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Elle rolls her eyes. “He’s something else. I love him and the positive attitude he has about everything. His last check-up was great. He’s not out of the woods yet, but each visit brings us closer.”
“I’m happy everything worked out, Elle. I truly am.”
She sits back. “You know the chances of having multiple babies is high with IVF, right?”
I nod. “I’ll be happy with one.”
“What if you drop twenty eggs?”
My eyes bug out. “I supposed I’d have to change my name to fertile Myrtle.”
Elle laughs so hard she snorts.
“What’s so funny?”
Ben’s voice has Elle turning toward him.
Before she can adjust and welcome her husband, Beau jumps on mine and Elle’s laps and proceeds to show us how much he’s missed us. “Okay, down,” Elle says, and he jumps to the ground and sits. Elle gives him some love and holds her hand out so Ben can give her a treat for him. There are times when I want a dog, but then I remember how much I work and think of how unfair it would be for the doggie to be home all day by himself.
Noah isn’t far behind Ben. He smiles and I know it’s just for me. As much as I like my alone time, I love being with my husband. I hold out my hand for him, to let him know I want him near me. Elle moves over to the other seat and Noah sits next to me. He kisses me, holding his lips to mine for a second. While I know my sister is out here with us, Noah’s the only one in my orbit.
“They’re coming,” Ben says out of the blue.
Noah turns as my mouth drops open.
“Context, Ben!” Elle hollers at him. “You know I’ve been down here talking babies and shit with P and you blurt out they’re coming. Who’s coming? The Redcoats? Your imaginary swimmers? Geez!”
Noah snorts. I cover my mouth with my hand. Elle’s clearly tired of his shit. God, I love them together.
“My bad,” Ben says all sassy like. “I texted Quinn and Nola. They’re on their way over.”
“Oh good,” Elle says. “We can talk about wedding plans.”
I shake my head. “What are they waiting for?”
“Her,” Elle says. “Quinny says she won’t pick a date or there is always something going on at her parent’s house. You know they host weddings there and Nola wants to get married there but her mom never puts her on the list.”
“I wonder if she doesn’t like Quinn,” Ben says. Elle and I throw daggers at him.
“That’s our brother you’re speaking about,” Elle says.
“How can someone not like Quinn?” I ask.
Ben holds his hand up. “We . . .” he points to all of us, “love him. Everything about him. Nola’s family isn’t like your family. They’re not famous musicians who raised their kids on a tour bus. They’re a southern family who go to church on Wednesdays and twice on Sundays,” he says. “They’re a big family, lots of grandbabies, and have that mysterious generational wealth. I’m sure when Quinn showed up, all emo rocker like, they were probably a bit taken back by him.”
“Ben has a point,” Noah says.
“Hush,” I tell him. “Do you really think it’s her family dragging their feet?”
“Makes sense,” Elle says. “Think about it, they never come out here and Quinn rarely goes there. Huh.” Elle trails off.
“If they don’t like him then they suck dirty pond water,” I say with a huff. “Like, how can you not like Quinn? He’s perfect!”
“You’re biased,” Noah says to her. “I can tell you right now, from experience, my grandparents aren’t that fond of my dad. They tolerate him, but given a choice, they’d choose Nick every day of the week for my mom.”
My mouth drops open. “What?”
Noah shrugs. “My dad knows this. Despite everything, there’s a lot of animosity. Sure, they’re cordial but my grandfather isn’t rolling out the red carpet for my dad anytime soon.”
