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“Well, he’s not today,” Lucas said. “Today Jace announced in front of Mom’s church bazaar friends that Marlowe was pregnant.”

Carson’s eyes went wide, and he sputtered something that wasn’t quite words.

“No,” Jace said firmly. “I announced that she wasn’t.”

Lucas hummed like he was carefully weighing the evidence. “See, that’s the thing that made people suspicious. Usually, you don’t have to announce that someone isn’t pregnant or buy them baby clothes to celebrate that they’re not giving birth. It’s just sort of the default setting for women. We all assume they’re not with child unless told otherwise.”

Carson was still sputtering, so Jace had to explain. “I bought her a pair of baby booties for her vision board because she wants children in the future. They fell out on stage, and an entire audience jumped, without hesitation, to the wrong conclusion. And then some idiot guy in the back offered to father her children, so yeah, okay, I may not have handled that well, but that’s all that happened.”

Carson lifted his hands in an incredulous gesture. “You bought your girlfriend baby clothes? Bro, don’t you realize the message that sends? You might as well have proposed to her. You definitely signaled that you want her to have your children.”

“That wasn’t what I…” Jace let the sentence drift off as he analyzed his brother’s words. Because buying baby things wasn’t something he would’ve done for any other woman he’d dated. Including Jennifer. But he’d bought them for Marlowe while thinking about the fact that she’d told him she was in the I’ll-have-your-baby camp.

And how was it that sitting here right now, talking to his brothers, he couldn’t help imagining how adorable their children would be? He could picture a little girl with sage green eyes and blonde ponytails, a miniature version of Marlowe. He wanted that little girl in his life. He wanted her mother. “Okay,” he said, “maybe I was signaling a little.”

Another thought came to him. When he’d given Marlowe a key for her vision board, he’d gone to the hardware store and copied his apartment key. What sort of Freudian message was that? He’d literally given her the key to his place.

“Man,” Carson said, shaking his head. “Jace was always the practical one. How is it that he fell for someone so fast? It’s been like three minutes since he started dating Marlowe.”

“It hasn’t been quite that fast,” Lucas said, “because we can tack on the time they spent dating in high school. So it’s been four months and three minutes.”

Carson sent Jace a considering look. “What are you going to do when you go back to California?”

“Rack up a lot of frequent flyer miles,” Jace said, “and hope she’s willing to do the same. We haven’t talked about it yet.”

Carson shook his head and his voice turned sympathetic. “Long-distance relationships are the worst. I got tired of that real fast with Olivia.”

“I know,” Jace said. What other choice did he have, though? Marlowe was her grandmother’s caretaker. Mrs. Partridge depended on her. His best chance was that maybe, after a few months when Marlowe was serious enough about him, he’d be able to convince her that someone else in her family could take a turn with grandma duty. And then he’d have to convince her to pull up stakes and move to California.

“Well,” Carson said, “I’m glad I don’t have to hire a lawyer to deal with any family infamy.” He looked upward in thought. “And I guess I won’t be making any announcements for a few days.”

Lucas perked up, instantly suspicious. “What do you mean by announcements?”

Carson chewed on his words and spoke slowly, quietly. “I might have been going to give Mom and Dad some news about their grandparent status…”

“No way!” Lucas let out a subdued cheer that turned into a laugh. “The man delivers!”

“Congratulations!” Jace said in the same hushed tone so their parents wouldn’t hear them.

“Thanks,” Carson said, “but I can’t announce anything today because it will just seem like I’m copying Jace.”

“No,” Jace said, “because I announced that I wasn’t making them grandparents. Why is everybody unclear about that?”

Carson dipped his chin. “You know that the crowd just thought you were blowing smoke about a vision board. Mom has probably been fielding sympathy texts from her church friends all afternoon. If I tell Mom and Dad my news today, it will always be mixed up in their minds with worries about you ruining your life.”

“I’m going to be an uncle,” Lucas said, beaming. His grin was ear to ear.

“I’m not ruining my life,” Jace said. “I’m getting it on track for the first time in a long time.” He sighed and rubbed his hand over his chin. “Is this what it feels like to be the problem child? This is a new experience for me.”

“Welcome to the club,” Carson said. “I was its founding member.” He put his hand over his heart like he was making a pledge. “Delivering bad grades and low expectations from day one.”

Jace grunted and leaned back into the couch. “You two made this problem child thing look a lot less stressful than it really is.”

Lucas was still grinning. “Wow, I can’t believe it. Another Clark is on the way.”

From the doorway to the family room, their mother’s voice said, “What?” in such a sharp tone that it was clear she’d overheard the last sentence. “Lucas,” she snapped, “what did you just say to Carson?”

Carson groaned and whispered, “Don’t announce anything. I’m not copying Jace.”