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“Good morning,” Dee said, a lilt in her voice that told me she was more amused than anything else.

“How do bacon and eggs sound?” Malia said, her voice rising nervously as she continued her charade.

“Biscuits?” Dee asked from the other room. Malia rolled her eyes, and they landed on me at the refrigerator, pulling out the instant biscuit can and a jug of orange juice.

“Of course,” Malia said. “Anything for my awesome sister.”

“Uh-huh,” she laughed, and it took everything I could not to laugh with her.

Malia’s smile stretched across her face, and she shook her head as she pulled out the pans for making breakfast.

I couldn’t stay long, but I was determined to get breakfast in with them. The longer I stayed, the less it would seem awkward. I was just waiting for Dee to say something, but she never did. As the clock struck nine, I stood up from the table, brought my dishes into the sink and rinsed them off, and met Malia in the doorway. I pressed a kiss to her lips as she wrapped her arms around me, and I just caught Dee rolling her eyes and looking away.

“I have to get going,” I whispered.

“I know,” Malia said.

“I have to feed the cat before I get off to work. And change clothes,” I said, eliciting a giggle from Malia and yet another bottom lip bite. I thought I might whisk her back to her bedroom right then and there, but my willpower just barely held on. “I will be back after work, if you want me to be.”

She nodded, and I pressed another kiss to her lips.

“Yes, please,” she whispered between kisses.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” she said.

Grinning, I walked to the door, snapping off a wave to Dee.

“See you later,” she said. I wondered if she had any idea when later would be. I had a feeling she did.

Getting into the car, I felt like I was floating. It was kind of dangerous, actually, since I was pretty sure I was driving on autopilot. I was late for work, yes, and that was frustrating, but I didn’t let it get to me. Nothing could get to me.

The cat was unhappy with my absence when I got home, but he warmed up when he got a few extra treats. I hopped in a quick shower, figuring that if I was going to be late, I might as well go all the way, and when I got out, I saw my phone was blinking. I picked it up to see a text from Wendy.

“Oh, crap,” I muttered. I forgot she was back on duty part-time starting that day.

I shot off a text saying I slept in, which was technically the truth, and finished getting ready. Setting the timer on Captain Clovis’ automatic food bowl for when his lunch and dinner would be, I thanked my lucky stars for finding that feeder yet again and ran to the door. I had to run back inside when I realized I had forgotten my wallet but then was on the road.

When I got to the office, Wendy was waiting on me and came out to hop in my vehicle to go to the next surveying site. She gave me a few side-eyes as I drove, but we mostly traveled in silence for the first few minutes after she handed me the paper with the directions to where we were going. I understood that paper directions were a backup from the days when not everyone had a GPS built into their phone and their cars separately, but I enjoyed them anyway.

“So,” I said, breaking the silence as we drove, “how’s Hope? And how is Olly handling not being the baby anymore.”

“Oh, he’s still the baby,” Wendy said. “He’s just not the only baby. Finn’s also the baby, for that matter.”

I laughed.

“Yeah, but his bottle is brown,” I said.

“True,” she said, “though he hardly ever drinks right now. Says it’s in empathy with me since I’m breastfeeding, but I think it’s just because he wants to drop his sympathy pounds he gained. Empty calories in beer and all.”

“That sounds like him,” I said. “Always body conscious.”

“Same as you,” she said. “You eat like a machine. No flavor, all protein. It’s a shock you and Finn get along.”

“I will eat anything Finn puts in front of me,” I said. “I just can’t cook, so protein shakes and stuff are easier.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said. “That’s why the two of you lift weights every time you come over.”

“Well, no, that’s because it’s fun,” I said.

It was true. Finn and I tended to enjoy some weight sessions when I came over to his place. He had a tiny office that he’d converted to a gym and inspired me to create one of my own. Neither of us was really serious about weightlifting, but we did enjoy pushing each other and making fun of the other when they couldn’t keep up.

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