30. Christopher
I’m rinsing off the dinner plates while Koda gives the girls their bath. My phone rings from the island where I put it when I came in, right next to my keys and wallet. Shaking the water off my hands before grabbing the dishrag, I walk over and see it’s Dylan and he’s FaceTiming me.
I press the green button and wait for his face to fill the screen. “Where are you?”
“Hello to you too.” I ignore his question.
“Yeah, hello,” he snaps. “Now answer my question, where are you?”
“I’m at Koda’s,” I say, and if he’s calling me, I know that things in the family have been chattering. With my family, there is always chatter. Usually it’s just light and did you hear, but if my big brother calls me and asks me where I am, it’s because he heard something. He usually lets Alex deal with all the other little stuff.
“You’re at Koda’s?” He raises his eyebrows. “On a school night?”
“Cut the shit,” I tell him.
“I’m not the one who has to cut the shit.” I can see the humor in his eyes. “I got a very interesting phone call from my darling sister today.” I roll my eyes. “And she was just, you know, asking me how I was, and then imagine my surprise when I find out that you went away for your bye week?”
“I always go away for the bye week.”
“Oh, I know, but you always tell us where you’re going and then send us your stupid thirst trap photos of you running on the beach or in the water looking to the side.”
I throw my head back and howl with laughter. “So you went to Turks?”
“I did.”
“By yourself?”
“No, I went with Koda.”
“Interesting.” I shake my head.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
“You are such a Nosy Nancy,” I point out. “Koda and I are together.” I don’t know why I’m expecting to feel guilty about it, but for the first time, I don’t.
“Explain. How are you together?”
“I’m at her house on a school night,” I say. “My clothes are in her closet. My stuff is half here and half at my house.”
“Does she have stuff at your house?” I tilt my head to the side to think about it.
“No.” I look over my shoulder at the empty hallway. “She doesn’t.”
“You paying for her house?” he asks, and the pit of my stomach gets sour. “Oh my God, are you leeching off your girlfriend?”
“I am not leeching off anyone,” I refute quickly. “The girls are here, and it’s easier.”
“You know if you move them into your house, it’ll be easier.”
“I’ll think about it,” I say just to appease him, and truth be told, I really am going to think about it because there is no way my woman will pay for our house.
“But seriously, you and Koda?” His tone turns serious.
“Yeah, me and Koda,” I confirm, my chest getting full when I think of her, “and the girls.”
“Obviously.” He scoffs. “It’s a package deal, everyone knows that.”
I hear footsteps behind me and look over my shoulder, seeing the woman who has my whole fucking heart. I mean, not the whole time, the girls have it also, but she’s got it in her hand. “Hey, my brother is on the phone giving me a hard time,” I tell her, and her eyes go big in fear, and she stops. “He says I’m leeching off you.”
“You aren’t leeching off me.” She shakes her head, and I motion with my head for her to come to me. She walks over, wringing her hands in front of her, something she does when she’s nervous. “Why don’t we spend time at my house?”
“Um,” she says, “you’ve never really asked me over.”
“Oh. My. God,” Dylan chides. “What a dick.”
I glare at the phone but then turn back to see Koda smiling. “Baby, you want to go to my house, let’s go to my house.”
“I don’t want to go to your house, Christopher.” She ignores my brother’s snickering. “I want to be invited over to your house.”
I shake my head. “Why are you shaking your head?”
“Because I thought you didn’t want to come over to my house.”
She folds her arms over her chest. “How? Have you ever asked me to go to your house, and I said no?” I swallow down. “Even after all that ‘you won’t kiss me in his house,’ never once did you invite me over to your house to kiss me.”
“Alex,” my brother calls his wife, “get over here.”
“I’m letting you go.”
“No,” Dylan says, “I’m invested in this conversation.”
“No, you aren’t. You’re waiting to hear what she says so you can gossip with Michael.”
He doesn’t even try to deny it. “You should be focusing on Koda and not on me. Answer her question.”
“I didn’t really ask him a question,” Koda says softly from beside me. “It was more like a statement.”
“All I heard is you’re a dick and you never invited her over to your home,” Dylan goads, “and you are making her pay for you to live in her house.” He shakes his head. “Dude, I’m never, ever going to let you live that down.”
“Eventually, we’re moving to my house anyway,” I say to Dylan, and I think maybe I should have had this talk with Koda before my brother. “I mean, not now. The girls just moved from their house to this house,” I backpedal, “so I didn’t want to step on toes, but?—”
“Move to your house?” she asks.
“Well, yeah,” I say, “this house has four bedrooms.”
“You sleep in my bed.”
“Oh my God, this guy didn’t even buy the bed,” Dylan groans. “Did we not teach you anything? Koda,” he calls her name and she comes over. “On behalf of the Stone family, I want to apologize for him being this way.” He shakes his head. “Dad is going to kill you.” He turns his eyes on me.
“Can you, like, shut up?” I tell Dylan, who pretends to zip his mouth. “This house has four bedrooms. One of them is your office.”
“Okay?”
“Baby, where are our kids going to go?” I ask. She steps back, and even Dylan hears the gasp out of her mouth because he mimics it.
“Our kids?”
“Well, yeah.” I look at her. “I mean, not now, but like when we have them.”
“Imagine she is pregnant right now and you just said that,” Dylan pushes. “How is she going to feel?”
“She’s not pregnant now,” I tell him, then look over at Koda. “Are you pregnant?”
“Are you insane?” she shrieks in a whisper so as not to wake the girls.
“Yes,” Dylan answers right away, “he is.”
“I’m not pregnant.”
“Yet,” Dylan adds, and I smirk.
“Exactly,” I agree, “and when we have our babies, where are they going to go?”
“You want me to have your babies?” she whispers, pointing at herself.
“Well, our babies,” I correct. “I want you to have our babies.”
“I bet the first one is a boy,” Dylan says and even Koda smiles.
“How many babies do you want?”
“Whatever you do, don’t fucking say eight,” Dylan advises. “Cooper is going to be bald soon with all the kids he has.”
“I don’t want eight kids.” She shakes her head.
“We already have two.”
“You want to have six more?” She gawks at me.
“No, I’m good with two more, maybe three, if it’s two boys and try for a girl and vice versa.”
“That’s how it starts, Koda,” Dylan chimes in. “Don’t fall for that. Erika started with Cooper’s two girls, and now she has a minibus full.”
“Would you shut up?” I tell Dylan.
“Hey, I’m talking to my sister-in-law,” Dylan quips.
“Sister-in-law?” Koda questions, looking at the phone and then to me.
“Well, after you get married,” Dylan says, “but it’s close enough. He’s living with you, mooching off your food. Does he even get groceries?”
“Goodbye,” I say and hang up while he’s laughing.
“We should talk.” I look at her as her face fills with a panicked look.
“I would say,” she agrees, while I walk to her and put my hands on her hips.
“Do you want to have dinner at my house tomorrow?” I smirk, and she pushes me away.
“No.” She turns to walk away from me, but I grab the loop in her jeans, pulling her back to me.
“My brother is right.” I wrap my arms around her waist.
“About what?”
“Me staying here and not paying.” My hand is flat on her stomach. “First thing I need to do is get the girls to decorate their rooms.” She doesn’t say anything. “Then slowly we start leaving things there until it’s all there.”
“B-but,” she stammers.
“You go in tomorrow, and we’ll get rid of anything you don’t like,” I tell her. “Couch, bed, fridge, don’t give a fuck. You don’t like it, it’s out.”
“That’s crazy. I’ve been to your house before.” She turns in my arms. “It’s perfect. A little bachelor but?—”
“You come in and make it a home,” I say. “It’ll be our home.”
“With our kids, apparently,” she jokes.
“With our kids,” I agree. “Also, you should know that after that phone call, my family will be coming down.”
“What?”
“It’s their way of getting to know you and the girls. Making sure we know if we need them, they are there.”
“I’ve been around your family before.” She chuckles. “I just haven’t done it as, you know.”
“The girl I love.” The minute I say that, she almost stomps her foot.
“Dammit, can you let me say it once?”
“No.” I bend to kiss her lips. “I think we do a sleepover at my house this weekend.”
“Okay.” Her voice is soft as I start to walk her over to the couch, my mouth attacking her. “Have to make a list”—she fumbles with my shirt to get it off me—“of the places we have to do it in your hou?—”
“Our house,” I cut her off, “it’s going to be our house. And I can tell you right now, there isn’t a surface in there that won’t be used.” I fall on the couch. “Also, I already have my list.”