Page 118 of For Your Consideration

“I asked you when her birthday was.”

“That was early on in our friendship.”

I glared down at her. “Don’t use that word.” She just smiled back. “What are you doing for her birthday?”

“Oh, I was just thinking of having a cake with Iris. I don’t have a moms group or anything.”

“Why don’t you do something here?”

“Here?”

“Your place is too small.”

“For Iris and me?”

I cleared my throat, trying hard not to be offended. “And me.” She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again, so I kept going. “Quinn would be offended if she wasn’t invited.” She bit her lip and nodded. “And Noah was texting the group chat about what he could buy her to become her favorite and he didn’t even know it was her birthday.” She nodded again, a thoughtful look on her face. “Sutton.” I begged her to say something so I could stop talking.

“You really want to have it here?” I shot her a look and she let out a sigh. “I was always going to invite you, Ash.” I lifted an eyebrow. She probably was, but she would do it last minute so that if I said no she could use that as an excuse for her disappointment. Too bad I would move anything around to be there for them. “If you’re sure,” she said in response to my look.

“Tell me what decorations you want. Or better yet, I can just give you my card and you can get what you need.”

“Ash—”

“I’m not arguing about this. If I think you aren’t using my money to buy decorations for my house then I’ll just buy a bunch of extra stuff and it’s going to be wasteful.”

She let out a sigh and rolled her eyes, turning her head forward again. I rested my chin on the top of her head. “Fine.” She grabbed my hand and placed a kiss on the back. “I really like where we’re at.”

“Me too, sweetheart.” I placed a few more kisses on her neck. There was nowhere else I would rather be.

32

Asher

“Careful.” Noah looked down at Will from where he was standing on the ladder. “I wouldn’t look good with a broken nose.”

Will scoffed. “I can’t believe you’ve never had a broken nose.”

“Are you insinuating that I have the kind of face someone would want to punch?” Noah asked.

“No, but you grew up with Knight and Ash.”

“We were ending the fights, not getting broken noses,” Knight muttered as he finished tying the string on the birthday sign hanging in the living room.

“The faster you do that the faster you get down,” I grunted as I moved the balloons around. Will took that moment to give the ladder a little shake. Noah panicked, grabbing the corners of the ladder for dear life while Oli watched and laughed.

“You’re all the worst.” Noah frowned as he secured the last streamer quickly before climbing back down. As he walked past Will he used both hands to shove him before grabbing a bowl of candy and flopping down on the couch.

“How did you convince her to have this here?” Oli asked as he came over from where he kept rearranging the helium-filled letters forming the “one” behind Sophie’s highchair. We’d moved the kitchen table out of the way so that it looked better for photos.

“I just warned her that we would all show up at her place.”

“Then he texted Quinn and she called Sutton to offer to plan something way over the top so that Asher’s place was the best alternative,” Knight said.

“Now I’m just going to have to move here if you boys keep this up.” All of us turned to see Jane and Henry walking into the house.

This time it wasn’t a surprise since I’d called them and asked if they wanted to come. I got in trouble for even phrasing it as a question.

“Please, you wouldn’t leave your book club, Mum.” Noah moved to press a kiss to her cheek as we all said our hellos.