Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Snows out, hoe out.
— Coffee Cup
MERRIAM
“ You should be,” I said.
“ Sometimes it’s hard to be around these two.” He jerked his chin backward, then forward toward Jeremiah . “ They’re so fucking athletic. And I’m not. I try to keep myself in shape for them, but I’m just way better with a hammer than working out.”
“ You don’t have time to do much more than what you’re already doing.” Jeremiah snorted. “ If you wanted to work out more, you couldn’t, because you work too much.”
Chris grinned. “ He’s right. I just got the business off the ground. I’m neck deep in the downtown restoration for Hooker , and sometimes barely tread water.”
“ He’s fantastic.” Neesha swept back into the room with leggings, socks over her leggings, and a massive sweatshirt that must belong to her husband, billowing over her tiny frame.
“ I’ll bet.” I gestured to the room around us. “ If this place is anything to go by.”
Chris blushed, which was adorably cute.
“ I’ll go change, too,” he said. “ I’ll bring some beer back.”
“ No beer for me,” Jeremiah grumbled.
Chris walked away without acknowledging him.
“ He’s totally bringing you a beer,” Neesha added.
“ He just refuses to adhere to the no beer during the season thing.” Jeremiah sighed and led the way out of the room.
Neesha fell into step beside me and explained. “ Jeremiah tries to do the whole ‘my body is a temple’ thing, but his family refuses to allow him to do that during the holidays. They’ll let him during the regular season, but they totally expect him to unwind with them during Christmas time. Being a professional runner, I completely understand the whole ‘staying in shape’ thing. But Chris doesn’t even let me have a pass. This family bonds with food and drink. And they won’t let you get out of it.”
“ Not even when you’re sick,” Jeremiah mumbled. “ I …”
He trailed off when he came into the main part of his apartment.
I looked to where he was heading and saw my girl awake.
She was staring around, not crying—because my daughter didn’t cry—and had the saddest look on her face.
My heart pinched.
“ She’s beautiful,” Neesha whispered as she watched Jeremiah head over to my daughter. “ I love her curly hair.”
I did, too.
It was the one thing that she’d gotten from me.
The rest was all her father.
“ The only thing that she inherited from me,” I admitted.
“ Her father was fair?” she asked.
“ Yes ,” I admitted. “ Blonde hair, blue eyes.”
“ She’s gorgeous,” she said. “ But she has your eyes and your nose.”
“ Maybe ,” I agreed as I studied her. “ I kind of expected her to take more after me since I’m half Native American , but nope. She came out with blonde hair and those blue eyes, and she’s never changed.”
“ I’ve been wondering what this one will look like,” she said as she patted her belly. “ I’m half Black . I got my hair from my mom—who is White . My skin tone is a beautiful mix between the two. But my siblings all look like my dad. They like to tease me that I was adopted.”
“ Genetics are definitely crazy,” I said. “ My mom was Native American and my dad is Scottish . Then throw in the touch of Italian . I’m a real mixture.”
“ Wow ,” she said, rubbing circles on her belly. “ Man , I’m so excited. I have a few more weeks left until she’s done cooking.”
“ You have a few more months,” Chris corrected. He had a gleam in his eyes as he added the next part. “ And that’s if you don’t go overdue.”
“ Don’t wish that voodoo on me.” She pointed her finger at him. “ I’m hoping she decides in two weeks that she’s ready to come meet me.”
Jeremiah came over with my daughter in his arms.
I held mine out to her, and she shook her head.
“ I think she’s ready for more meds,” I said. “ It’s about the time for her to get more ibuprofen.”
“ I’ll get it,” unperturbed that she’d chosen to stay with Jeremiah .
To be honest, I would’ve chosen to stay, too.
I came back with the meds and gave them to her.
Chris gasped. “ What was that sorcery?”
“ What ?” I asked.
“ You just gave her those, and there was no exorcist experience.” He gasped theatrically. “ Our nieces are fucking lunatics when you have to give them meds.”
I shrugged. “ I don’t know. I mean, she’s taken them well since she was a baby. I don’t really have a secret. Just that she’s always done it.”
“ I’m flabbergasted,” Jeremiah agreed. “ The last time I had to give Cammie some Tylenol , she screamed so loud that everyone in Target thought I was murdering her. I even had some really protective lady come up threatening to hurt me if I didn’t stop.”
“ That was hilarious.” Neesha snickered. “ We were all there, actually. We were at one of Jeremiah’s away games, and all decided to go out to eat after. Then Cammie started to run a high fever, so we went next door to Target . This sweet old lady saw Jeremiah —who is usually the only one that can consistently get them to take their medicine without too much of a fit—trying to give her that medication and nearly whacked him with a spatula from an end cap.”
I giggled as I walked to the sink and washed the syringe out.
Man , did he have a nice sink.
It was all white—more farmhouse chic—but fit the space really well despite the entire apartment being decorated in more of an industrial look.
Even his faucet was amazing.
And the water pressure!
“ I’ve never seen a sink have this much water pressure,” I muttered more to myself.
“ You can thank my wife for that.” Chris heard my comment and added, “ She takes a lot of showers because they make her happy. I needed to be able to make sure that she could take one, I could take one, and we could run a load of laundry if needed. So we bought some water heaters that are meant for hotels.”
“ Wow .” I smiled. “ Well , I approve. It’s nice to be able to wash the medicine off without having to use the sprayer attachment.”
“ Agreed ,” Neesha said. “ Let’s go sit down.”
I dried off my hands with the towel that hung to the right of the window that overlooked downtown and paused.
The snow was really coming down.
Harder than I’d ever seen it before.
The snow was at least eight inches thick now, because I couldn’t make out any curbs on the side of the road.
It was all just flat.
And so beautiful.
I had to force myself to look away, and when I turned and found the three adults and my child on the couch, my eyes were automatically taking them all in.
All of them were gorgeous.
Of course, my child was gorgeous. Her father had been, too.
But Jeremiah and Chris .
Wow .
Chris and Neesha pairing up to make a child…that child was going to be stunning.
There was one thing that didn’t fit in this group of beautiful people, and it was definitely me.
“ Come sit down,” Jeremiah said, patting the couch.
I did, trying to remain as far from him as possible as I did.
That proved to be impossible when Anleigh held out her tiny little hand for me to hold hers.
I had to scooch closer to do that, which put my thigh pressing against his.
“ Mama ,” she whispered.
I leaned closer, putting me very close to both Anleigh and Jeremiah .
Anleigh’s head was resting on Jeremiah’s opposite shoulder, but she was looking at me across the wide expanse of his chest from underneath his chin.
I could practically feel the warm air leaving his body.
“ Love you.”
I smiled, my heart melting like it always did. “ I love you, too, my baby.”
She closed her eyes again, and I saw the contentment there.
I’d probably be just as content on his chest as well.
“ Y’all look like you were made for each other,” Neesha said quietly.
I looked back to find her smiling softly.
“ Funny , but if I didn’t know any better on the timeline in which you met, I’d say that y’all have been together forever,” Chris offered.
I smiled, but something inside of me agreed.
It felt like I’d known him forever.
I agreed with Jeremiah’s earlier thoughts.
Something inside of me told me to come here today. Something inside of me had rejoiced at meeting him at the hockey arena. While eating wings with him, I felt like a piece of my soul had finally slipped into place. Something I hadn’t been aware I’d been missing until I’d gotten to talk to him.
Everything about Jeremiah just felt right.
And it shouldn’t.
It didn’t make sense that we’d known each other for such a short amount of time, yet it felt like forever.
I also had this weird sense of déjà vu over the next hour as we talked with his brother and sister-in-law.
Almost like I could guess the direction of his thoughts, or what he was going to say next.
I instinctively knew his likes and dislikes, too.
“ Ginger made a new recipe this year,” Neesha said, getting an inside joke about their family that went over my head.
“ Oh , boy,” Chris said as he glanced down at his phone, reading the same text message that they’d all gotten.
I smiled as Jeremiah sighed and said, “ Sweet potato casserole.”
“ You don’t like sweet potatoes,” I said before I had time to think.
Jeremiah nodded. “ They’re the worst.”
“ How’d you know he didn’t like them?” Neesha frowned.
I opened my mouth, then closed it.
How did I know?
“ I don’t know,” I admitted. “ I just knew.”
“ Interesting .” Neesha smiled. “ I can’t wait for you to meet Ginger and Noel .”
“ Do you all have Christmas names?” I looked at Jeremiah . “ Is Jeremiah Christmas ?”
“ No ,” Chris said. “ Jeremiah’s isn’t Christmas . I gave him so much shit about it that he started being a real dick to me. That’s why everyone calls him Dix now.”
I grinned. “ Your whole family calls you Dix ?”
“ Yes ,” he grumbled. “ And there’s no amount of beatings that make it stop.”
I flashed him a saucy grin and said, “ I’ll stick with Kermit then.”
“ Kermit ?” Chris asked with raised brows.
“ The song Jeremiah was a Bullfrog , then changed to frog in my head. Then it went to Kermit .” I shrugged. “ I have a weird way of remembering things. That’s why I still know the periodic table as well as I do because I’d correlated each symbol with a saying.”
“ Interesting ,” Chris and Neesha said at the same time.
For the next couple of hours, we talked and laughed as I learned about the man that I’d be moving in with— I still couldn’t believe that I was doing it.
Yet , again, something in my heart told me that this was the route for me.
This was my exit.
I needed that exit, too.
And Jeremiah was holding the key.
“ If it’s still snowing tomorrow,” Neesha said as she got up, stretching her arms up high over her body. “ Kyle’s going to drive everyone here in his truck.”
Kyle was a worker for the city and had access to the city’s one and only snowplow.
“ That works,” Chris said. “ It would be nice not to have to go to Noel’s place for once.”
“ Ugh ,” Neesha said. “ You’re right. But then everyone’s coming over here and we’ll have to clean up after.” She paused. “ I guess I’d have to clean up regardless, so maybe coming over here is more convenient. And I could sit down in my favorite chair when I’m done.”
“ I’ll help,” I said as they walked back toward the hidden door from earlier. “ Any way that I can.”
Neesha looked at me. “ Do you know how to make pumpkin pie?”
I blinked. “ Yeah .”
“ Score .” She smiled. “ I’ve been craving some like crazy, and no one else likes it enough to ever make it.”
“ I love it.” I looked over at Anleigh that was still in Jeremiah’s arms. “ And Anleigh adores it. If you allow it, she’ll eat the entire thing.”
Neesha fist pumped the air. “ Woo !”
Ten minutes later, I was stepping into the shower with Anleigh , who was too weak to do much more than be held.
Fifteen minutes after that, I was laying her down in the guest bedroom, sound asleep.
I stared at her for long moments before the voice at my back said, “ Are you going to stay in here with her?”
I backed away. “ No .”
And I wouldn’t.
Anleigh liked her space.
We’d tried the co-sleeping thing once, but she got irrationally irritated when I touched her in the middle of the night accidentally.
Or , I might add, she crept onto my side and touched me.
“ I can put some sheets on the other guest beds,” he offered. “ Or you could stay in bed with me.”
My heart started to pound, and I turned around.