Epilogue
CALLIE
TWO AND A HALF YEARS LATER
“ C ome on, Callie, get those knees higher!” Kodi barks.
“Sir, yes, sir!”
Damn, I love cornhole season. The Eagle View field is turning green again, the weather’s getting warmer, and nothing makes me feel more alive than the smell of a freshly waxed cornhole board.
This town has definitely had an effect on me.
Kodi blows her whistle. “All right, good hustle, everyone! Take fifteen!”
I high five her on my way to the bleachers, where Lex and Hazel are sitting.
Or doting, more accurately.
“How’s she doing?” I ask.
“She’s just the happiest baby ever on her big sister’s lap,” Lex coos. “Aren’t you? Aren’t you, beautiful girl?”
Clio offers Lex a big, drooly grin that shows off the tooth that finally poked through. Her tiny hands, which are also covered in drool, go up to her sister’s mouth, and she erupts into laughter when Lex pretends to eat them.
No one can make that baby laugh like Lex can.
Hazel reaches into the diaper bag and grabs a burp cloth to help mop up some of the dribble, but I’ve learned that’s a fool’s errand. Until teething is done, we all have to accept that we will be perpetually soaked in baby spit, and that’s okay.
“Dad’s on his way,” Lex reports. “He said he wanted to run home to walk the ferrets.”
“Okay. What’s your homework situation like?”
“We’re pretty much done for the year,” she shrugs. “Just cleaning out our lockers and getting—oh my god, Mom, are you crying right now?”
“No,” I wipe a tear away from my eye. “ You’re crying!”
Clio squeals in delight at my emotional pain.
“I’m sorry, it’s just that my baby is going to be in high school next year. I can’t believe it.” I lean over and hug both my daughters.
Lex chuckles. “I’m not even moving to a different building.”
“It doesn’t matter. You need to stop growing. Have you tried smoking? I heard that stunts your growth.”
“Mom!”
“Okay, fine, but at least put a rhinestone on your face once in a while. For my sake.” Thanks to YouTube, her makeup looks better than mine. She traded in the gems and glitter for mascara and highlighter, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still see the little girl with a face full of freckles and a tackle box full of sparkles when I look at her.
“Uh-oh,” Finn approaches us, with Fettuccini and Nelly Fur-tado leading the way. They have custom-made harnesses courtesy of Ro. And Liam, who’s taken a shine to leather-working, made their leashes. Spoiled little weasels. “Why is Mom crying again? What happened?”
“End of year blues,” Lex answers.
“She try to get you to start smoking yet?”
“I just gently suggested it!” I sniffle.
He pulls me to his side and kisses my head. “It’s all right, my love. No one’s going anywhere.”
I squeeze him tightly.
“Hey,” he rubs his hand up and down over my arm. “I was going to wait until dinner to surprise you, but I think you could use a boost now.”
“I do like surprises…”
“I know you do. Which is why I just booked us all tickets to New York for your birthday.”
A collective gasp flies out of me, Lex, and Hazel.
“Dad, no way!”
“Finn, are you serious?”
“Well, we haven’t seen your side of the family since they came here for the wedding. I thought it would be fun for us to go to them. Plus it’s New York City. I mean, we have to see New York City.”
I grab his face and kiss the daylights out of him. “Thank you so much,” I whisper. Then I kiss him again, because my lips just demand it.
Lex gags a little. “Can you guys please stop making out in front of me?”
I keep Finn’s face in my hands while I look over my shoulder to her. “I’ll stop when you start smoking.”
“Nope,” Finn shakes his head. “Nope, neither of those things are happening.”
Kodi’s whistle rings out as a warning that practice resumes in five minutes. I rub my eyes again and reach down to grab my baby carrier.
“I see you put her in the onesie Mrs. W got her,” I observe. It’s all gray with a white outlined drawing of a pigeon and the words, Stay Coo .
“She spit up all over the Baby Bird one,” Hazel notes.
Well,l thanks for taking good care of her, as always, girls. But now it’s time for her to get to work.” With expert precision, Finn hands the ferret leashes to Hazel while I buckle the baby carrier around my waist.. Then Lex gives Clio to me so I can face her forward, pull the front flap over her chest, and slide the straps over my shoulders. Finally, Finn buckles it up for me and tightens it from the back, while Lex reaches into the diaper bag for Clio’s hat.
It’s a tiny turquoise baseball cap embroidered with the team logo. She has four of them.
“All right, you sunscreened her up?” I look at Lex.
“Affirmative.”
“Baby bean bag,” I hold out my hand.
Lex slaps it into my palm. “Check.”
“Backup baby bean bag,” I hold out my other hand.
“Check.”
“We’re ready.”
Finn sits on the bleachers. “Go get ‘em, killer.”
Do I run the rest of the drills with a baby tied to my front? Yes.
Do my teammates cheer wildly every time Clio drops a bean bag in the vicinity of the cornhole board? Obviously.
Do I ever wonder what would have happened if I’d decided to leave and continue traveling the world alone?
Not even for a second.
Home is where the bird puns are.