“Holy shit,” Noah laughs, looking it over as he walks past. “The fucker did it. He actually finished it.”
“How do you know that he finished it?” I ponder, looking through the windows to check out the interior.
“Because Rivers is just as proud as I am and there’s no way he’d have it out here, on display for the world to see, if there was still work to be done.”
“Good point,” I say with a slow smile spreading across my face as the pride in my brother grows. I mean, he’s only been talking about fixing this thing up for five years. I guess it was about time he got around to it.
“No,” Noah says, shaking his head. “Don’t be so happy about it. I bet him five hundred bucks that he wouldn’t do it and now I’m going to have to pay up.”
Laughter tears through me at the thought of the boys making such a ridiculous bet. “Don’t stress. I’m sure he’ll let it slide.”
“Bullshit. You’re screwed up in the head if you think Rivers is going to let it slide. He’ll hold it over my head every single day until I pay up. He’ll tell me it’s his way of keeping me an honest man. Besides, I’d dare say the thought of taking my money is what motivated him to finish it in the first place.”
I shake my head at my moronic husband and calculating brother. “Yeah, I think you’re right. You’ve got no chance.”
We let ourselves through the door to find a room full of people. Tully and Rivers are busy rushing around being the perfect hosts. Well actually, that’s not exactly accurate. Tully is being a terrible host and Rivers is picking up the slack yet somehow does it in a way that makes Tully look like she’s doing all the work. He’s such a good boy. It’s incredible to see how far he’s come since our high school days. I’m so proud of him.
Tully squeals out in excitement as she notices us struggling through the door with our big ass stroller and within the blink of an eye, both my babies are gone.
Violet holds Elijah before wrapping me in her other arm and checking in that I’m doing okay, but really, I’m just as perfectly fine as I was when she asked me yesterday and the day before that. Satisfied with my answer, she moves onto Noah and pulls him into a warm hug. “Happy birthday,” she tells him, looking up into his eyes with pride.
“Thanks, mom,” he murmurs, but truth be told, I don’t think she notices as her attention falls back to the sleeping baby in her arms and before I can even blink, she’s disappeared with him, never to be seen again.
Tully does the same with Ethan, not bothering to stop for a birthday hug, obviously having her priorities in place. So with that, Noah and I welcome ourselves in knowing that no matter how badly we may want to, we won’t have to lift a finger all day where our babies are concerned.
I find Aiden and Barker bickering at the table over who the hell knows what, but when their eyes fall on my twins, all conversation ceases and they make their way over. They’ve met them once over the past week and they fell just as hard for them as the rest of us have.
I find Eddison standing between Gina and her new boyfriend, Randall, and laugh as Noah finds Rivers. Together they stare down Randall as though just his very presence is offensive to them and I roll my eyes. It’ll be a while before they can relax enough to see that Randall is an awesome guy, perfectly suited for Gina.
With everyone occupied and happy, I find my dad and his wife, Jackie, before walking over and falling into dad’s welcoming arms. Aria is chatting endlessly about some boy at school that is too cute for his own good, which totally explains the grimace on dad’s face right now.
A few moments later, Jared shows up with his little brother, Byron, and I have to laugh at the way Byron beelines for Aria. Since becoming step-siblings they have that strange ‘want to be best friends, but you’re the opposite sex so it’s kind of gross’ thing going on. It’s absolutely heart-warming to watch.
Before the door can even close behind the boys, Spencer shows his handsome face with Lacey standing happily beside him. Everyone comes in and I smile as all of the people I love stand in this very room before me. What could possibly be better than this?
I make my way over to Spencer and Lacey as they move to stand with Rivers and Noah. The five of us stand in a circle as Rivers draws Lacey in for a warm hug. “How’d your appointment go?”