RILEY

I CAN’T BELIEVE ANOTHER work week is ending. I haven’t seen Devyn in almost two weeks mainly because we’ve both been working such crazy hours. We’ve talked every night about the daily minutia of our lives but mostly about Nathan. She’s sent me dozens of pictures, told me stories about his childhood, her pregnancy, all the stuff I’ve missed out on. It still kills me that I wasn’t there but I love hearing about everything from her point of view. She’s so animated when she talks about our son. Hearing her laugh about something totally inappropriate he said during the day is priceless. I’ve tried shifting the subject, dying to get more information about her relationship with Jackson, or how she feels about the possibility of us, but she shuts me down every damn time. I’m so desperate to hear anything and everything about Nathan though that I let her.

We decided that we’re going to break the news to him slowly by scheduling family outings. I smile when I think about that. I have a family of my own. It’s not just me and my folks anymore. Speaking of, they took the news much better than I expected. I took full blame for the situation. I wanted to make sure they never faulted Devyn for her actions. We both made shitty decisions back then but it was ultimately my pushing her away that created the domino effect. They’re flying up next week to meet the two people I love more than anything and I can’t wait to show them off.

It’s been tough putting any plans into action so far because Dev’s been working twelve hour days, six days a week. She normally does the nine-to-five thing but she’s trying to nab a big client so she can get promoted. Her pitch is next week and she promised we’ll schedule something afterwards. I Googled kids’ activities around Seattle and already have a huge list of things I want to do with them.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I smile when I see her name on the display. “Hi there.”

“Hi. How was your day?”

“Good,” I reply while moving throughout my condo switching off lights. “I have news.”

“Yeah?”

I slip out of my jeans and climb into bed. “Yep. I made an offer on a house today.”

“You what?” she shrieked. “Didn’t you just buy the condo?”

“Nah, it’s a rental. I didn’t want to buy anything until I knew where I’d be settling down.”

“I’m confused.”

I laugh. “Well, you see…there’s this girl that I thought was living in Portland. Seattle is the closest place where I could become gainfully employed but I planned on commuting if need be. I was originally looking at real estate halfway in between. Turns out, Seattle’s where I’m supposed to be.”

She’s silent for a moment. “Riley…”

“Yeah, baby?”

She blows out a breath. “I don’t know what to say to that. Jackson and I—”

I groan. “Can we please not put a damper on my big, exciting news? I’m not going to lie. I want both of you there with me. Of course I do. But I’m not asking you to commit to anything, Devyn. You should definitely know that Nathan will have his own bedroom though. And a big backyard. Maybe even a dog.”

“A dog, huh? What if I told you he’s more of a cat person?” I swear I can hear her smiling through the phone.

“Pft, he’s my boy. There’s no way he’s a cat person.”

She laughs. “So, where’s this house at?”

“Mercer Island. My realtor said it has one of the best school districts in the area. I made that my top priority when we were searching since Nate will be starting kindergarten soon.”

She gasps. “You’re really in for the long haul with this parenthood thing, aren’t you?”

I smile. “Balls to the wall, baby.”

DEVYN

HE BOUGHT A HOUSE? In an incredible family friendly area no less? What am I supposed to do with that information? I’ve intentionally avoided discussing my relationship status with Jackson but Riley’s spiel about school districts makes me realize that he never considered the possibility that I wouldn’t be with him. Nate can’t attend school in Mercer Island and live with me in Belltown. Riley wants the whole package and nothing less.

My hands are shaking so bad I’m having trouble holding the phone to my ear. I don’t know if it’s from excitement or trepidation. “So when do I get to see this fancy new house?”

“Well, I don’t close until the fifteenth but we can do a drive by anytime you want. I can always call the realtor and make an appointment if you want to see the inside too.”

I smile thinking about showing Nathan where his new bedroom will be. “That’d be nice, Rye. Why don’t we plan that as one of our outings?”

“You’ve got a deal, Dev.”

RILEY

BRODY EYES ME CAREFULLY. “So…Devyn, huh?”

I take a sip of beer, trying to figure out where he’s going with this. “What about her?”

He shoves a french fry in his mouth. “Fuck, dude. Give me a little credit. I’m not blind.”

I stare at the wall of TV screens. Several college games are showing but I stopped paying attention when he mentioned Devyn’s name. “Blind?”

He flips me off. “Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot, asshole. I’m talking about the fact that Devyn’s kid looks exactly like you. I always thought he looked familiar but I didn’t put it together until I saw the two of you in the same room. And not only do you have a kid that you failed to mention, but Drew’s hot sister is the goddamn magic pussy you’ve been obsessing over the entire time I’ve known you. What are the odds, man?”

“For the record, I didn’t know about Nathan until I came here.”

He raises his eyebrows. “No shit?”

I nod. “No shit. But what makes you think Devyn is the girl I’ve been talking about?”

He rolls his eyes. “Because I have eyes, douchebag.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Care to explain?”

“Hmm…let’s see.” He holds up his index finger. “First of all, you look at her like she’s a walking wet dream. I know she’s hot, dude, like really hot, but your look says that you don’t need to imagine undressing her because you already know what’s underneath the clothes. Which makes sense I suppose since you made a baby, but this is more. It’s like she’s your personal goddess or something.”

Yeah, that’s about right. I didn’t realize I was being so obvious about it. Damn it!

“And second of all?” I ask.

He holds up a second finger. “Secondly, she looks at you like you hung the fucking moon or something.”

“She does?”

His eye roll is even more exaggerated this time. “Yes, dumbfuck, she does. The rest wasn’t too hard to put together. There’s an obvious familiarity between you two. And it’s more than two people who got naked once upon a time. You told me that the M.P. was your best friend throughout your first four years in college. Your comfort level with her matches that. The fact that Drew looked like he was severely constipated the other Sunday helped too. I just did the math and it all added up.”

“Maybe he was constipated?”

He laughs. “Did you miss the part where he disappeared for twenty minutes saying he had to ‘drop the kids off at the pool’?”

“Nope,” I say. “Because that’s when Nathan said, ‘Uncle Drew, don’t you mean you’re going to make a chocolate sundae for the sewer monster?’”

Brody is cracking up at this point. “Man, I love that kid!”

I smile. “He’s pretty great, isn’t he?”

He gives me a serious look. “What are you going to do, man? You know she’s got a boyfriend, right? She’s been with the guy forever.”

I turn my hat around so the bill is facing backwards. “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

“Hey guys.” I look to my left and see Devyn’s friend, Rainey.