The Curve Ball - Samantha Lind Page 0,53

have an hour of quiet time after lunch.”

“But, Mommy, I’s not tired!” Penny tries to complain.

“Sorry, P, if you want to go check on the animals, those are the rules. Plus, baby Evie will need her nap before we can go.”

“Fine,” she pouts.

“How about this,” Jillian says to her, gathering her attention. “How about I put on a movie, quietly, and you lay down on the couch. You don’t have to fall asleep if you’re not tired, but you do have to stay quiet and watch the movie.”

“Okay, Momma,” she agrees right away to Jillian's compromise.

“Does that work for you?” Jillian confirms with me.

“Sure does. Evie and I didn’t really have any firm plans other than hanging out here with you guys for the next few hours. I’ll just need to pop over to the house to grab her car seat.”

“Look at the giraffes!” I exclaim to the girls. We watch as they come to the railing where patrons can feed them lettuce that they purchase from a little booth next to the enclosure. Jillian is in line buying a bundle for all of us to feed to them. I swear this is their favorite part of the zoo.

“Aww, look, RyRy, it’s a baby one!” Addison tells me, pointing out one of the baby giraffes.

“Aww, she sure is cute,” I tell her as we get a little closer to the railing. I park the stroller right up next to it so that Evie can see through it to the animals. She must see some of the animals as she starts to get excited in her seat. One of the giraffes must notice her and think that she’s got a snack for him as he sticks his head through the railings and flicks his tongue out at her. I can’t help but laugh at the face she makes when the giraffe's tongue licks her face. I quickly grab my phone from my back pocket and snap a picture as it does it again.

“Auntie, it’s licking her!” Penny shrieks in excitement.

“I know!” I laugh right along with her. Evie still doesn’t know what to think about this, and starts to fuss. I move the stroller back a bit so that the animals can no longer reach her. I grab a wipe from the bag and wipe her face off where he kissed her.

“I watched it all unfold from the line,” Jillian says as she reaches my side. “It was pretty funny to watch it go down,” she tells me as she hands her girls each a few pieces of lettuce.

“It sure was, and I got a few pictures,” I tell her, handing over my phone so she can look at them. She swipes right, flipping through the pictures until her eyebrows fly up.

“Well, now this is an interesting picture,” she says, flashing me a shit-eating grin. Fuck, I forgot about that. JJ grabbed my phone this morning and snapped a picture of the two of us curled up together in bed. Thank god we’ve got the sheet pulled up, as we were both naked when it was taken. That was before our shower escapades, but after the first set of orgasms he brought us to this morning. “Y’all look good together, just like I knew you would.”

“Yeah,” I sigh. “It’s been a whirlwind week, for sure,” I tell her. I’m sure I’ve got a dreamy look on my face. It still feels like one big dream.

“Just be careful and use protection. Do I need to have the birth control talk with you?” she asks. I look around at the other people in close proximity to us and feel my cheeks heat up.

“Jill!” I practically squeal. “Could you say it any louder?” I ask, feeling embarrassed.

“Sorry,” she says as she looks around. “That came out a little louder than I planned it to.”

“To answer your question, we’re careful. Protection every time and no, Mom, I don’t need the BC talk. I’ve been on it for a while to help regulate my cycles.”

“Okay. As long as you’re safe, that’s all that I care about. Two under two is hard, trust me,” she says, flashing me a smile before looking down at the girls. They’ve fed the giraffes all of the lettuce that she bought, so we start herding them toward the next animal enclosure.

“I’m home!” JJ calls out as the door from the garage closes.

“In the kitchen,” I call out to him.

“How are my girls today?” he asks, stopping to kiss the top of