THE CRAZY GOOD SERIES - Rachel Robinson Page 0,373

she used to. I think that’s the main reason she stayed away from me for those limbo inducing six months. She was giving herself permission to forgive, forget, and move on.

Since our wedding we’ve discovered things about each other. Every day, and every year, it’s something new. Sometimes it’s good, like the fact that Lainey knows how to plunge a toilet in the middle of the night better than me, and sometimes it’s bad news, like when the doctor told us that I’m unable to have children. Vadim stole something else from me with the endless hours of torture. I was mad at first, because it was something Lainey wanted and I couldn’t give it to her. When I got my head out of my ass and actually started listening to her, and the word ‘adoption’ that she kept saying, I realized not all hope was lost.

It’s been a long, drawn-out process to come to this day—the day when we’ll be able to call this little boy, Evan, our real son. He will belong to us legally as much as he’s already captured our hearts. Evan is one of the children I rescued from the dingy room in Mexico. His huge sad eyes that were too big for his face and held more sadness than a child had any right to have, stayed with me. When we decided to adopt, I knew who I wanted, and it just so happened that he wanted me, too. Molly was able to dig up the information we needed, and so it started. We entered the system as his foster parents. For a tiny child of barely three, his eyes told a different story. A couple of years later, and he’s just like any other child, maybe even a little too doted on.

“Do you think we have enough balloons and cake? Evan loves cake. Maybe he would like to have two? Can you move that stack of presents into the other room before he comes down for breakfast, honey?” Lainey asks. I sigh and do her bidding, returning just in time to see Evan at the top of the stairs about to descend the banister on his arse.

“Your mommy will have a fit if she sees you. You could get hurt,” I explain. Evan’s eyes light up when he sees me. Cuppie, his gray raggy blanket, goes down the banister and he bounds down the stairs into my arms.

The gray rag is a steadfast in our world, but he needs it less and less. He leaves it at the bottom of the stairs. I carry him into the kitchen, his warm body, fresh from his covers, pressed against my chest. It’s the second best feeling in the world. He hops down and crosses the kitchen in several small bounds when he sees Lainey, and I have to smile because this boy is so enamored with her that he could be her biological child.

“Sweet boy!” she exclaims as he runs into her arms. She picks him up even though he’s getting too big for that and peppers his face with kisses. “How did you sleep?”

Evan hops down and climbs up a stool to sit at the breakfast bar. “I slept good, Mommy. I get to have the party today?” he asks.

Sitting next to him, I ruffle his hair. He leans against me. “Yep. All for you, buddy. You’re stuck with us forever now,” I say. Lainey squeals in excitement.

“I’m so excited, Evan. Everyone will be here any moment. The adult paperwork was finalized last night. You are Evan Ridge, most awesome kid to ever grace the planet,” Lainey quips. She’s sworn off swearing. Mostly when he’s not around she’ll drop an F bomb here and there. It’s a novelty now. I tease her for it.

“He’s going to let it go to his head, Fast Lane. Give the boy some breakfast and let us do man stuff. I’m sure you’re going to make us wear those leg cages again.”

She scowls at me as she places a plate of eggs and fruit in front of Evan. “They are skinny jeans,” Lainey says, correcting my terminology.

“You know my thighs don’t fit in skinny jeans. They are cages for my thighs. And Evan can’t jump on the trampoline well with his on. Right, buddy?”

Evan swallows a bite of food. “He’s right, Mommy. Can we wear gym shorts?”

Oh, yes. Allied forces unite. Lainey looks like she’s honestly considering letting him wear gym shorts, but her fashion sense wins out in