I turned and walked toward the pantry to get Luke and Grace a snack. “Because you got granny panties on.”

Ellie stood up and stomped her feet. “I do not!”

I tried like hell to hold my laughter in.

“Fine, you bitch. You want to know what kind of underwear I have on?” She began unbuckling her belt and then her pants.

The next thing I knew, she turned around and pulled down her jeans to expose her very nice pink lace cheekini panties.

She looked back at me and said, “Happy?”

“Nice…very nice, sweets,” I said with a chuckle.

“What in the hell are you two doing?”

I quickly looked up to see Josh and Heather standing there, each holding one of the twins. Heather was trying to hold in her laughter, and Josh was standing there, waiting for his question to be answered.

Ellie jumped and pulled up her pants as she called me every name under the sun.

“Really, Ells! The kids’ innocent ears don’t want to hear your filth,” I said with a wink.

“You are too much, do you know that? You got me to do that.” Ellie pointed to me, and then she turned to Josh and Heather. “She was accusing me of wearing granny panties.”

Josh let out a laugh. “And you wanted to prove to her that she was wrong? Why?” he asked, stressing wrong and why.

Ellie grabbed her Diet Coke and took a quick drink. “It doesn’t matter,” she said as she sat down on the bar stool with a thud.

I couldn’t help it at that point. I lost it and started laughing my ass off. Luke jumped up and started laughing, too.

“Luke, you don’t even know why you’re laughing, bud,” Ellie said with a smile.

“Mommy is laughing!”

Good enough reason for me.

“Well, hell, girls, I’d love to stand here and talk about your granny panties…or lack thereof…but I was supposed to be at Gunner’s place to help with some stuff thirty minutes ago.”

Josh put Will down, and he took off, walking over toward Luke. They both started playing with the cars, and I caught Josh’s smile as he watched them.

He leaned over and kissed Libby and then Heather good-bye. “I don’t think we will be long, baby.”

“Take your time ’cause y’all are watching the kids tonight,” Heather called out over her shoulder.

As soon as Josh shut the door, Heather put Libby down. She also took off walking—a little wobbly but still walking—toward the boys.

“Is Grace walking yet?” Heather asked.

“She took three steps last night and fell on her ass. She must have cried for a solid fifteen minutes. Now, she won’t even attempt it. She’s in her safety net right now,” I said as I pointed to Grace whizzing in her walker past Heather.

Grace saw that Libby was out, and she stopped, looked up at Heather, and put her hands up for Heather to take her out. Heather reached down, took her out, and set her down. Then, Grace started walking up to Libby, and I almost died.

At the same time, Heather, Ellie, and I all screamed, “She’s walking!”

Poor Grace got scared and jumped, causing her to fall again on her bottom.

“Oh shit!” I said as I walked up to her and bent down. “Yay, Grace! You walked like a big girl.” I clapped my hands.

The next thing I knew, Heather and Ellie were right next to me. Grace pushed herself up and took off. This time, she went off at full speed out toward the living room.

I stood up and smiled. Then, my smile faded briefly. “Oh hell…now, I’m going to have two of them loose and crazy.”

“Welcome to my world!” Heather patted me on the back.

“A stripper? Are you crazy?” Heather asked as she placed a bowl full of noodles in front of Will.

Ellie pointed at me and said, “See, I’m not the only one.”

“I thought Jessie said no strippers, no way. Why are you planning on having one, Ari, if she doesn’t want one?” Heather asked as she placed Libby into the portable high chair she had brought.

I let out a sigh. “Okay, listen, you prudes…just trust me, will you? Now, what time are we going to head into Austin?”

Heather shook her head. “Ari, if Josh finds out there’s a stripper…well, hell, never mind Josh. When Jessie finds out, she’s gonna freak!”

“Agreed,” Ellie said before taking a bite of noodles.

“Bitches, just stop with your whining, my god. After all, we’re almost twenty-two. It’s not like we can’t still have fun just because we’ve pushed out a few pups.”

“Jessie is older, and I’m pretty sure she said no strippers,” Heather said.

I stood up and placed Luke’s dish into the sink. I took a deep breath before I turned around. “Listen, we’re going out tonight, and we’re going to have fun. I need fun. I need to drink a little, not get drunk but pretty damn close to it. I need to laugh and just have a good time, and I know you two need to do the same. I just want one night for all of us to have a good time. I promise y’all, I’m not going to do anything that the guys wouldn’t like or that Jessie wouldn’t want. Okay?”

Ellie and Heather looked at each other and then back at me. “Okay,” they both said.

I smiled and nodded my head. “Okay, the limo will pick us up at Scott and Jessie’s. Amanda is going to Jessie’s house, and I believe they are spending the night there, so Brad will be there with Maegan and Taylor. Scott’s mom will be there to help them get the kids to bed. Ellie, are Jack and Grace watching both kids?”

Ellie shook her head. “Only Alex. Gunner is keeping Colt.”

Heather smiled. “Josh and I are staying at Ellie and Gunner’s place tonight. Josh brought the portable cribs for the twins, and he’s watched them plenty of times alone. Plus, I think Sharon is going to stop by, right, Ells?”

Ellie nodded.

“Fine. Now that we have all of our kids taken care of, we can decide who’s not going to get drunk,” I said.

Ellie grinned. “Well, since Jessie’s getting married in two days, I think we need to make sure she takes it easy. Amanda won’t drink ’cause she’s still breast-feeding Taylor. Oh my god, did you see the cute picture of her that Amanda sent last night?”

Heather smiled. “Oh, I know! She is the cutest baby!”

I tilted my head and looked between the two of them. “Really, y’all? Can we please stop with all the baby and kid talk? Before we need to start putting the kids down for a nap, we have to talk about getting ready.”

“Fine…let’s talk about how we are going to have a clean, fun night tonight.” Ellie looked at me and raised her eyebrow.

“Hey, I said I wouldn’t do anything that would upset Jessie or the guys.” I crossed my heart with my index finger and smiled. “I cross my heart,” I said as I looked at both of them.

“Good. Now, what are y’all wearing?” Heather asked with a clap.

After we made all the arrangements and talked about who was driving over to Jessie and Scott’s, Ellie and Heather headed over to Ellie’s house.

I put Grace and Luke both down for a nap and headed back downstairs.

Now, I just have to call the stripper and make sure he has the plans down for tonight.

The evening had been a blast so far. I couldn’t help but worry about Lauren though, and Ari was getting frustrated with me because I kept trying to call Scott.

“If you try to call him one more time, I swear to God, Jessie, I’m gonna smack you!” Ari yelled over the music.

Ellie came bouncing back over from the DJ. “Oh my god, I’m having so much fun! He’s gonna play a song for us, y’all!”

I glanced over at Amanda and Azurdee dancing on the dance floor. Two guys were trying desperately to dance with them.

When Katy Perry’s “This Is How We Do” started playing, Ellie let out an, “Eeeep!”

She grabbed Ari and me and dragged us out to where Amanda and Azurdee were. I couldn’t help but laugh at all of them. They were having a blast, and all I wanted to do was go home to Scott and Lauren. Scott and I weren’t going to be spending the night together tomorrow since the wedding would be the next day, so tonight was our last night together before we got married—and I was out dancing.