Page 107 of What We Got Wrong

“Do you want to lay her down in the spare room?” Liv offered, whispering, although she wasn’t quite sure why, considering Emma had just been yelling through the door.

Emma nodded, so they all followed Liv down the hallway of their condo to the simple room they’d set up for guests with a small dresser, a queen bed, and way too many pillows.

“I can’t believe you went with a two-bedroom condo,” Emma joked as she laid her daughter down on top of the comforter before tucking some of the pillows around her.

“Two bedrooms and an office for us to use when we work from home,” Quinn corrected, laughing.

“It’s a guestroom,” Liv replied, rolling her eyes at them, and they walked back towards the front room, leaving the guestroom door cracked so Paisley would hear them and not panic when she awoke. “Rhea is already planning to visit in a couple weeks.”

“Rhea Freaking Stewart,” Quinn said, because she wasn’t over it. Regardless of how many times she talked to Rhea, she was still having trouble seeing her as anything other than her swimming idol. “Juls too, at some point, and Audrey maybe, right?”

Liv nodded, clocking a curious look that Emma shot Mel on that last one as she confirmed, “Yeah. And my parents want to come at some point, although that seems like a lot for the first few months.”

“Really cutting into all of your naked time,” Emma assumed, her voice sweet despite the mischief in her words.

They sat around the living room—Liv curling up into Quinn on one side of their large sectional, Emma plopping down on the love seat opposite them, and Mel, after setting the wine she’d been carrying in the kitchen, carefully and quickly assessing her options before choosing to sit on Liv’s other side, which… Mel and Emma always had a vibe that Liv didn’t understand, so maybe it made sense to keep some distance.

“What I can’t believe is that it took y’all a year to move in together,” Mel was saying. “Not very sapphic.”

“They’ve already lived together, though,” Emma reminded her. “So much living in sin.”

Liv rolled her eyes at them, regardless of how right they both were.

Before she and Quinn had found this condo, situated roughly halfway between their offices, they’d talked at length about this step, ensuring that they were both ready, keeping lines of communication open in case there was a weirdness, in case they felt like they might be stepping back into bad habits.

But it just felt good to have a place that they could call home together. And Liv was excited to keep taking any further next steps with Quinn by her side.

“Do we need to ban you two from talking tonight?” Quinn asked.

“Never,” Mel said, and she winked at Emma, causing her freckles to disappear beneath flushed cheeks. “Who else is coming?”

“My mom and Peter will be here in a little while, with Jonah, so Pais will have someone to play with,” Quinn answered. “And Everlee might stop by, maybe some of Liv’s coworkers. Autumn might bring her boyfriend, probably some of the other staff.”

Because Prism had grown. Not enormously, by any means, but when they expanded the services they were providing with J&P, they’d promoted Autumn to full-time consultant and hired a few people to step in at the junior level. It was strange how entwined their work had become, but for Liv, who’d grown up in a global company that still felt very much like her family business, it made sense to have Quinn in that part of her world, too.

An hour or so later, their little party was in full swing. Paisley and Jonah were playing a game with Mel that included all of them making animal noises, the kids giggling as Mel got more and more theatrical with it. Quinn was laughing and joking with her mom and brother. Other friends, family, and colleagues were scattered throughout the room, chatting amongst themselves.

In the gentle chaos of the moment, Liv pulled Emma away from the party, leading her to the room she and Quinn shared.

“Are you finally going to have your wicked way with me?” Emma asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Is your marriage more open than you’ve let on in the past, Em?” Liv replied, teasing her right back, though Emma just shook her head in response. “I want to show you something.”

Liv dug in the top drawer of her dresser for a moment before pulling out the small box, and Emma’s eyes grew to saucers. “You bought it!”

“I did,” Liv confirmed, and she opened the box, revealing a simple platinum band with three inset diamonds shining up at them.

“Liv, it’s beautiful,” Emma gasped. “When are you going to do it?”

“I’m not sure. I just feel like I’ll know when the time is right,” Liv answered, shrugging. “Tomorrow is the anniversary of our first official date, maybe then? I don’t know if Quinn even realizes it’s this weekend, but…I thought it might be nice?”

“So beautiful,” Emma repeated, and her eyes were filled with tears. She wrapped her arm around Liv’s shoulder, pulling her into a side hug. “I love you guys.”

“I love you, too,” Liv replied, and she was in danger of tearing up, as well. It had taken work to get the two of them to this point, too, and Liv valued their friendship more than words could express.

They slipped back to the party, and Liv spent the rest of the evening by Quinn’s side as they talked to their friends and family. When the last person filtered out the door—Mel, of course, and she somehow even made that seem cool—they surveyed their messy place.

“Let’s clean up tomorrow,” Quinn offered, and Liv instantly agreed. They got ready for bed quickly before cuddling up under the covers, too exhausted to do much but hold each other, and Liv fell asleep wrapped up in Quinn’s arms.