she tousled his gray hair, and Max thought he was going to have to sit down before he passed out.
“Guys, there is a lot of PDA going on in here,” Mia said.
“Well? We’re in love,” Evelyn said dreamily.
The front door opened just then, and Carly banged in with Baxter. Her hair was mussed like she’d run all the way here, and she was wearing a shiny aquamarine dress with little flower appliques that looked . . . different. As usual, when it came to Victor Allen’s clothing, he had questions.
“There you are!” Evelyn said.
“Sorry. I got caught up with Victor.”
“Obviously,” Evelyn said, looking at her outfit.
One of the kids appeared and ran straight for Carly, throwing himself at her legs and almost knocking her over and causing her to drop Baxter’s leash. “Oof,” she said, catching herself on the kid. “Hello, Bobo.”
“Good boy,” Jamie said, and went down on one knee. Baxter eagerly trotted to him.
The child who was wrapped around Carly’s legs apparently spotted his sister with something that belonged to him and shrieked, “That’s mine!” and took off again.
Carly straightened. She tried to smooth out the thing she was wearing and smiled warmly at Max. “Hi, Max. Hi, Jamie.”
Jamie had taken a seat on the floor and didn’t look at Carly. Baxter had arranged himself across Jamie’s lap to take full advantage of the attention.
“Hey, Sis.”
Trace was still holding the phone to his ear, but he sauntered across the room, put one arm around her, and hugged her. He looked at her dress. “Hold on, Jerry.” He pulled the phone from his ear and gestured to Carly’s dress. “What the hell is that?”
“It’s call art, Trace.”
Trace snorted. “Don’t think so,” he said, and put the phone back to his ear. “Go on, Jerry.”
“So! Now that everyone is here, Will and I have some news!” Mia said brightly. She put her arm around her husband’s waist. He was grinning widely. “We’re pregnant!”
Someone screamed and Baxter leapt off Jamie’s lap and began to bark in response. It took Max a moment to realize it was one of the kids, who had somehow found their way into Evelyn’s backyard.
“I’ll take this one,” Will said, and walked outside.
Jamie scrambled to his feet and began to rock back and forth. “Too much noise,” he muttered. “Too much noise from all the boys.”
“Oh, you made a rhyme,” Evelyn said cheerfully.
“It’s cool, Jamie,” Max said softly.
“Hello?” Mia demanded. “Is no one going to congratulate me?”
“Mia, seriously?” Carly said. “You can hardly handle the three you have. You complain you have too many kids all the time.”
“Carly! I had a couple of bad days, that’s all.”
“Well I, for one, am thrilled,” Evelyn said. She picked up a tray of appetizers and began to swan around the room in her caftan. “You can’t have too many grandchildren.”
“Congratulations, Mia,” Max’s dad said.
“Thank you, Toby,” Mia said, and glared at Carly. “See, Carly? It’s not that hard.”
“Congratulations,” Carly said. “I’m just a little taken aback is all. Four is a lot.”
“Congratulations,” Max added, just as Will returned to the room.
“Thanks, man,” Will said. He was still beaming, clearly happy about this turn of events.
Evelyn brought the tray of cocktail weenies speared with toothpicks to chunks of pineapples around to Max and Jamie. It looked like something right out of a dusty old 1950s cookbook. Jamie grabbed several and Max had to ask him to slow down. Max, on the other hand, could hardly look at the appetizers.
The kids raced through again, Millie shrieking at Finn for taking her doll and Finn laughing maniacally.
“I rest my case,” Carly said, gesturing to Mia’s children. Mia shrugged.
“Too much noise,” Jamie said.
“Toby, when did you plan to grill the burgers?” Evelyn asked.
“In about thirty minutes,” he said, and sipped from a cocktail glass. Another new development—his dad was drinking cocktails now.
“Well, now is a good time, isn’t it?” Evelyn asked, and put down her tray.
“Oh no. No no no.”
Carly spoke so softly that no one else but Max heard it. He had to agree with her—there was never going to be a good time for whatever was about to happen.
Evelyn took Dad’s hand and pulled him into the middle of the room. “Trace? Could you please put the phone down?”
Trace looked up to everyone’s attention on him. “Gotta bounce, Jer. I’ll call you in a few.” He clicked off and gestured to his mother to continue.
“Will? Could you summon your children, please?” Evelyn asked.
“Kids!” he shouted.
Jamie put his hands over his ears. “Too