“Can we have a big party?” she asked as she backed toward the bed.
“We can have anythin’ you want,” I assured her, reaching for my belt. “I’ll give you anythin’.”
“Awesome.” She dropped her shorts and shifted onto the bed, her eyes still on me. “But no more kids, okay?”
“Oh, fuck no,” I barked in surprise, making her hiss. I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Sorry. No. No more kids.”
“I just think three is enough,” she whispered back as I kicked off my boots and shucked off my jeans.
“Three is plenty.”
“And I want to take the bike and travel,” she continued wistfully. “And we couldn’t really do that with a baby.”
“You tryin’ to convince me or yourself?” I asked, stripping out of my socks, shirt, and boxers.
“You,” she replied. “I’msure.”
“Good. So am I.” I crawled onto the bed as she backed away, coming to a stop with her head on my pillow. “Now, you done makin’ plans, or you wanna talk some more?”
“I’m not done making plans,” she said, reaching up to cup my cheek. “But we can stop talking.”
“Excellent,” I replied, pressing my mouth between her breasts. “Because we’ve got some celebratin’ to do.”
Wecelebratedtwice before Teddy’s alarm went off and she rolled languidly out of bed. “Can you go make sure the kids are awake?” she asked, stumbling toward the bathroom. “We have to leave in an hour.”
By the time I was up and dressed, Dylan was already in the shower, and Jesse was standing frozen in the center of their room, fully dressed.
“Jess, you good?” I asked.
They turned to look at me with a grimace. “Yeah. Do I look okay?”
They were wearing baggy jeans, a band T-shirt that I didn’t recognize, and classic black checkered Vans. “You look great,” I replied. “I had a pair of those shoes when I was about Finn’s age.”
“Never go out of style,” they replied glumly, looking down at their feet.
“What’s goin’ on?”
“Nothing.” We’d gotten used to the way the words sounded when they spoke past their closed teeth, but it was still pretty garbled, and I wondered if people would give them shit about it at school.
“You nervous about school?” I asked, leaning against the doorframe.
“A little.” They reached up to lightly check their hair.
“Don’t be,” I advised. “Kids are the same everywhere. You’ll find your group, and you’ve got Dylan there if anyone fucks with you.”
“True.”
“Plus, your aunt’s there. If you’re havin’ a hard time, just walk to her office. She’ll write you an excuse.”
“I’m going to tell her you said that,” they replied with a smile.
“Go ahead,” I said, backing out of the room. “She’s got your back.”
Finn was still sound asleep, and I had to stay with him for a few minutes to make sure he actually got his ass out of bed. When I knew everyone was doing what they were supposed to, I headed downstairs and started some coffee. Teddy came down first, wearing a pair of work pants and boots, her arms bare in a tight white tank top.
“Coveralls are hot,” she said with a shrug when I looked at her. “I’ll throw a coat on before we go, but I didn’t want to dress too warmly.”
“Good call,” I replied, handing her a mug. “You wanna meet for lunch?”
