I was surprised my brother hadn’t had a heart attack at some point during her pregnancy. He was constantly prying things out of her arms or making her sit down. It was sweet, but I knew Kat was at the end of her rope.
I winked at her from the kitchen where I was attempting to cook an edible dinner. I was determined not to poison everyone.
When Ry and Jill let themselves in, they were in the middle of an argument, not an uncommon occurrence for them. They’d become good friends and often bickered like siblings.
“Do you know how hard it is to find good childcare?” Jill was saying as they swept into the room. “Hi,” she paused to greet Kat and me with a hug before continuing her rant. “Seriously, Ry,” she huffed. “Piper works at the best daycare in town. There are so many willing chicks in this town. Can’t you go try to screw one of them? You can’t pull your typical shit with Piper. She’s not like that and then I’ll have to find somewhere else for Mason.” Jill added, looking stressed.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he looked hurt by the accusation. “Maybe I don’t want to just fuck her,” he muttered.
Well, that was just plain shocking. The weighted silence in the room confirmed as much.
“Are you sick? Do you need a doctor?” Sal goaded him.
“What’s this now?” Axel asked, coming into the room.
“Ry seems to have a boner for Jill’s babysitter, Piper,” Sal muttered, stifling a laugh.
Axel’s brows rose in surprise. “Piper Owens?”
“You know her?” Jill asked, confused.
“Sure, Ry went to school with her. He was pulling her pigtails in second grade,” Axel chuckled. “She and Ry were thick as thieves ‘til she moved away after high school. I didn’t realize she was back in town,” he added, coming to put an arm around me and dropping a quick kiss to my temple. “Haven’t seen her since the funeral,” he added somberly. “That was what, a year ago now?”
Ry looked up at the ceiling with a clenched jaw. “Yeah, I didn’t realize she was back either until I dropped the Mace man off for Jill.”
“She won’t give you the time of day?” Axel guessed with a quirked brow.
“Ah, the way many epic romances begin,” Kat grinned.
Ryker’s eyes shot downward, looking uncomfortable, a rarity for Ryker.
