Page 17 of How We Loved

She stops and looks at me in question.

“It’s okay for her to do something without me.” I chuckle slightly, though I’m still bummed about that fact.

“I know. It’s just …”

“Mom.” I raise my eyebrows at her.

She’s thought for years that we’re “just meant to be,” as she says, all dreamy-eyed.

I keep telling her we’re not like that, but she never believes me.

She holds up her hands in surrender. “I know. I know.” She turns to put the eggs in the pan, so I lean over to steal another piece of bacon. “I saw that,” she taunts.

I laugh as I hop up from my chair and go to lie on the couch with Jesse until breakfast is ready.

I’m already in the barn, chillin’, watching game two of the World Series, when Dalton arrives a few hours later and heads straight to where I’m lying on the couch.

“What’s up, man?” I say as we slap hands. I don’t bother getting up to greet him, but Natalie is a different story, so when she comes into view, I stand to give her a hug. “Hey, Natalie.”

“Hi, thanks for having us again. Who’s winning?” she points to the TV as she takes a seat.

“Just started.” I sit back down in my same spot.

“Did you find a place?” I ask since this is the first time I’ve seen him since he left yesterday. “And where the hell did you go at five a.m. this morning?”

To say he’s pussy-whipped over Natalie is an understatement. I heard him come home late last night since he’s staying in the room that my bedroom shares a bathroom with, and then he was up and gone at the ass crack of dawn this morning.

“We had some more pigs being born,” Natalie says. “I wanted him to be able to watch everything.”

“And?” I ask Dalton.

“And it was pretty freaking cool. Nine little babies came out of that pig.”

“Nine?” I ask, surprised.

Natalie laughs. “You guys are so funny. Why is a pig having nine babies such a shock to you?”

“Would you want nine kids coming out of you all at once?” I point to her.

She laughs out loud. “No, but I’m not a pig!”

“Hello!” Maya’s cheerful voice rings throughout the barn, interrupting our conversation, as she slides open the door.

We all say hi as she heads our way.

She gives hugs to Dalton and Natalie, then comes over to rustle my hair before she walks to the fridge to get something to drink. “Can I get anyone anything?”

Dalton and Natalie decline, and I don’t answer because I know I don’t have to. She knows I’ll always take a water with a Nuun—my favorite hydration and recovery tablet.

When she plops down next to me on the couch, she hands me my drink, making me smile. I shake it to get the tablet to dissolve faster as she curls into my side.

“Where were you yesterday?” I ask Maya.

“Oh yeah!” Natalie jumps, as if she’s been dying to ask too. “How did it go?”

“How did what go?” I ask, feeling like I’m the only one not in the know.

Maya sits up, excited to share her news. “I went on a date yesterday.”

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