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I grin. He gets his boxer briefs up just as the door swings open widely and smacks the wall. It’s Meg, holding a breastfeeding Pearl. I’m bent over the sink in thigh highs, my thong around my ankles. I pull it up and try to adjust my bra, but my boobs are stuck outside the cups.

“Oh shit. Shit. Shit. Hey, Jillien! Liam’s been here since like, ok. Like, shit. I gotta go. I should go. We have sliders downstairs!” She turns quickly but stumbles on the bathmat tangled in our coats. She catches herself, but the toddler slips off the nipple. She turns toward us just as Liam catches the Pearl and a face full of high-velocity breast milk. She’s like a sprinkler as I try and tuck myself back into my bra. She’s jumping up and down, and it’s not helping. Now there’s an arcing stream of breast milk spraying all over everything.

“Holy boobs,” Liam says. “I mean.” He turns away from her, holding onto the slippery, milky toddler. I grab a towel and toss it over the fountain of breast milk. I’m covered. Liam’s covered. The baby is cooing at him. Meg and I look at each other and start laughing. We bend over, dying laughing.

Meg says, “What’s wrong, Liam. Not into milk play?”

I bend in half and can’t control myself. My boobs are flopping out of my bra again. Drool is leaking from my mouth as I laugh until I have a side stitch.

“Eww. Eww. Can we just fix this, please?” Liam asks.

She slaps him on the back while the breast towel is soaking through. She must have forgotten to pump. She does that sometimes. “So, I see you two made up.”

Fletch turns around, all sticky with breast milk, and hands Pearl to Meg. I can’t stop howling. Jake appears at the door.

“What the fuck? Oh, shit. Jillien.” Jake turns away quickly. When I stop laughing, I know I’ll be mortified. It’s a fucked-up version of couple swapping. Both men could describe our breasts to sketch artists.

“You’re quite naked,” Liam’s voice booms. Then he grabs the shower curtain and rips it down, the rod coming with it. The shower curtain rings rain down and plink into the bathtub and off the mirror, hitting Jake in the back of the head. He throws it over me as I continue to laugh.

Meg gasps and throws her head back. “And my boob is out. You should pull ’em up, Liam! I can totally make out your rather impressive dick through those boxer briefs. You were so right, Jill, it’s so thick.” She looks over at me, holding up her forearm and making a fist. It triggers a whole new round of laughing. The baby is giggling.

Jake reenters, takes Pearl, and says, “You’re paying for that.” I’m wearing a shower curtain covered in breast milk, and the tears streaming down my face have taken off the rest of my makeup.

Meg walks out, still laughing, and I yell, “Not only did we make up. We’re in love.”

“Duh. I’ve only spent three fucking hours with him and I could have told you that.”

I turn to Liam. He’s wiping his face with baby wipes and smirking at me. Then he wipes my face as my plastic toga crunches between us. He laughs.

“You spent three hours with my friends?”

He keeps cleaning up my neck and jawline.

“I didn’t know when you would show up, and I couldn’t miss you.” I throw myself at him, and the shower curtain falls to the floor.

He says, “You can’t leave me.”

“Where can I go dressed like this?” I kiss him like he’s never going to leave me, either.

37

LIAM

I take off for the airport in a couple of hours. I’m all screwed up about it. I didn’t tell her about the Chicago offer, despite things being amazing between us. I need a minute in my own space to sort myself out.

I don’t know what my days look like without her around, and that scares the crap out of me. I thought I needed Nina, and it turns out that was incredibly unhealthy. What if Jill’s just something I think I need? What if it’s more codependency than kismet? I know my house will be empty in Philly, which doesn’t even cover how empty my bed will feel.

I’m finishing up some coffee at the kitchen table when I hear the front door slam. She’s not due for another hour, and Ethan’s at school. He slept at Ben’s last night, which is why I got to sleep over here.

Ethan comes around the corner and slings his backpack onto the floor.

“Thought you had school?”

“Free period. I’ll go back.” Ethan swings a chair backward, sits across from me, and narrows his eyes like he’s on some cop show. I’ll let him think he’s intimidating.

“We should talk without my mother around.”

I shift in my chair and sit back. The kid has taken all of this in stride and he’s handling it better than I expected. I sip my coffee. Let’s do this. I don’t know what this is, but I’m here if he needs to talk. He’s been hot and cold with me. One on one, we’re fine, but throw Jill into the mix and it gets weird.