Page 22 of Smoke and Glitter

The bag of cheese in Autumn's hand hits the counter.

"November?"

"We waited until everything looked good before we told anybody."

Autumn stares at her.

"You're pregnant?"

Summer starts smiling.

Autumn is around the counter before I can move out of her way.

She gets both arms around Summer and holds on. Bex starts yelling loud enough that Lucia abandons the crayons to find out why. Marisol covers her mouth, makes it approximately three seconds before she starts crying, then gets pissed off because she's crying.

I move the open wine out of Lucia's reach just before she backs into it.

"Why is everybody yelling?" she asks.

"Summer's having a baby."

That earns us more yelling.

Dom gets to Colt first. He shakes his hand, looks at him for a second, then pulls him into a hug. Colt laughs and claps him on the back before Bex gets hold of him.

"You knew?"

"For nine days."

"Nine days?"

"I was told not to say anything."

Summer looks over Autumn's shoulder. "See? He can follow instructions."

"Nine days," Bex says. "I would've exploded."

"You almost did, and you didn't even know."

Autumn finally lets Summer go, but only far enough to take her face in both hands and look at her again. Whatever passes between them doesn't need the rest of us.

I reach above the refrigerator for the bottle I've been saving.

I bought it a couple years ago, then never found a reason to open it. Bex sees the label.

"You've been hiding that?"

"From you specifically."

"Asshole."

I open it anyway.

Everybody gets a glass except Summer. When I hand her water, she takes it and bumps her shoulder into mine. We raise whatever we're holding. Nobody makes a speech, which is probably for the best because Dom would try and Colt would interrupt him.

Summer stands in the middle of my kitchen with one hand low on her stomach while everyone talks over everyone else.

For a minute, I just watch her.