When Constellations Form (Light in the Dark 4)

“Xander’s always right.” She grins, waiting for my reaction.

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t tell him that—he doesn’t need a bigger head than he already has.”

“Xander’s the least cocky guy we know,” she counters. “Jace is the worst.”

I throw my head back and laugh. “You have a point. We need to knock him down a few pegs.”

“I notice you always seem to try to do that.”

I wink. “What can I say? Some people have a talent, like playing piano, or making pottery, mine is deflating guy’s egos. Someone has to do it.” I sigh heavily like it’s such a hard job.

“Bye, you nut.” Rae hugs me.

I hug her back and then head around to get in my car. She waves from the sidewalk, the wind stirring her hair. Her dark brown hair is halfway down her back now.

I pull away from the curb and when I look in my rearview mirror, I see Rae walking away in the opposite direction.

We’re all going in different directions now, and it makes me sad.

I miss what used to be, and I’m terrified of what’s to come.

Xander

I walk in the house after practice, my body spent.

Everything aches.

Seriously, things I didn’t know could ache, do—like my toenails.

“Something smells good,” I call out, kicking off my shoes in the mudroom.

Prue comes running at the sound of my voice, and I bend to greet her. “Hey, girl.” I kiss her head. She sticks her tongue out and licks my face.

“I made lasagna!” Thea calls back, and then I can hear her singing along to a song.

“I got you something … Well, the baby something.” I stand and round the hallway into the kitchen.

I smile when I find Thea in the kitchen, her hair clipped up, and wearing nothing but a pair of underwear and one of my white dress shirts.

Fuck, I’m the luckiest guy in the world.

It’s moments like these that hit me the hardest, how lucky I am. It’s not something I ever want to take for granted.

Thea smiles at me and it hits me like a ton of bricks.

I used to live for football, and even my grades—because fuck if I was ever going to fail—but now all I live for is that girl’s smile.

“Hey,” she greets me with a smile, swaying her hips to the song.

“Hi, beautiful.” I lean against the counter, holding the gift in my hand. I asked the lady at the store to gift-wrap it, and when I did she asked me if the baby was a boy or girl so she could match the paper. I told her we didn’t know yet, so she wrapped it in a pale yellow paper with green ducks.

“I missed you.” She leans over to meet me and kisses me, before returning to what she’s doing, which is covering bread with some sort of butter garlic sauce.

“Do you want to open your present?” I ask, tossing the small box from one hand to the next and catching it easily.

She stops what she’s doing and flicks a piece of hair out of her eyes that’s fallen loose from her clip. “I told you I didn’t want to buy anything for the baby until we knew if it was a boy or girl. We have a couple more weeks.”

I grin, undeterred by her words. “Trust me, this was perfect and you’re going to love it for a boy or a girl.”