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“It looks like Jace has found a true match,” says the woman who must be Juliette’s mom. “I’m Marina and this is Gabe. So very nice to meet you.” She appears friendly, but Gabe’s eyes scrutinize me.
I stand in the middle of the kitchen, hands clasped in front of me, wondering if they know how careless I have been. “Thank you for having me. It’s nice to meet you too.”
“How was the pudding?” Gabe asks.
Oh my gosh. Jace wasn’t kidding. He really did get in trouble for it. I guess former federal agents are rather protective of their refrigerators.
“It was excellent. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Gabe returns his attention to the bacon sizzling on the stovetop.
Several photos are pinned to the fridge door with magnets. I recognize one of them right away—a shot of Juliette, Shane, and Jace from the wedding. It’s the same as the one I fished out of Jace’s jacket months ago. To me, Jace’s face is still nothing but a mask that hid what he was feeling underneath that smile, but his expression is so different on a newer photo nearby. The three of them are huddled on a hospital bed, a newborn in a flowery blanket in Juliette’s arms. She looks exhausted and tearful, Shane’s half-terrified, half-elated, and Jace is… Jace’s smile is pure. There is no secondary emotion behind it. It’s wide, easy, and happy. It captivates me so much that my fingers itch to pluck the photo and run away with it.
“It’s serious, then?” Gabe goes on, his tone carrying that edge my mom now uses with Jace when he so much as sneezes in the wrong direction. “It’s been a while since the pudding, and you’re still around.”
“I’m that irresistible.” Jace attempts to diffuse the precarious mood. Holding Jacie in the crook of his arm, he hovers over the pies occupying one of the countertops. If I didn’t know it’s not his baby, I’d assume he’s the dad. His effortless and comfortable cuddling of her melts my heart in an unexpected way, filling my head with images of him holding our baby one day.
It took one tiny baby for me to hear wedding bells again. Jace hasn’t brought up proposing after our reunion night, but the notion has been on my mind a lot all the same. I know the fashion designer Mom would ask to concoct my wedding gown. Worse than that. I know I’d want a different designer.
“You’re that full of it. That’s what you are.” Juliette knees Jace in the hip.
He kicks her back, without even jostling the baby, and takes one of the pies with him to the living room. “Stop interrogating Laurel. I paid for that pudding in full, Gabe, and you know it.”
Gabe smirks. “You forgot the interest.”
They laugh again. Marina fills the empty spot with another pie, and I’m grateful to be yanked out of my daydream.
“Oh, Laurel.” Marina sticks a plate of fruit and bacon into my hands. “Our family may feel strange to get into, but we are so happy to have you. Jace! Stop eating for five seconds and take care of your significant other.”
Busy making faces at Jacie, he doesn’t look our way. “I can’t. I’m the nanny/cool uncle right now.”
“That’s not it at all,” I tell Marina. “He can’t because he’s got that pie.” Half of it is already gone.
“Blackmore, watch your carbs.” Shane walks into the living room. He’s wearing pajamas that match his daughter’s, and I’m a breath away from dying of cuteness overload.
“Lay off, Snake Boy. It’s Christmas morning.” Jace stuffs a large bite into his mouth and glares at Shane.
My mind can’t process all that is happening here. He told me he smoothed everything out between them. I believed him then, but it seems I had some reservations left. Seeing them interact, though, I have no choice but to accept that Jace has found a good balance after all. He even got Shane and Jacie matching pajamas. Jace will never stop surprising me with random, inexplicable things he does that most other guys wouldn’t bother even thinking about. I love it.
Shane sits next to Jace and retrieves his daughter from him, placing her onto his lap and talking baby to her. Jace takes off his hoodie, and I burst out laughing. He too has a guitar and candy cane shirt underneath. I drop my plate on the table and hurry to take out my phone. “I’m taking a picture, and I’m posting it,” I warn the guys.
Jace bounces off the couch and digs in the pile of presents underneath the Christmas tree. “I got one for you too! Juliette, why aren’t you wearing yours? We should take a photo, all of us together.”
All of us together. My thoughts skitter to a stop, mulling over the meaning of that statement. Is it a promise that I’ll become a part of his family in the future? A warning that I should get used to this?
I don’t mind either way.
“Give me five minutes.” Juliette hurries out of the room.
“Wait.” I catch up with her in the hallway. “Can we talk?”
“Of course.” She invites me into a bedroom with a queen bed that takes most of the space and a large map of Tokyo pinned to the ceiling. A small, green blanket is bunched up on the bed beside a backpack spilling diapers, wipes, and the accompanying baby essentials. Juliette dumps the whole backpack out and finds her pajama set. “I still can’t believe how much stuff one little human requires.”
“I’m sorry,” I say without any preambles.
She gives me a puzzled look. “Huh?”
“At Briar’s party, I called you a traitor.” Saying this coats my tongue with shame. It really wasn’t my place to put her on a spot like that.
