Page 42 of What About Us

“I get it. Priorities shift, and that’s okay, X. Brit and I want to have babies. And we could start now, but fuck, I’m hardly home, and I don’t want her to do it alone. We figure we’ll reevaluate when I’m thirty-five. Gives us a few years to decide.”

I nod slowly, watching as the moose walk into the trees.

“You have fucking moose in your yard, man.”

“Sometimes, yeah.” I chuckle. “I invited Ivy to come over early and have breakfast.”

“What’s up with that?”

“Nothing.” My response is too fast, and it has my best friend simply staring at me. “Yet.”

He nods. “She’s sweet. Crazy family.”

“Come on, we all have crazy families.”

Cooper nods again. “True. Did I tell you that Brit’s mom tried to sue us?”

I bark out a laugh, and some birds squawk and fly away.

“What the fuck? Why?”

“Pain and suffering.” He’s laughing, his hand over his face. “For lack of support.”

“Wait. You’re telling me that Brit’s crazy-as-fuck mom sued you because you refuse to give her money?”

“Pretty much. She lost, of course, and ended up owing her attorney about twenty grand.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“So Ivy has a shit mom. So what? I deal with Brit’s. It’s annoying, but I love my wife more than I hate her mother. That’s just how it is.”

“No one said anything about love.”

He’s quiet for a minute. “You deserve it, you know.”

“Cut the shit.”

“I’m being serious. I know, we joke around a lot, and we don’t talk about our feelings⁠—”

“Prefer it that way, thanks.”

“—but I’m telling you, as someone who knows you pretty fucking well, you deserve happiness. If that’s Ivy, I say go for it. It might not work out long term.”

“It never does.”

“But maybe keep the option open. You never know.”

“She—I like her. But she works for me.”

He nods slowly and then shakes his head. “No, that’s bullshit. She works for the team. She works with you. That’s different. You wrapped her up in your sweatshirt in the bar last night like you were staking a claim.”

“She was cold.”

“We all saw how cold she was, man.”

I glare at him. “The fuck did you just say?”

“See? Territorial. I think it’s great. Britney has already claimed her, and you know how tenacious my wife is.”