I smiled. “Wouldn’t she?”
Nathan Riley
It’d been a brilliant idea of Ash’s for us to get ready over at the new house. My parents were with the kids, and they had big plans. They were gonna help Lily and Micah pack, they were gonna go see a movie, Dad had offered to fix Micah’s bike, Hallie and Juliana were gonna bake cookies, and on it went.
After applying aftershave, I tightened the towel around my hips and left the bathroom.
“Dylan’s coming over, honey,” Ash said from the kitchen.
“Oh?” I joined him there.
“Yeah, I reckon he’s ready to ask for whatever it is that’s made him helpful lately.”
That should be interesting.
I walked over to the table, curious about what on earth he was doing. The table was full of miniature figurines. Upon closer inspection, they were tiny, plastic balloon dogs.
“New hobby?” I joked.
He was in the middle of dropping some into envelopes.
He smirked. “Remember when I was finding those tiny ducks all over the place?”
“Yeah.”
“It was Jordan,” he replied. “I never confronted him about it, because payback is more fun.”
I chuckled. “So you’re gonna bombard him with balloon dogs?”
“He did say he wanted a dog.”
I snorted.
“And if he suspects me, it’s going to be damn near impossible for him not to admit that he’s done the same thing to me,” he finished. “The ones in envelopes will come from all over. Walker offered to send some from Boston when he’s there. Colt said they could send a few from their layover in Houston when they’re off on their honeymoon. We’ll bring several when we head to Kentucky. And so on.”
I shook my head. That was as funny as it was endearing. The Daddy in him finally got to play, and I couldn’t be happier for him. Especially after my lunch with Jordan yesterday. That boy… Christ. He was wonderful. So caring and funny and genuine. He was on a mission to find out everything about us so that he could start anticipating our needs, and if that didn’t melt any Dom’s heart, nothing would.
“Speaking of—” Ash dug out another envelope from underneath his payback project. “This was in the mailbox. It’s a new invitation to the Carter ceremony on the thirty-first. Because you got your own earlier, right?”
“I did.” Oh wow. I opened it and immediately saw our names and that the invite was extended to James and Jordan as well. “That’s sweet of them. We can go through their registry next week.”
“Sounds good.” He eyed me briefly. “You should probably get dressed before I jump you, baby.”
That sounded like something I didn’t want to prevent, but our son had impeccable timing. He drove up the driveway just then on one of those ride-sharing scooters that Ash and I hated. The concept was great; the execution was atrocious. They were fucking everywhere, taking up sidewalks, getting dumped into ponds and the river, blocking entrances—a damn hazard.
“Dylan’s here.”
“Dun-dun-duuun,” Ash joked.
I smirked a little. “Kidding aside, we’ll hear him out. No snap decisions.”
“Of course.”
Dylan climbed up the porch and soon opened the front door.
“We’re in the kitchen, sweetheart,” I said.
“We’ll talk in the living room,” Ash decided.
