not yet.”
“But why,” Thea whines. “If you get pregnant our kids could be the three amigos.”
Jace interjects, “But would they have to wear sombreros?”
Thea glares at him. She’s mastered the perfect glare, but of course nothing fazes Jace. I’m pretty sure a bomb could go off beside him and he’d carry on as he was.
“Nobody needs your sarcasm, Jacen.”
“Did you know sarcasm makes you live longer?” Jace jokes.
“Then you must be a fucking vampire,” Thea replies, a hand on her hip.
Jace grins widely. “Yes. Yes, I am. So when you’re a withered gray-haired woman, I’ll still look like this.” He motions to himself.
“And then I’ll stake your cold dead heart with a rolling pin.”
Xander comes over and puts his hand on Thea’s shoulder. “Down, tiger.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” she argues.
Rae clears her throat, desperate to change the subject. Cade’s in the corner downing his second beer. I have a feeling a lot of his anxiety has nothing to do with the party itself and more to do with babies. His mom currently has him cornered and he looks like he’d prefer to melt into the floor.
“So,” Rae starts with me, “how’s the business going with Joel?”
“Slow, but okay, I guess. We’re getting maybe one paid shoot a month each, sometimes two.” I shrug. “I feel bad for Joel, though, because I’ve been focused on the baby I haven’t been putting as much time and energy into the business as I should have. Right now, we both still have our other jobs. I think it’ll take us a year or two to be where we can do this full time.”
“Well, you have to start somewhere,” Rae replies.
I know it’s true, but sometimes it sucks. Joel and I have such a big vision for what we want to do, and not getting there sucks. I keep reminding myself one day.
One day, we’ll have all we’ve dreamed of.
“Have you heard anything at all from your parents?” Rae asks softly.
I shake my head. “No. It doesn’t matter, though. They are who they are and I have to accept it. So I can either try to have them in my life as they are or let them go, and I’m choosing to let them go. I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life, and definitely not in my son’s.”
Maybe it’s wrong of me to cut ties, they are my parents, but they’ve brought me nothing but heartbreak, and I can’t keep putting myself through that. I refuse when I have the ability to change the outcome.
“Well,” Xander’s voice booms through the room. “Let’s have Xael open her gifts.”
Immediately, the tone in the room changes. It’s back to light and happy. Xael’s set down on the floor and handed a gift one at a time while Xander and Thea sit beside her helping. Rae takes pictures of everything.
Xael giggles, whipping a piece of wrapping paper back and forth where the tape has gotten stuck to her hand.
“Come here, princess.” Xander grabs her hand and pulls the piece of paper off.
Xael immediately bursts into tears and screams, “No!”
Thea sighs and looks at all of us. “No is her favorite word,” she explains.
Xander hands her back the paper and the tears immediately cease, though there’s still the evidence left on her cheeks.
When all the gifts are open, Xael is placed in her high-chair with the small cake. It has one lone candle, and Xander and Thea stand on either side of her chair as Xander lights it.
“Blow out your candle and make a wish,” Thea tells her.
Xael looks at her like she’s lost her mind.