Page 168 of Mended Hearts

Finn

As in ‘Bend It Like’?

Leighton

Precisely. *Laughing emojis*

Alice

I am in a MEETING. What is on fire?

Maverick

This is more important. Leighton is having an alien. Buy green.

Alice

Awee *heart eye emojis*

25

No such Thing As Coincidence

LEIGHTON

June

Spring flew by in a blur—May’s gray days filled with doctor appointments, end-of-school programs, and Beau’s first tot soccer season, which may go down as the most chaotic games in the history of organized sports. June gloom had rolled in by the time school let out, but once the warm coastal breeze shoved the clouds inland in the late afternoons, I was always desperate to get outside and soak up the sun.

Which led us here.

Second week of summer break, recovering from the most decadent baby shower anyone on any planet had ever seen, with “A Summer Song” by Chad & Jeremy playing over Ollie’s Bluetooth speaker. Tillie and I layered picnic blankets over the backyard’s manicured grass, scrapbook supplies now scattered like confetti across the quilts.

“This is what magic powers look like,” Beau observed, sprawled on his back like the tiny king he was. I looked up just in time to catch him trying to shake glitter glue off his fingers. When that failed, he wiped them directly on the lawn before I could stop him.

The perk of third trimester pregnancy? No one mistook me for someone hoarding calories for winter anymore. The disservice? I now moved like the sloth fromZootopia—Beau’s words, not mine.

“Totally, dude,” I said, fishing out a wet wipe and maneuvering my swollen self over to him to clean his fingers before the inevitable meltdown hit.

Scowling at the dried flecks, he muttered, “Sunshine makes glue faster. Which means it’s a wizard.”

“Gandalfthe Yellow,” Mattie muttered, tongue poking out between her lips as she carefully cut out construction paper hearts. My snort earned dual glares, so I raised my hands in surrender and let them go back to work.

Beau nearly dislodged my grip as he dove forward to snatch up a sheet of stickers, still sticky-fingered as I wrestled the last of the glitter from his palms. He cocked his head. “Do you think unicorns eat pizza?”

Fuck, my face hurt from smiling. How anyone could walk away from these two was beyond me—it was nauseating. If Carly wasn’t such an irredeemable monster, I might’ve felt bad for how expertly the Harts’ legal team kept delaying her custody petition.

But we were out of moves.

And in just a few too-short weeks, Ollie would be in front of a judge who would decide everything. Our future. Theirs. The weight of that made my smile falter.

I cleared my throat, turning over Beau’s little hand.

“Pizza?” I echoed.

“Yeah. ‘Cause I got a rainbow sticker already. But I think unicorns would like pizza.”

“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like pizza,” I pointed out as he stared intently at his glittering sheet.

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