Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
EVAN
SEPTEMBER
My phone beeps, startling me out of a sound sleep.
Turning my head, I’m surprised to find Cooper’s side of the bed empty, and even more surprised when I check my phone and see it’s almost seven.
Even with Emmy, early morning is still my favorite time to get up and write, but I got a burst of inspiration last night and wrote from the time Emmy went to sleep until well after midnight when I crashed hard.
I listen for a second, but the apartment is silent.
Wondering where Cooper is, but too comfortable in bed to get up and go find him, I grab my phone, rolling onto my back to read the message.
Jo
Okay ladies, it’s officially the one-week countdown until Evan starts her big and very important new lawyer job, so we have very important things to do.
Me
We do?
Hannah
Bet your ass we do.
Amelia
As your best friends, it’s our official job to end your maternity leave and send you back into the workforce in style.
Best friends.
My chest squeezes at the words. I’ve never really been the kind of person to have best friends, but then I found this family, and these three women grabbed on tight and decided I was going to be theirs.
The four of us have gotten really close over the four months that I’ve been on maternity leave with Emmy.
Along with Cooper’s brothers, they’ve all been here almost every day since Emmy was born, bringing meals and groceries and presents, hanging with her and letting me and Cooper take naps, changing diapers, doing laundry, and taking care of a million other things I didn’t even realize we needed help with.
The girls, along with Cece and Pam, let me cry on their shoulders when I doubted whether I have what it takes to be a mom, listened with support and absolutely no judgment when I talked about the things that scare me, and walked with me on endless loops around the neighborhood when being inside for too long made me anxious.
It helps that we all live in the same house, but I suspect that even if we didn’t, they would’ve been here anyway. Babies are fucking hard, but having them all around us made it easier. Emmy is mine and Cooper’s, but she’s theirs too.
Me
Does ending it in style involve shopping for work clothes? Because I can’t get a single one of my skirts over my ass. I’m giving them all away and starting from scratch.
Amelia
Your ass is amazing.
Jo
I would literally maim another human if it meant I could have an ass like yours. Like, who has a baby and ends up with an even better ass than she started with?
Me
Thanks, pals, I just have no clue how to dress this body. Everything is in a different place and it’s fucking weird.
Hannah
Well, we’re here to help. We’re going to need you up on bitch mountain at ten this morning. Don’t be late. The guys will all be at your place to hang with Cooper and Emmy.
Bitch mountain is our name for the empty fourth floor apartment in the brownstone where Noah lived before he moved in with Hannah on the top floor.
With Cece’s blessing, the four of us took it over and turned it into a little space of our own with places for all of us to work, a massive TV and comfortable couch for girls’ nights, and a kitchen stocked with snacks.
Jo once called the brownstone a frat house but better because there are clean sheets, headboards, and full sets of dishes.
She’s not wrong, but I just like to call it home.
The best one I’ve ever had.
My favorite place, with all my favorite people in the world.
Me
What are we doing up there?
Amelia
Would you hate it if we told you it was a surprise?
Me
As a matter of fact, I would.
Jo
I’ll never understand why you don’t like surprises. They’re the literal best.
Me
Once upon a time I got pregnant by accident. That was a big enough surprise to last a lifetime.
Hannah
Fair, but you ended up with the best, most gorgeous baby ever to live, so it was worth it.
Amelia
Not to mention the man who looks at you like you literally hung the actual moon.
I smile, because, yeah, Cooper does look at me like that.
Me
You’re one to talk. I’m pretty sure Elliot doesn’t even remember that other people exist in the world when you’re anywhere near him.
Amelia
Yeah, he’s pretty obsessed with me.
Hannah
We’re the lucky ones, ladies.
Jo
Fuck yeah, we are.
Me
So, what’s happening at ten?
Amelia
We’re going shopping.
Me
We’re going shopping upstairs?
Jo
You bet. That friend of Cece’s is bringing over a ton of stuff from her store in a bunch of sizes.
You can try everything on here and decide what you want to keep.
She’ll take whatever doesn’t work back. An entire new wardrobe for your brand new job, and you don’t even have to leave the brownstone to do it.
Hannah
It has to be hard not to recognize your body anymore, especially when it’s time to try to dress it. We thought it might be easier for you to do it here, with people who love you, instead of in a public dressing room.
Me
Bless you, honestly. The idea of a dressing room makes me die inside a little.
Amelia
The idea of a dressing room makes me die inside too, and I didn’t just have a baby.
Hannah
Stick with us, Evan. We’ve got you.
Me
I’ll order donuts.
Jo
Yes, oh my god, we definitely need donuts. With rainbow sprinkles.
Hannah
I’ll have Noah make lattes. Rob dropped off pumpkin spice syrup last week since we are all basic bitches.
Jo
It’s fall, y’all.
Me
I’m pretty sure I’m not “it’s fall, y’all” basic.
Amelia
I mean…aren’t you?
Me
Fuck, fine. Yes.
Jo
Gotta run. Jordan just got home from his night shift and he’s all sexy and disheveled, so I need to climb him like a tree, asap.
Hannah
What did we say about oversharing, Jo Jo?
Jo
That I always do it and you should stop expecting me not to?
Amelia
Well, if we’re oversharing, El just pulled up the fic Evan posted last night and started reading it, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be occupied for the next hour or so.
Hannah
Oh my god, you posted it? Brb gotta go text Noah and tell him he better not read it until he gets home from the hospital.
Jo
Okay, well, I love this for all of us.
Ten a.m. Bitch mountain. Donuts and coffee. Don’t be late.
As I set my phone back down on the nightstand, I hear Cooper’s footsteps and the creak of Emmy’s door, and then his deep, rumbly voice filters in through the closed bedroom door.
“Hey, Emmy Girl.”
I grin at her soft screech, imagining her lifting her head up and giving him her drooly smile through the bars on the crib and his answering grin.
“I know, I’m happy to see you, too,” Cooper says, smile in his voice, and I hear the shuffle of him picking up Emmy from her crib.
“Let’s be quiet, okay? Your mom was up late last night writing, and we want her to get some sleep.
She finished another story, and between you and me, I think it’s her best one yet.
You’ll have to take my word for it, though, because you’re banned from reading anything she writes until you’re at least eighteen. ”
I chuckle into the pillow, reminding myself to tell Cooper the story of how I stole my first spicy romance novel from my live-in nanny’s shelf when I was twelve and never looked back.
He’ll be appropriately horrified imagining Emmy doing the same, and that will be delightful for me.
My chuckle fades, though, my heart flipping when Cooper continues talking softly to Emmy, and I imagine her staring up at him, big blue eyes wide, while he takes off her swaddle and changes her diaper.
“You have the best mom in the world. She’s so smart and talented and an absolute certified badass.
I know maybe I’m not supposed to say that word around you, but I don’t care because that’s exactly what she is.
She’s the most amazing person I’ve ever known, and we are the luckiest because we get to be loved by her.
No one loves as hard as your mom does, and she picked us.
” There’s a pause, and I hear a tiny giggle and Cooper’s answering chuckle.
“Okay, all clean Emmy girl. Let’s get you a bottle and have ourselves a little couch snuggle. ”
Cooper’s voice trails off as he pads down the hall, and suddenly, they are both way too far away.
Tossing back the covers, I go to the bathroom to brush my teeth and pull my hair into a ponytail, tugging on my unladylike sweatshirt and shoving my feet into my pink slippers before heading to the living room.
When I get there, I pause, leaning against the doorframe and taking in the scene that has my heart rolling over in my chest and a wave of love washing over me.
Cooper is sitting on the couch wearing plaid pajama pants, his glasses, and no shirt.
Emmy is tucked into the crook of his arm, staring up at him while he gives her a bottle.
His dark hair is sleep rumpled, his jaw lightly shadowed in the dim morning light, and the way he’s looking at our girl has my heart leaping into my throat.
I must make some sort of sound because he looks over, his face lighting up when he sees me.
“Room for one more?” I ask with a smile.
“Literally always. Get the fuck over here and kiss me, Rhodes. I need those lips on mine.”
Walking over, I take a seat on the couch, tucking myself under the arm Cooper lifts up and wraps around me, tipping my face up to kiss him.
“You taste good,” he murmurs against my lips, diving in to kiss me deeper. “Mine. You taste like mine.” When he eases back and readjusts Emmy in his arm, I grab a blanket off the back of the couch and spread it over us both, then lay my head on his shoulder.
“I like it when you’re possessive in the morning,” I say with a smile, my fingers drifting over his chest.
“I’m always possessive over you.” He bends and kisses the top of my head. “I thought you would sleep longer. You were up late last night.”