“If they’re both boys. Or if one is a girl. Or if they’re somewhere in between. We’re gonna love them, you know? We’re gonna love them a lot, I think.”
“Yeah,” Otter says, glancing over at me and winking, like he doesn’t even know what that does to my heart. “A lot a lot.”
“What about you?”
“Any combination is fine with me.”
“Because you’ve got your boy.”
“Won’t ever say it.”
“We have so much shit to do.”
“Yeah.”
“We have to duplicate everything.”
“Yep.”
“And we have to come up with names too.”
“There is that.”
I look at his profile. This man. This wonderful, wonderful man. “I can’t wait to do this with you. You’re going to be the best dad. These kids are going to be so damn lucky to have you.”
He grunts like he’s been punched in the stomach and immediately signals to pull off on the shoulder of the small two-lane highway we’re on. There’s no one else around.
He puts the vehicle in park, and I’m about to ask what the hell he’s doing when he unbuckles my seat belt and pulls me over. He’s kissing me, and it’s warm and wet and oh so fierce, his big hand on the back of my head, holding me in place. It doesn’t matter that we’ve done this for years. It doesn’t matter that I know every inch of him. He still sets my skin on fire, my heart stumbling in my chest. He’s whispering against my mouth, telling me he loves me, he loves me, and I’m laughing.
It’s good. I never thought it could be this good.
Eventually, we drive on.
THEY’RE WAITING for us when we get home, standing side by side on the porch of the Green Monstrosity. It’s odd, really, to see her there. Not because she’s so new, but because of how she looks like she belongs.
Izzie’s holding Ty’s hand, and her dark eyes are wide, and she’s nervous about something. Ty’s talking to her quietly, words I can’t make out, but I know he’s trying to soothe her. I don’t know if it’s working.
“We can’t go back after this,” I tell Otter, watching them on the porch. “You know that, right? Once we get out of the car, this is it. We can’t ever go back.”
“I know,” he says. “So what are we waiting for?”
And he opens the door.
I follow him. Of course I do.
Izzie’s chewing on her bottom lip, her eyes narrowed a little, as we walk up the path toward the Green Monstrosity. “Did you get all my stuff?”
“Yeah,” I say as we stop at the steps. “Everything you asked for.”
She nods. “Was it…? I’m sorry. If the house was dirty. I didn’t—I tried to never let it get like that.”
“It wasn’t,” Otter says easily. “You did a good job.”
I don’t know that she quite believes him, but we’ll get there. “I can do that
here too. If you want.”
I shrug. “We all help out. You’ll get assigned chores just like everyone else. And since Ty moved in with his lover, you’ll take over what he used to do.”