Chapter 3
Carter
I couldn’t believe the week with my sister was almost coming to an end.
She had to leave early Sunday morning, and it was already the middle of the afternoon on Saturday.
Unfortunately, Jax had to be at work to set up for a karaoke night, so she wouldn’t get to enjoy much of the last day with my sister.
“What do you want to do before we head to the cafe to get our karaoke on?” Olivia asked.
I hadn’t really thought about that. The last week had been so busy between getting my work done and entertaining Olivia, that I hadn’t had a chance to think ahead to today. “No idea. You’re the guest. Anything you want to do?”
The way Olivia’s eyes lit up told me I probably wasn’t going to like whatever she had in mind. “Are there any tattoo parlors around here that take walk-ins? Matching tattoos sound like great sister bonding.” She smirked at me. “What do you say?”
“I think I need at least a month’s warning before getting another tattoo.”
“Aw, come on. You already have one. There’s no need to overthink them anymore.”
That was such a typical Olivia response, I couldn’t help but smile.
If there was one person I wanted to get a matching tattoo with, it was definitely her.
Waiting for a month to figure out if I definitely wanted one meant pushing it back for who knows how long.
We were both so busy, we didn’t have that much time together, especially time without kids, significant others, or responsibility.
“You know what? You’re right. Let’s see if we can find somewhere to go. ”
“Really?” Olivia grabbed both of my hands and bounced up and down. “You better not be tricking me, because I’m already really excited.”
“I’m not tricking you. As long as we can find somewhere reliable with immaculate reviews, I’m in.”
After doing some research, we were able to find that. They were able to fit us in at a spot that would give us just enough time to have them done before we had to head to the cafe.
The hard part was going to be figuring out what we should permanently have placed on our bodies, and Olivia and I couldn’t seem to agree on that.
“What are some things we have in common?” I asked as I drove us to the tattoo parlor. It seemed like such a dumb question, but right now, I was totally blanking.
Olivia laughed. “Almost nothing.”
I sighed. “Very true.”
“We’re both triplets,” Olivia said as if she was revealing a secret.
“I’m not getting the word triplet tattooed on my body.”
Olivia snapped her fingers and pointed to me. “That’s it.”
“Were you listening to me at all? I said I’m not doing that.”
“Obviously not. But that gave me an idea. We should each write out the word family with a heart. Mine will be in your handwriting and yours will be in mine. One thing we definitely agree on is how important family is to us.”
My heart tugged at the sentiment. My sister wasn’t normally the warm-fuzzy type so I loved that the idea had come from her. “Yes. That’s perfect.”
“Ew. Please don’t go all gooey on me.”
“I’m not going gooey.” It was a lie. I was totally going gooey.
“Yes, you are. You honestly look like you might cry.”
“I’m not going to cry.” That one wasn’t a lie. At least, I didn’t think so.
“Where should we get it?”
“How about across our wrist?”
“Perfect.”
We were both quiet, but even though my eyes were on the road, I could feel Olivia’s eyes on me. “How are you really doing with this whole trying-to-get-pregnant process? I know having a family has been your dream well before it even made sense to be thinking about those sorts of things.”
I sighed. “I just want it to be over. I want this all to be a distant memory. I want the child, but I’m so over the process.”
Olivia nodded. “That makes sense. So, that’s why you’re taking a break?”
“I guess. It was Jax’s idea. I hate the thought of putting it off even more, but I know she’s right.
I need to relax a little. I don’t know. I love Jax and she’s so supportive, but she’s also one of those what’s-meant-to-be-will-find-a-way types, and that is so not me.
I want to know exactly what that way is. ”
Olivia laughed. “Yes, overly positive Jax. Infuriating, right?”
I laughed with her, because she wasn’t wrong. I loved that my sister understood not just me, but also my wife, so well. “Yes. Even if it is also one of the things I love most about her.”
Olivia sighed. “Me too, which also kind of infuriates me.” She reached across the middle console of the car and squeezed my arm.
“Take it from someone who enjoys being negative and looking at the dark side, it will happen. I know it will. Whoever the Goddess is that looks over all of us would be stupid to pass on you and Jax as parents. You two are going to be the best moms ever.”
I smiled at my sister. “Thank you. That really means a lot.”
Our conversation was cut off by our arrival at the tattoo parlor.
After each writing out the word family with a heart, the tattoo artist resized them to fit correctly on our wrist, then traced over it on mine first. It was Olivia’s request that I go first, because she didn’t actually believe I would follow through with it.
When the needle hit my skin, there was no turning back.
It definitely hurt more this time than it did when I got the tattoo on my forearm, but luckily, this one didn’t take nearly as long to complete.
Olivia joked around the whole time she had hers done as if she somehow couldn’t feel a thing.
When they were both done, before he wrapped them, we took a picture of our wrists next to each other.
Olivia insisted it would be funnier to send it right to our family group chat with no explanation rather than sending it to our significant others separately first.
Olivia: *Picture attached*
Mama: Is this just an idea or is that the two of you?
Olivia: You seriously don’t recognize the wrists of your own children?!
Mom: Be nice to your mama, young lady!
Mom: Also, I love those so much. Is that each of your handwriting?
Carter: Yes. My handwriting for Olivia’s and her handwriting for mine.
Quinton Byrd: Love it! Such great sister bonding.
Olivia: Glad you like it, babe! Also, stop being so cheesy.
Mama: He’s right. It’s such a nice sister bonding activity. I might cry. It makes me so happy that that’s what you two would choose.
Olivia: Believe it or not, it was my idea.
Mom: I don’t believe it.
Carter: LOL. It actually was.
Ronan: Wow. Way to leave your brother out of it. #forgottentriplet
Carter: Sorry!
Olivia: You’re a thirty-five-year-old man. Stop using hashtags in your texts. It makes you look like a middle-aged dad trying to be cool.
Ronan: #FuckYou
Mama: Could we please have a nice normal chat for once?
Mallory: Ronan, maybe if you were nicer, they would include you in things like this.
Mallory: love the tattoos, Carter and Olivia! ??
Ronan: Really? Everyone is going to gang up on me now?
Jax: OMG! Just picked up my phone and saw so many missed texts. Those tattoos are amazing!!! I’m so proud of you for getting another one, babe!!!
Olivia: Thanks, darling ??
Jax: ????
Jax: Can’t wait to see them in person! When are you getting here?
Carter: We’re heading that way as soon as we leave here, so about fifteen to twenty minutes.
Jax: See you both soon! Gotta put my phone away again.
I put my phone away as well, because I knew if we kept going in this chat, we would never leave the tattoo parlor. We had the tattoos wrapped, then paid and headed out to meet Jax.
I was feeling much more relaxed on this drive than I did on the drive there. I was no longer letting myself worry about the future. At least for now, I was just going to focus on tonight.
It was easy to forget everything when I was at the cafe’s karaoke night with some of my favorite people.
Jax and Tim were both working, but that didn’t stop either of them from getting up on the small stage to sing karaoke.
When I turned my sister down for a duet, she was able to convince Bryer to do it instead.
It was quite a treat getting to watch the buff, gay football player sing a love song with my sister.
He actually wasn’t half bad. He was definitely better than Olivia.
When it was getting near the end of the night, all four of them surrounded the table I was sitting at, a look of determination on each of their faces.
Olivia crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You have to sing. Everyone else did.”
“Yeah, even I did,” Bryer added.
Jax pointed to him. “It’s true. It’s only fair, babe.”
I shook my head. “No. It’s not fair at all. I have a worse voice and far more anxiety than any of you.”
Olivia pointed toward the stage. “You once got up there and confessed your feelings to your now wife. If you can do that in front of a bunch of people, you can definitely sing, no matter how bad it is.”
Tim dramatically twisted his head around to look between me, Jax, and Olivia. “Wait. Did that actually happen?”
“It did, and it was adorable.” Olivia patted my back. “But that might have all been for nothing if Jax divorces her for ruining her beloved cafe’s karaoke night.”
Jax shook her head. “That’s not going to happen.”
Olivia slapped her stomach causing her to grunt. “Never say never.”
Tim took my hand and swung our arms back and forth together, giving me his best puppy dog eyes and sweet smile. “What if we all sing together?”
“Okay fine. I can do it if you all do it with me.” They clearly weren’t going to back down, so I might as well accept that before they changed their minds.
“But you have to stand up front and center and hold one of the microphones,” Olivia lectured. “I know you’ll try to slink away to the background, and none of us are allowing that.”
For a group of people with such big personalities, they unfortunately stuck to their word and made me be the highlight of our quintet. With all of them around me, it wasn’t so bad though.