Page 228 of Triplet Babies for my Ex's Best Friend

Ethan

Everything changesthe moment the elevator chimes.

Captain explodes off the floor.

Oliver gasps as if Christmas has arrived early and sprints toward the private entry so fast his single sock skids on the hardwood. “Addy!”

I move after him, slower because my body has apparently forgotten how to be useful.

Addy stands there.

For one second, I can’t do anything but look at her.

She’s pale. Exhausted. Dressed in soft leggings, a loose sweater, and the kind of careful expression that makes me want to tear the world apart for putting it there. Her hair is pulled into a messy knot, pieces falling around her face. One hand clutches a plastic hospital bag. The other hovers near her stomach before she seems to remember herself and lets it drop.

Luci stands beside her, carrying two bags and wearing the expression of a guard dog in human form.

Oliver throws himself at Addy.

She bends carefully, and I step forward on instinct, one hand lifting because she shouldn’t be bending, she just left the hospital, she fainted, she’s pregnant, she’s…

She catches Oliver against her chest.

“Sunshine!” he wails.

Her face crumples.

“Oh, buddy.” Her voice breaks. “Hi.”

“I missed you,” he says into her sweater.

“I missed you too.”

Captain circles them in frantic loops, whining, tail battering against the wall, then shoving his entire head between Addy and Oliver as if he has been personally abandoned for years rather than one night.

“Captain,” Addy laughs weakly, “please don’t body slam the medically fragile.”

Luci snorts. “Too late. The dog has no respect for discharge papers.”

Oliver pulls back and looks up at Addy. “Did you get fixed?”

Addy blinks. “Did I what?”

“At the hospital.”

Her mouth trembles, but she smiles. “Kind of.”

“Do you have a Band-Aid?”

“I have an IV bruise.”

“Can I see?”

“Absolutely not,” Luci says. “No medical tourism.”

Oliver turns to her. “Hi, Luci.”

“Hi, tiny pilot.” She drops the bags and crouches. “I brought emergency snacks.”