Page 29 of Make the Play

Logan snorts into his coffee. “Christ, get a room, you two.”

Reid, who has been silently observing, tips his coffee mug toward Logan in agreement.

Zoe turns to Logan, fire burning in her eyes. “We wouldn’t need a room if you’d stop telling us to get it out of our systems all the damn time,Pookie.”

Oh, she’s angry. Angry that she folded after his suggestion last night.

Reid shakes his head. “C’mon, not at the brunch table.”

“Uncle Chase,” Noah pipes up, eyes wide and innocent. “What do you need to get a room for?”

There’s a horrible, horrible beat of silence.

My mouth gapes as Logan starts fucking wheezing. “This is the best morning-after ever.”

Jake groans. “Jesus Christ.”

Claire is actively biting her lip to hold back laughter, and Ryan chuckles into Poppy’s fuzzy head. “I’m so glad the baby doesn’t understand this.”

And Zoe?

Zoe chooses violence.

She leans forward, her smile sweet as sin. “Well, Noah, sometimes—”

Jake points a finger at her. “No. Nope. Shut it down.”

Charlie fully breaks, laughing into her napkin, and Reid just shakes his head, muttering something about all of us being more immature than the actual children at this table.

Then Meadow, who is still tucked into Zoe’s arms and watching all the chaos descend, turns to Charlie with a little frown on her face.

“Mama?”

The table freezes as Charlie lowers her napkin just enough to peer at her daughter. “Yes, honeybee?”

“What’s a morning after?”

Dead. Silence.

Charlie goes still. So completely still it’s as though someone just paused reality, and Jake slowly turns to her with pure desperation on his face.

The silence lasts about two seconds before the entire table erupts.

Jake, panicked as fuck, grabs Meadow off Zoe’s lap so fast she squeaks. “Alright, that’s enough Zoe time for you, Little Lightning.”

Ryan takes a sip of coffee. “Oh, buddy. I cannot wait to hear this one.”

Jake shakes his head. “Not a fu—dging chance.”

Meadow frowns. “But I wanna know.”

Jake presses a kiss to her forehead. “It’s what happens after bedtime, like the morning after a big, big sleep. Nothing important.”

Noah, still listening, nods sagely. “Ohhh, like what you and Mum do?”

Jake stares wildly back at Charlie, who looks seconds away from cardiac arrest.

The rest of us are fucking gone. Logan straight-up slides under the table, shaking with laughter. Lulu is howling into her napkin. Ryan is fist-bumping his ten-month-old, proud as hell that this has nothing to do with him, while Zoe’s cackling so hard she’s struggling to breathe.

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