custody.” The whites of her eyes shine in the night as she gives a tiny smile.
“I guess we’ll just have to do that whole, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday—Thursday, Friday thing.”
“What about the weekends?”
“We’ll just have to work things out.” I drop a hot kiss over her lips, and the kitten purrs between us. “Or you could move in and save us both the hassle.”
Izzy gasps. The porch light frames her in from behind and makes her glow like an otherworldly being, like an angel.
Hello, Annie signs. I’m still here. She taps Izzy on the shoulder. And I think you should say yes. I still think you make a really cute couple.
“She says you have to, or she’ll hunt you down and kill you.”
Annie kicks me in the shin.
“All right, she thinks you should say yes.” I pull Izzy in until our stomachs touch. “She thinks we make a really cute couple.”
Izzy presses her lips together and nods. She never takes those quicksilver eyes off mine. My chest floods with relief, and suddenly I wish we were anywhere but standing on my mother’s porch.
“You ready to do this?” She nods toward the house.
“I’m ready.” I give the beast a gentle scratch between the ears. “So what should we name the cat?”
“How about Happy?”
“Happy.” I let it settle in. “It’s perfect.” Happy is exactly the place I’m at these days.
We head inside with Annie and our new cat, Happy.
“Big bro.” Bryson socks me in the arm before yanking me into a half hug. He pulls Izzy into a quick embrace as well.
“Izzy!” Baya hops over.
Bryson and Baya are both as pale as the day they left, an anomaly after spending a solid week in the Caribbean. They went with Laney and Ryder. Rumor has it they only saw each other once, and that was at the airport for the flight home. Not that I could blame them. I don’t think I’d see much of the Caribbean either if Izzy and I were on our honeymoon.
“What’s going on?” Dad comes over to where we’re standing with Mom right on his heels.
“Let’s take a seat.” God knows we’re going to need it. We head to the sofas, and I pull Izzy in close. I don’t think I could have ever done this without her. Hell, I know I couldn’t.
Annie catches my eye. She’s so young. There’s no way I want her to hear any of this bull.
“Annie”—I start—“I’m not sure you should be here for this.”
Annie shoots Mom a knowing look before signing. I’m plenty old enough. I’m part of this family. I have a right to be here. Besides, I’ve already moved into my dorm. I’m not a baby.
“Fair enough.” I take one final look around the room at the lives I managed to screw up on a dime all due to some stupid bet I made back in high school. “I apologize to each of you in advance. I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined that something I did on a whim all those years ago would land us where we are today.”
“And where’s that?” Mom tilts toward me, curious as to where I’m going with this.
“Here.” I shoot a look to dad. “With you two divorced.”
“What?” Bryson leans in. “Dude, let’s go in the other room. Why don’t you run this past me first? I can help you with whatever it is you’re trying to do.”
“No, trust me. It’s better to just get this over with.” I tighten my grip around Izzy’s waist. “When I was in high school”—I look to my parents—“there was a weekend when I thought the two of you were away. Bryson and I were just hanging out here at the house, Annie was at a friend’s.” I swallow hard. “I thought”—tears come, and I’m quick to blink them away—“I thought Bryson was in the house. I went out to a movie with a bunch of people, and we all came back here. We were sitting on the porch, and I gave a hundred bucks to some girl that was with us and told her to go in and try to get my brother to sleep with her. We were all stoned out of our minds. It was stupid. I was stupid.”
“I don’t remember this.” Bryson shakes his head at me a second too long as if telling me to knock this crap off.
“That’s because—it turns out you weren’t here either. You took off with your buddies. It wasn’t you in the house.”
“Oh my, God.” Mom