Billy was sitting at the counter in the kitchen, talking to Ben while Renie checked on Liv. He pulled a magazine out of the pile to read it, and a postcard fell out of it. He wouldn’t have paid any attention to it, except he saw it was from Spain. He flipped it over.
There it was again, the knife in his heart. It was the way the guy signed it, “Love, Jace,” that bothered him the most. He wondered if Renie knew he planned on seeing her at Thanksgiving. She couldn’t have, or she wouldn’t have asked him to come with Willow. Right?
He set the postcard back down on the counter. When he saw her coming, he tucked it under one of the other magazines. He didn’t want to bring it up, and ruin their time together. He’d gone eight months without having her in his arms, or in his bed. They had a lot of time to make up for.
“How’s she doin’?” Billy asked.
“She’s good. Tired, but good. And happy.” Renie smiled at Ben, who smiled back.
“You gettin’ used to the idea of bein’ a big sister yet?
“I’m already a big sister, Ben.”
Ben’s grin spread further, evidently happy that Renie considered his boys her “brothers.”
“I hope they’re as okay with it as you are.”
Renie figured Jake and Luke would be more okay with it than she was. They were still little boys, or at least Luke was. Luke would be thrilled about not being the baby of the family anymore. And Jake would be happy abo
ut it. He seemed happier when he believed everyone around him was happy. When they weren’t, Jake worried. Renie put him through hell the last eight months. She’d known it, but she hadn’t known how to change it.
“When will the boys be back?” she asked.
“Tonight. I miss ’em so much.”
Ben was close to his boys. He hated to be away from them when his band was on tour, and he hated to be away from them when they were with their mom. Like Jake, Ben liked everyone close, and everyone happy.
“When will you tell them?”
“Soon. Maybe tonight. You two gonna be around? It might be nice to tell them with the whole family here.”
“The whole family? Your mom, dad, and everybody?”
“No, I was thinking our whole family.” Ben winked.
She looked at Billy.
“Okay by me. What time’s dinner? There are a couple things I wanted to do before then, if we have time.”
Renie blushed, and Ben laughed.
“Go do what you gotta do, but be back here by seven.” Ben left the kitchen, still laughing.
“Nice, Billy,” Renie said once Ben had left the room. “Tell my stepfather we’re gonna have sex, why don’t you?”
Billy shrugged his shoulders and smiled. Yep, he could get away with most anything with his blue eyes, that smile, and those dimples.
“Do you need to call home?” she asked.
“Nah, we did a little Facetime while you were talkin’ to your mom.”
“You did what?”
“Facetime,” he said, showing her his phone. “You know what that is right?”
“Yes I do, Billy, but it isn’t something I would expect you to know about.”
“I’m more techno than you. It’s one of those things you don’t want to admit about me. It’s okay if you think the whole cowboy thing is sexier. We’ll stick with that.”