Page 39 of The Way We Collide

I’m not surprised he wanted to support me. In the one weekend we spent together, I saw the good man hiding behind the cocky player. Otherwise, I’d never have spent the night with him the way I did.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking with it.

11

Hendrix

Grizz

Couldn’t do it, could you?

Another growl, and again, I shove the phone into my pocket. The brother’s chat is filling up with texts I haven’t answered.

Logan

You’ll get no shame here. I had to leave the house when Dylan changed Gigi’s diaper. I don’t know how you do it G.

Grizz

I can do anything for my baby girl. Whatever she needs, she just asks her daddy.

Jack

You’ll get used to it. After a while, you don’t even think about it.

Zane

Everybody poops.

Grizz

It’s just baby food.

Logan

Baby food that’s been left in the sun and turned into rancid decay.

Grizz

Damn, you packing a thesaurus over there?

Logan

Just speaking the truth. Let me know when your schedule lets up so we can record, Hen.

Logan’s is the only text I might answer, but not today.

Today, I’m standing in front of a massive desk in the city office building facing an old male judge with white tufts of hair sprouting from inside his ears. He looks like he might be 100 years old, and he definitely could use a visit to the barber.

His bench is positioned on a stage above me, so he’s looking down at the scene where we’ll exchange our vows. He isn’t smiling, and from this angle, it actually looks like he’s doing his best to stay awake.

I can’t stop hearing the voice of that old priest fromThe Princess Bride. Raven made me watch it, and now we’re having our fake wedding ceremony.

Marriage is what brings us together today…

Laughter huffs through my lips. I fell asleep before the movie was over with my baby girl on my chest. A smile lifts the corner of my mouth when I think about her sleeping in my arms like she loves me.

Whatever else happens over the next six months, that little girl resting on me like it’s the most natural thing in the world is the best shit ever.

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