My fucking heart.
“I understand. Well, you haven’t imagined it. This year has been tough.” Nate gathered our boy’s hands and kissed the tops.“I’m so sorry we’ve worried you, sweetheart. That couldn’t have been easy.”
I cleared my throat. “We’re very happy you’re telling us now. We always wanna know how you’re feeling so we can make things better. That’s our responsibility.”
Nate nodded. “It’s super sweet of you to want to help us, though. But in the future, you come first. If you one day have children, you’re gonna want them to tell you as soon as something is wrong too.”
At that, Mikey wrinkled his nose. “Gross.”
I snorted.
Nathan chuckled and leaned in to hug our boy, and Mikeyneverturned that down.
I turned to the princess and nudged her a little. “What about you, shrimpie? Have you noticed anything weird with Daddy and me?”
She nodded and took a big bite of her quesadilla. “I said that before—that you don’t hug.” Then she shrugged. “I don’t like hugs all the time. ’Specially when it’s warm.” She pointed at the plate with the quesadillas. “Can I have one more?”
Safe to say, Lily was all right.
“But the point is, everything is good now, right?” Hallie pressed. Maybe for Mikey’s sake. For closure’s sake.
“Absolutely,” I replied. “Dad and I have talked things out at great length.” I made sure Mikey heard this too. “We realized how much we missed each other and that all this work stress and bitching ain’t good for us. It only made us unhappy.”
Mikey nodded firmly. “Bitching ain’t good.”
I grinned, loving it when he took after me. Sue me—even when it was cursing and slang, it was flattering when kids became mini-mes running around.
“Fighting is also a suitable word,” Nathan said mildly.
“Bitching or fighting—we’re done with both,” I said. “At least the kind that makes us miserable.And… Drumroll, Daddy—our work paid off, didn’t it?”
He smiled indulgently and faced Mikey. “The main reason we’re staying close by this summer—Dad found our dream house. We’re moving soon.”
“Whoa!” Lily stiffened and put up her hand like a traffic cop. “We’re moving to another house? Can I keep my room? Paws is coming, right? Does the other house have grapes?”
I rumbled a laugh and dragged a nacho through the guacamole.
“It will be a new room,” Nate reasoned. “Grapes exist there too, thankfully. And I know this because I’m the one who buys them for you.”
I put my arm around her shoulders and squeezed her to me. “We’re not moving until you’re comfortable, princess.”
Dylan groaned. “That’s gonna take forever.”
I threw the chip into my mouth and held up a finger to him, because I wasn’t done.
“I will say this, though,” I told Lily. “The new house has a big pool, and your room will be almost twice the size of your old room.”
“There’s a pool?!” Mikey exclaimed, suddenly thrilled.
Wereallyneeded to get the pool relined.
Lily knitted her brows, thinking hard. “I wanna look at the house.”
“How full are you on a scale from ten to comatose?” Nate chuckled quietly.
I puffed out a breath and slowed down at a stoplight. “Let’s just say if you press a hand on my stomach, this minivan will look like the time half the kids at Hallie’s day care came down with the flu.”
He winced and laughed at the memory.
