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Evan giggles, then slaps his hand over his mouth to silence them. Fuck, he’s so cute.
And he’s mine, I think.
I tiptoe back into the hallway, holding the plastic gun up like I’m a certified FBI agent about to sweep a house. When I get to the end of the wall, I fly around the corner, checking all the other corners, and find nothing.
“They’re sneaky. Never let your guard down.”
“What’s gu-ard?”
“Never mind. Just follow me, bud.”
We need to work on the logistics of war, but we’ll get there. He follows me through the house as I search for the girls, and just as I pass by the living room, I hear a giggle. Faint, but definitely Ari.
I point toward the living room, and Evan nods, holding the gun higher. It’s about as big as him, and it almost has me dying of laughter, but I manage to keep a straight face while we storm the living room. I spot Ari’s plastic high heels poking out from behind the playhouse, so I climb on top of it as quietly as possible, and yell, “Boo.”
They scream loud enough to shatter the glass on the windows and crawl out from behind the couch. As soon as Ari’s head pops up, Evan pulls the trigger shooting her in the middle of the forehead.
Oh fuck.
Ari’s face crumples, and she begins to wail. Poor Evan looks like he’s about to start crying right along with her. His panicked gaze darts to mine, and I shake my head. “It’s okay, don’t worry.”
I scoop her up and wrap her in a tight, only kind of hug that Uncle Reed can deliver, and soon, her tears are dry and she’s grinning.
“Missed you, Uncle Reed.”
“Missed you more, my beauty. I brought a friend for you to play with while I help Daddy and Juliet. This is Evan.”
Evan looks up at her with a small, shy smile.
I set Ari down next to him, and Kennedy skips up and pulls Evan in for a strangling hug without pause.
The panicked look returns, and this time I shrug. “Girls, bud. Girls.”
Ari looks at the tattered octopus in his hands and asks, “Is this your lovey?”
Evan nods. “His name is Pickles.”
“My lovey’s name is Princess Sparkles. Want to play in our room?”
He looks at me, and I nod, shooing them out the door. Well… that was easier than expected. But I’ve realized that kids are resilient like that.
Now that the Nerf war is officially over, I return the guns to the girls’ room and make sure they’re all set playing before I go upstairs to the spare room that’s going to be the new baby’s nursery.
The walls are still white, since they’ve decided to wait to find out the gender, but they’ve started to fill the room with furniture and gender-neutral decorations.
Juliet’s sitting in a white chair in the corner, flipping through the pages of a pregnancy book while Liam is on the floor taking pieces of the baby bed out of the box.
“You guys could have warned me that I was walking into a battlefield.”
Juliet laughs. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“Just for the record, the guys won. Could’ve helped your best friend out, man,” I tell Liam. He just shakes his head and continues to pull out the wood.
“Alright, dads are on duty.” Juliet rises from her recliner and stands. Her pregnant belly is finally starting to show. A little bump beneath her shirt, but Liam still reaches out and rubs it affectionately. “Mama’s tired and achy, and I want a bubble bath in complete and total silence.”
“I’ve got dinner and the kids, go relax, baby,” Liam coos.
Never seen a guy so in love with his wife. Seeing these two together is the only thing I ever need to believe in love. The real, genuine kind that only comes around once. That’s what they share, and man, seeing my best friend be able to experience it after everything he’s been through is incredible. No one deserves it like he does.
