Although come to think of it, what should Colin have called me? I’m not his girlfriend, after all. Should he have been honest and introduced me as his fuck buddy or friend with benefits? As accurate as those labels would have been, they would have been mortifying to me.
My heart stops.
The truth is mortifying to me.
Shit. That’s never a good sign.
We follow Ryan into the house, my mind still teeming with thoughts, but the minute I see the adorable scene unfolding in the next room, I instantly forget my own worries and feel swept away by the purest form of wholesome joy. In Keane and Maddy’s family room, little Jackson Morgan is sitting on a couch, his legs so short the bottoms of his sneakers are visible. On his lap, he’s holding his new cousin, Baby Billie, and cooing adorably at her, while his proud parents snap a thousand photos.
New mommy, Maddy, is splayed out in an armchair, looking exhausted but amused at Jackson’s exuberance, while new daddy, Keane, is perched next to his nephew, making sure his daughter’s tiny head and neck remain properly supported by Jackson’s arm and some well-placed pillows.
When Keane sees Colin entering the room behind Ryan, he pops up and greets him warmly, before surprising me with a warm hug, too. “Welcome, Little Orphan Amy,” Keane says. “Come see what I made!”
Maddy giggles from her armchair. “You did nothing special—only what you would have done, anyway.”
Keane chuckles. “It never fails to annoy her when I say that. Ha!”
I meet Maddy and greet Dax and Violet and Jackson, and then take a seat next to the little cutie who’s still cooing at his baby cousin on the couch. When the photo shoot ends, Keane scoops up his tiny daughter and proudly shows her off to Colin and me. We remark on her eyes and lips and ears, and Keane coos at his baby in ways that make my heart go pitter-pat.
Soon, however, “show and tell” is over, and Keane hands Billie to his wife, who drapes a blanket over her shoulder and feeds her newborn underneath it.
“Did you see me, Uncle Colin?” Jackson says. “I got to hold Billie!”
“Yeah, I saw. You did a great job, little dude.”
“I’m big now.”
“You’re huge.”
Without missing a beat, like it’s the most natural thing in the world, Jackson crawls onto my lap and makes himself at home. “Did you see me?”
“I did. You were so good with Billie. She loves you.”
“I love her. The most.”
Everyone laughs and praises Jackson for uttering what I’m quickly learning is one of this group’s favorite turns of phrase.
“It’s a Morgan thing,” Colin confirms to me, as everyone chuckles around me. “The Morgan kids grew up competing to be their mother’s favorite—in number one spot, they called it. The one she loves the most. Over the years, they started saying it all the time to each other.” Colin turns to Jackson. “Who do you love the most, Action Jackson?”
“Billie Goat.”
Everyone laughs wholeheartedly.
“And Mommy and Daddy,” Jackson quickly adds. He looks around. “Where’s Uncle Fish?”
“He’s coming, Bubba,” Violet assures him.
“What about me?” Colin asks. “I’m right here. And I’m way cooler than Fish.”
Jackson shakes his head and Colin clutches his heart like Jackson’s thrown a dagger into it. And once again, I find myself marveling at how loose and relaxed Colin seems around these people, his very best friends, compared to how brooding and guarded he can be around people he doesn’t know nearly as well.
Conversation ensues. Maddy and Keane tell the group the story of Billie’s birth, and not surprisingly, considering who our storytellers are, their tale makes everyone laugh. Midway through the story, the doorbell rings and Ryan pops up to answer it. When Ryan reappears, he’s got Fish and Alessandra in tow.
As Fish and Alessandra enter the room, Maddy removes the blanket from her shoulder to reveal a sleeping Billie in her arms. Of course, Fish and Ally fawn over Billie for a few minutes, the same way Colin and I did earlier. Another round of photos is taken, and the sleeping baby is passed around the room. After Fish passes Billie to his beloved girlfriend, rendering his lap newly open for business, Jackson quickly seizes his opportunity and beelines straight from my lap to his Uncle Fish’s.
“You do realize this makes you my mortal enemy,” I say to Fish, as Jackson climbs aboard, and the mock scowl Fish flashes me tells me he remembers his similar comment to me from the other night.
“Are Zander and Aloha coming over?” Dax asks, as his wife is handed Billie. And because I’ve watched every single Ball Peen Hammer video in existence, I know he’s referring to Keane’s longtime best friend, Zander Shaw, who appeared in several early episodes, as well as Zander’s popstar wife, Aloha Carmichael, both of whom I met at Laila’s birthday party.