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“We’ll take this one off your tab.”
“Deal. Now, let’s get back to what he did with his tongue…”
* * *
“Nick, good to see you again,” my dad says the moment we step into my oldest sister’s house.
“You too, sir,” Nick replies, sticking out his hand for a quick shake.
“Just Brian, please,” he responds, shaking Nick’s offered hand. When his eyes turn to me, they’re soft and smiling. “Meggy,” he says, pulling me into a tight hug and pressing a kiss on my temple. “Good to see you smiling,” he adds with a whisper for only me.
I swear I blush the color of a tomato.
“Is Meggy Pie here?” I hear hollered from the living room, moments before my grandma enters the foyer.
“Oh, Dr. Adams!” she exclaims, completely bypassing me and going to where Nick stands. When she gives him a hug, I swear I can see an evil smile on her grandmotherly face and her hand snakes up his arm, giving his bicep a little squeeze.
“Good morning, Emma. I hope it’s okay I crashed your breakfast,” Nick says, my grandma’s frail arms still wrapped around him like a spider monkey.
Still. There.
And she’s smiling.
Still.
“My dear, Doc, did you know breakfast is my favorite meal? It’s the sausage. I can never get enough of the sausage. The more, the merrier.” Suddenly, I see Nick jump and I know exactly what just happened. “Don’t you just love sausage, Meggy Pie?” Grandma asks, glancing over her shoulder with that evil ‘I just had a handful of his ass and what are you going to do about it’ grin.
The woman is the devil incarnate.
“Okay, knock it off or he’ll run from the house screaming,” I say to the old woman, looking to retrieve my date from my grandma’s clutches and make a hasty retreat into the living room.
When we step around the corner, we find much of our family already here. Jaime and Ryan are seated on the loveseat, and she looks as miserable as ever. Ryan sits with his arm around her shoulders, rubbing gentle circles on her upper back, while his other hand rests on her huge belly.
“How ya feeling, Jaime?”
“Like a beached whale,” she mumbles, her head falling back on his arm.
“You look stunning,” he whispers loud enough for everyone to hear and kisses her shoulder.
“You have to say that. You want sex again someday, but I have to admit it’s not that appealing right now.”
“You’re the most incredible woman I know,” he replies to her grumblings, and is rewarded with a smile from my second oldest sister. Even though she looks miserable, and probably feels ten times worse, the way he dotes on her and compliments her always seems to make her smile again.
“Hey, Nick,” Linkin says as he comes into the living room, from the kitchen, one of the twins sitting on his hip.
“Hi,” Nick responds, keeping his hands in his pockets but smiling at one of my little nephews. “I hate to ask, but which one is this?”
I move and take the baby from his dad and kiss his forehead. (The baby’s, not Linkin’s.) “This handsome little man is Hemi,” I reply before Linkin has a chance.
“And the other is attached to his mom’s boob, like always. He definitely takes after his daddy,” Linkin says with a grin as he watches me pepper the little guy’s face with raspberry kisses. The result makes my nephew squeal and my heart soar with love.
“Quit talking about my boobs at breakfast. It’s impolite,” Lexi chastises as she enters the living room, Hudson happily cooing on her hip. Linkin takes him right away since Lexi has a hard time keeping the wiggle worm in place, considering her huge pregnant belly.
“Hey, Meg. Hey, Nick,” Lexi says as she walks by and drops onto the couch beside Abby and Levi.
“Hi,” we both reply in unison. I’m waiting for the onslaught of questions about Nick’s appearance today, but they never come. Instead, everyone seems to focus on the pending arrival of more babies and the upcoming weddings.
“How is that going to work, anyway? When the new baby arrives?” I ask my sister.
