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“And you picked here?”
She nods. “Yeah. I did.”
Suddenly, she winces and lays a hand on her stomach.
“You okay?” I ask, reaching for her. She brushes my hand away.
“I’m okay,” she says. “Just a hard kick. This one’s going to be another football player.”
“It’s a boy?”
She nods. “It’s another boy. Two and two. The perfect crew.”
“You like being a mom, Katie?”
She laughs. “Well, until one of them pukes or throws a temper tantrum in the middle of the grocery store, I love it. And I can handle the temper tantrum better than the puke. My husband…” She stops and shakes her head. “My husband always handled the puke. It never bothered him. Since he’s not here, Alex is the official pukemaster.”
“There’s nothing boys like more than gross stuff.”
“His dad told Alex to take care of me before his last deployment. He took it very seriously.”
“He’s military?”
She nods. “He was.”
“Where is he now?”
She throws the drying towel into the sink. “I think I’m going to put the kids to bed early and go to bed myself. The drive wore me out.”
She might as well have told me to scram.
“I’ll get Pop and head home. Thanks for letting us come for dinner. I think it did Pop good.”
“You did all the cooking, and the cleaning, and you brought the food. I can’t think of a better evening.” She smiles at me.
Then her smile slips away. “Stop trying to figure me out, Jake,” she says. “It’s simple. I’m here, in my favorite place in the world. And you’re here too, which makes it extra special. That’s all there is to it.”
“If you say so.”
“I say so.”
Well, then. “I guess we should go.” On impulse, I lean down to kiss her on the cheek. She stiffens for a second, but then she falls against me, her arms sliding around my waist as she presses her cheek against my shoulder. I feel a little tap against my belly. “I think your uterus is kicking me,” I whisper.
She laughs, but it’s a watery sound, and my heart twists. “That would be the baby in my uterus, Jake. Get your anatomy straight.” She steps back from me. “Thank you,” she says. “I didn’t know how much I needed a hug until I got one.” She takes a deep breath.
“I’ll collect Pop.”
We walk out to the porch and find that Pop is now without a shirt, and Gabby has it hanging on the back of her chair.
“Jesus, Pop,” I say. “You’re losing your shirt out here.”
“The kid’s a shark, Jake,” he grumbles.
“Well, Katie wants to go to bed early. We had better get out of here before the shark wins your boxers.”
“That would just be gross,” Gabby mutters.
A little hand tugs on the leg of my jeans. “Can Sally spend the night?” Trixie asks.
