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Grinning and totally wanting to irritate my brother, I turned and walked a few steps backward to address him and say something I hadn’t spoken in years. “I call shotgun.”
Beau whipped an incredulous glance my way, which made me laugh, fondly remembering the old days. But then he shrugged, so much more maturely than he had back then. “You know what? I don’t even care. I’ll sit in the back with Vaughn. Right, Merrill?”
“Uh...sure.” Vaughn seemed confused by the entire encounter.
We all climbed into the car, Vaughn sitting in the back behind me, and Beau behind Bentley.
There was a moment of silence among the four of us after we shut our doors and before Bentley started the engine. Then Beau cried, “Wee…” from the back seat. “This is going to be fun.”
I glanced back to see him sitting high enough that his head was bumping against the roof, and he had to tilt it to the side to fit.
“What…?” I started in confusion, only for Bentley to sigh.
“Are you sitting in Braiden’s booster seat? Oh my God, you drunk fool. Get out of that before you break it.”
Vaughn started to laugh, and Beau grumbled but undid his seatbelt to remove the seat from under him.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “You’re such a dork.”
“You’re a dork,” he countered.
“Children,” Bentley cut in sternly as she pulled away from the curb. “Behave.” Then she gasped and added, “Oh my God. I’m going to be able to say that for real someday.”
“Yes, you are,” Beau murmured lovingly as he reached around the back of the seat to squeeze her shoulders affectionately. Then he sighed in contentment. “I still can’t believe we’re going to have another baby. This is so awesome. But are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“I feel great.” Reaching up to squeeze the hand he was resting on her shoulder, Bentley smiled into the rearview mirror at him. “I promise.”
I glanced into the back in time to see him nod. “Good. And I’m sorry again about the way I acted when I first found out. You know I didn’t mean it when I said I didn’t want another baby, right? I do want it. I want you to be able to yell children into the back seat, and I want another baby falling asleep on my chest, just like Braiden used to, and I want to make him a big brother. I want all of that. I swear.”
“I know, sweetheart.” Bentley smiled out the front windshield as she turned a corner. “And I understood that when you were freaking out.”
“I don’t know how,” he grumbled. “I was being a complete ass, and I made you cry. You forgive way too much from me sometimes. I don’t deserve you.”
“Amen,” I said under my breath.
My brother flicked my shoulder and muttered, “I heard that, brat,” before he shifted his attention back to his wife. “What do you think of the name Stella for a girl?”
“What?” I spun to gape at him. “You’re not going to stick with the B theme? What about...hmm... Beau, Bentley, Braiden, and, ooh, Briar? Or Brianna. Brianna’s pretty.”
“Bridget,” Vaughn spoke up from behind me. “Brooklyn. Brittney.”
Bentley groaned. “You guys are just hilarious. We weren’t trying to keep a theme on purpose when we named Braiden, you know.”
“But now you’re pretty much required to keep it up,” I argued, mostly teasing because it honestly didn’t matter to me what they named their baby. I was just happy they were having one.
But heckling my brother was too much to resist, so I added, “Bernadette.”
To which Vaughn followed up with, “Bonnie.”
“Oh, Jesus,” Beau huffed, falling back into his seat.
I laughed. “Bianca.”
“Bernice.”
Vaughn and I kept it up all the way home, throwing out every name we could think of that started with a B, and when Bentley pulled to the curb in front of my house, Beau cried, “Alright, enough. We’re not going to be able to name this kid anything that starts with a B, just to spite you two. Now, get out. You’re driving me crazy.”
Laughing, Vaughn and I stumbled our way from the car.
