Chapter 21
Chapter twenty-one
You don’t just invite a woman to brunch
Reid
“Don’t even think about clawing the couch!” I point my spatula at Gremlin like she knows what the fuck that means.
She blinks at me, tail twitching once in defiance. Sun slants through the glass and turns her gray fur to velvet, making her look like some spoiled housecat who hasn’t spent the last three years trying to kill every human who’s ever walked into this house.
I glance at the clock again.
“She said she’s coming,” I say out loud, mostly to myself. Maybe a little to Gremlin. “You don’t need to look so skeptical.”
I’m not nervous, not really.
Okay, fine. I’m circling the kitchen island in a pair of sweats and socks, flipping bacon while checking the time every eight seconds and arguing with my cat as though she’s going to offer insight into whether Carina is going to ghost me.
She won’t, I know that, because she was the one who decided to come. She was the one who leaned into me in the dark after the scan on Friday, her voice hoarse from the way I’d made her come apart in my bed three more times.
Her hand had trailed lazy circles across my ribs while I played with her hair, then she looked up at me and murmured, “I think I wanna come to your Sunday brunch thing.”
And then she fell asleep on my chest.
I can’t stop thinking about the scan. The shape of her hand gripping mine. The sound. That first hard thud of our kid’s heartbeat echoing through a dim, sterile room while she blinked too fast, and I couldn’t breathe.
It’s been two days, and I still can’t shake it.
The front door opens with a bang.
“Brunch bitchesssss,” Zoe calls out as she walks in. “Hope you’ve kept the cat away from the mimosas, Hutchy!”
“And also, keep her away from me,” adds Chase, grinning as he opens my fridge. “Got any juice?”
“Noah’s got some juice boxes,” Jake mutters as he appears next, herding in the chaos.
My kitchen explodes in a matter of seconds, with Theo at the forefront, making a beeline for me like a heat-seeking missile.
“Hut!” he yells. “Up!”
I reach for him automatically, his hands sticky with something I don’t want to identify. He grabs my face in both palms and presses a kiss to my cheek before turning and spotting Gremlin. “Cat!”
“Uh-oh,” Charlie says, already lunging for him as he wriggles down off me and toddles forward. “Theo, gentle—no, sweetie, you can’t poke her eyes—”
Too late. Gremlin suffers his affections for exactly three seconds, then bolts out of reach with a furious hiss, and Theo claps with a chuckle, clearly a personal highlight of his morning.
“Meadow,” Charlie calls, “do not follow the cat out to the garden!”
“But I made her a present—we have matching tutus!” Meadow marches out the door anyway, ignoring her mom. I spot Gremlin already high in a tree, away from whatever royal role-play Meadow has planned.
Jake meets my eyes. “Girls, they… they do what they want.”
“What?”
“I used to think raising sons would be harder,” he admits quietly, glancing over at Noah, who’s already set himself up on my couch with a Gameboy. “I was wrong.”
Charlie grins at Jake, her hand running over his shoulder. “You’re doing great, sweetie.”
He sighs. “That’s what people say right before their daughters overthrow the household.” Then he shrugs, a smile tugging at his mouth as he watches Meadow. “Figure that’s how it should be, though. Prepare them to overthrow the world next.”
“Amen.” Zoe raises her mimosa glass.
I watch Meadow twirl in the grass outside, already deep in her own world, and something tight pulls in my chest.
I wonder if we’ll have a boy or a girl?
Eli and Tamara trail in next, holding actual coffee like civilized people. Tamara raises a brow as Logan and Lulu slip through the door behind them, already mid-whisper and laughing about something that probably shouldn’t be said in front of children.
Eli clocks it immediately, his eye twitching.
“They’re going to get married and do that forever,” Tamara says lightly, taking a sip of her drink. “You’re just going to have to cope.”
“I am coping,” Eli mutters, glaring at Logan’s hand on his sister’s lower back. “This is me coping.”
Ten minutes later, Zoe and Chase have come to a standstill in my living room, because she can’t decide whether her outfit is “fuckable brunch” or “funeral brunch.”
Chase’s hands are on Zoe’s hips, thumbs hooked like he’s physically incapable of letting her drift more than six inches away. He looks her up and down with open reverence, then sighs dramatically.
“Babe,” he murmurs against her ear. “I’d worship you in a garbage bag.”
“You are disgusting,” she mutters.
“I am obsessed.”
She rolls her eyes, but her hand slides into his shirt anyway, fingers curling between the buttons. Chase dips to kiss her temple, softer than what you’d expect. Their teasing is just foreplay to their love; we all know that.
Everyone starts sprawling across the living areas and kitchen, helping themselves to food. Pancakes and bacon are flying as they’re plated up. Someone has taken over my espresso machine. I’ve hidden the good honey.
And Carina’s not here yet.
Lulu nudges me as she passes. “You okay? You look like you’ve got gas.”
“Thanks.”
“Gas and anxiety,” she adds, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “Your vibes are all weird today.”
Logan nods in agreement, his mouth half full of food. “His vibe is always weird.”
“He’s a Taurus, that’s why.”
Tamara’s rummaging in my fridge, and Jake is making Meadow a chocolate milk with way too much syrup.
Charlie is feeding Theo off her plate like a baby bird, and Eli is still trying to make Logan sit at the opposite end of the table to Lulu.
Gremlin is back inside, perched high on the windowsill, her yellow eyes judging everyone.
I clear my throat, trying to draw their attention, but no one hears me.
I try again, louder. “Hey.”
Still no dice. It’s chaos. Absolute fucking chaos. And if I want them to listen to me, I’ll need to do something ridiculous to get their attention.
So I walk into the middle of the dining room with a wooden spoon and a saucepan.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
Everyone freezes, even Gremlin stops licking her paw.
Logan squints at me. “Are you… asserting dominance?”
“I knew this day would come,” Zoe chuckles. “He’s finally snapped.”
Charlie clutches Theo dramatically. “Reid, if this is an intervention, I already recycle.”
Chase lifts his phone. “Do we need to film this?”
“I don’t like surprises,” Eli mutters, folding his arms.
Gremlin’s tail flicks once with sharp disapproval, like she also didn’t sign up for whatever this is.
“I’ve invited someone here,” I say. “Today.”
There’s a dead silence as every set of eyes homes in on me.
Jake raises a brow. “You mean, like… another person?”
“I didn’t think that was allowed,” Lulu whispers.
“You’re just now telling us this?” Zoe grins. “Did you lose a bet or something?”
“If it’s Viktor,” Logan adds, “it doesn’t count.”
“No.” I clear my throat. “She’s… uhhh—”
Charlie gasps so hard it sounds like she’s been stabbed.
“She?” Chase repeats, his mouth morphing into a grin. “As in… a woman?”
“There’s a she coming?” Zoe asks.
“To this brunch?” Lulu practically squeals.
“That you invited?” Charlie’s eyes are saucer-wide.
Tamara’s eyes narrow, unsure whether this is a joke. “Who is this she?”
“She’s…” I struggle for a label that suits, already regretting everything. “A friend.”
She’s my entire world.
Jake leans back, arms crossed. “Define friend.”
“A… a good friend.”
“Like a friend you fuck?” Chase wiggles his brows.
“Or a friend you want to fuck?” Logan shoots me a wink, and Lulu elbows him in the ribs.
A friend I think I want to spend the rest of my fucking life with.
“I don’t know!” I run a hand through my hair. “Just… Don’t scare her off, okay? Everyone needs to be cool.”
Everyone is absolutely not going to be cool.
“Wait, do we know her?” Zoe demands, laser-focused. “Because we’ve seen you talk to exactly three women in the past five years.”
“And one of them was Betty,” Logan adds, mentioning Lulu’s old eccentric neighbor. “Who’s seventy and calls you Daddy Rat.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“Respectfully,” Jake pipes up, “you don’t just invite a woman to brunch unless it’s serious.”
“It’s not—” I scrub a hand over my face. “It’s… new. Ish.”
“Ish?! Okay, now I’m invested in several things, including an identity and a timeline.” Zoe rests her chin in her clasped hands, mimosa forgotten, eyes pinned directly on me.
“Ohhh,” Logan drawls, thinking he’s cracked the code. “Is it that physio? The one Viktor’s into, too?”
Tamara nearly chokes on her coffee. “What? Your physio?”
“She’s very bendy,” Chase offers, like that’s helpful.
Zoe gasps and points at me. “Yes! You’ve been flirting with her during all your rehab sessions, haven’t you?”
“I wasn’t flirting with my physio,” I snap.
“Oh my god, it is her!” Lulu shrieks. “You’re all grumpy about it, which means you like her, you big slut!”
“It’s not Heidi,” I say firmly, looking around the room.
“Well, who else is there? What about the receptionist at the clinic?” Tamara says. “The one who glares at everyone and moons over Dr. Moreno.”
“Or,” Zoe adds slowly, her eyes pinning me, “it is Moreno.”
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter, pinching the bridge of my nose. I let the silence sit long enough to make them squirm, then exhale. “It’s Carina Park.”
There’s a beat of stunned silence, and I watch as their mouths fall open, eyes darting amongst themselves across the table.
Zoe slaps her hands on the table. “DR. DOOM!”
“You’re fucking Dr. Doom!?” Chase nearly drops the syrup.
“Wait,” Lulu whispers. “She’s real?”
“She’s coming here?” Eli’s voice goes up an octave, which never happens.
“But—I thought she hated you,” Jake says with a frown.
“She did.”
Charlie blinks. “She’s the surgeon who made you take out your piercings, right?”
“Yep.”
“And threatened to let the nurses do it if you didn’t?”
“Also yes.”
“And she’s dating you?”
She’s having my baby.