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I give a soft grunt of satisfaction, enjoying the foreign yet wonderful moment at the heart of my little family.
“I’m sorry we had to keep it a secret so long,” I say to Curty when he’s been too quiet for some time. “I wanted you both to be safe. Have you seen Jack when he’s angry?”
Curty stops licking his ice cream. “When we were at Disneyland, Loosh got mad at him because he said Marcus couldn’t get a princess doll. Loosh wanted to buy it for him, but Jack had his money, so he couldn’t, and Marcus cried, and Jack yelled at him, and then he said something that made Loosh cry, and I hid behind all the sweaters with Alexus, because anyone who makes Loosh cry is mean and a fucking asshole.”
Kira and I stare at him, then we look at each other.
I give her a half-shrug. “I mean, he’s not wrong.”
Kira pushes past me and wraps Curty in a hug. “You didn’t tell me that happened.”
Curty shrugs. “You were at the hotel, writing notes for Jules, and Jack left straight after, and me and Alexus had enough money together to get the doll for Marcus and a turkey leg for Loosh, so they felt better, and then we found the others, and we all had a really good time.”
Kira groans. “I still would’ve liked to know. We should call Marcus’s mom and make sure he’s okay.” To me, she says, “Do you have Ainsley’s number?”
I pull out my phone. “I’ll sort it,” I tell her, moving to the other room. “You guys eat your ice cream, and I’ll be back in a sec. We haven’t even told Curty the other good news.”
“There’s more?” he says, ears pricking up.
I give him a wink and leave him in suspense. He’s practically frothing at the mouth with impatience when I come back — though it could just be the ice cream.
“What is it?” he demands to know. “I already feel like I won the lottery or something.” He counts off all the positives on his fingers. “New truck. Ice cream. Never have to see Jack again. Quin’s my dad. Quin’s moving in, and he’s going to be around all the time, to help me build stuff and play with the Lego.”
“Another cool thing about me moving in, is that I’ll be around to help out with the baby, when it comes.” I wink at Kira, and get a little giddy at the look of awe on Curty’s face.
“There’s going to be ababy?” he cries, looking between me and his mom. “Boy or girl?”
Kira snorts and places a hand on her belly. “We don’t know yet. It’s still early, and we may want to keep it a surprise.”
“Does it matter?” I ask.
Curty takes a moment to think, and then shrugs. “Probably not. I’m still going to teach it to do tricks.”
“This kid.” I shake my head at Kira and laugh, before I ruffle Curty’s hair. “It’s a baby, not a dog, sport.”
He tidies his hair and chases my hand away. “But it’ll be cute. I’ll train it to bring you beer, when you’re working in the yard.”
“Then what will you do?” I tease.
“I’ll be working in the yard with you,” he says as if it was a stupid question. He starts to walk his empty bowl to the dishwasher, like a well-trained pup himself, but pauses, bowl still in hand. “Can we still call itMonty Bros Constructionif we’re not bros?”
“What aboutMontgomery and Son?” Kira suggests.
Me and Curty both wrinkle our noses.
“Doesn’t really have the same ring to it.” I scratch under my chin and look out the window at the treehouse. “We could see if Loosh wants a job?”
“He’d like that,” Curty says with a nod. “And you guys can make some brothers for me, if you’re going into the baby-making business together.”
Lemonade sprays from Kira’s mouth, to hit me across the table, and I wipe the droplets from my beard, as I grin. “We’ll do our best, Curty. Monty Bros Construction it is.”
28
EPILOGUE
KIRA
Iwaddle into the kitchen in time to see Quin packing Curty’s lunch into his schoolbag.
