Page 51 of Break

I almost lost my sisters and my best friend. Hell, she’s basically my fucking soulmate at this point.

I park in the driveway and head up to the door, bags in hand. I knock and step back, hoping she wasn’t napping already. I should ask for a key so that she doesn’t have to waddle all over the house.

She opens up the door a few minutes later, dressed in a massive silky robe, her dark hair up in a messy bun. Not a lick of makeup on her face, and she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

“Hey.” she sleepily murmurs, stepping out of the way so that I can stroll inside. I breathe in the lavender scented air, the warm feeling of home and comfort before I turn my gaze back to her.

“I stopped and grabbed some stuff from the store. Tea, fruit, chocolate, and some ground chicken for dinner tonight. I think I can handle making some chicken burgers on the smoker.”

She smiles at me and follows me to the kitchen.

“Do you… is it okay if I can get a key? I don’t want to bother you when I show up.”

She frowns at me and tilts her head, “Sure.” She opens up a drawer beside the fridge and I notice it’s filled with photos, or are those ultrasounds images. Are those of the babies?

“Hey, can I see those?”

She tenses and grabs the stack before handing them over slowly. She slides a key onto the island from the bottom of the drawer and nods to it. “The dates at the top are the days that they were taken. The first ones were from eight weeks along, then up from there. I have another scan coming up in a few weeks to add to the pile.” She blows some hair out of her face and opens up the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water. I glance away before staring at her plump ass when she bends over.

“How have your appointments been going?”

She shrugs and leans against the counter. “So far, so good. If Brenton gets his way, I’ll only be pregnant for another thirteen weeks or so. I’m hoping to make it past thirty-seven weeks, though. The more time for them to have stronger lungs, the better.”

I nod as I shuffle through the images. Wow. They started out as tiny little blobs, like gummy bears. The last scans are from when she found out the genders, and they look like real babies. I can see the outlines of their faces, their noses and their lips. Their little bodies. Limbs.

“This is insane. I’ve seen the ones where they’re in 4D and you can actually make out the facial features.”

Marie smiles and nods. “I’m going to set up one of those around thirty-four weeks, just to play it safe. Brenton’s office doesn’t offer it, so I have to go to a private ultrasound place. It’s like a hundred bucks for everything, they even give you a teddy bear with the heartbeat.”

I blink at her and nod as I still stare down at the images. “Can… I go? If I can?”

Her brows furrow before glancing away from me. “Sure. I’ll go through the calendars and pick a day when you're home.” She clears her throat and rummages in the pantry for something before glancing at me over her shoulder. “So, how’s it going living with Nolan?”

I sigh and lead her into the living room after I put everything away in the fridge, the little raccoon found a bag of cookies and she is munching on them already. “It’s weird. Not having my own space. I just don’t know what I want to do right now. I don’t want to live without the girls or you. If you guys want to live together again anytime soon, I can find something bigger than what I’ve been looking at. I wanted to talk to you about that. I can’t make up my fucking mind, as usual.”

She presses her lips together and grunts. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t want the babies to stress you out, and I don’t want to move any time soon. I love it here. The neighborhood is quiet. There’s plenty of room for me, the girls, and the babies. The perfect amount of rooms. I love the layout and the backyard.”

I frown and lean back on the couch and run my hands down my face. “I can’t take not living with you guys. It’s driving me insane.”

Marie stares into my eyes and her shoulders drop. She nods and grabs my hand in hers, squeezing it. “Stay here with us until you figure something out. This couch pulls out into a queen-sized bed, my closet is big enough to hold your clothes and shoes. My shower is big enough for all of your insanely expensive products. All five hundred of them… And it’s better than Nolan’s house…”

I lick my lips and nod immediately, not going to let her take it back. “I was prepared to beg, to be honest. I love it here, too. I don’t care if I’m here sleeping on the floor or the couch. My, our, other house is about to be sold. I don’t think I would be able to take it if I moved out into a secluded cabin on my own. I would probably ruin my liver and resort to kidnapping the three of you. It sounded good when I thought about it before…”

She snorts and shrugs, still seeming a little worried but I will prove to her that this will be perfect. Just like old times. “If only there was one more bedroom… but with both of the babies’ rooms already set up, you’re sort of screwed, and there’s no way I would try to risk having Alyssa and Caroline try staying in one room together again. They would kill each other.”

I laugh out loud and shake my head. “Yeah, we tried that when they were, what, nine? We moved into that apartment by the university and tried to get them to sleep in the same room like they did in California. They couldn’t stop fighting over their new clothes and shoes. So I took the couch and gave Caroline my room.”

She rolls her eyes. “I tried to tell you to take my bedroom and I would sleep with the girls.” She yawns and leans her head against my shoulder. “I missed you.”

I nod and kiss her head, basking in her presence so close to me again. “I missed you, too. I’m so sorry about everything. I should have listened to you and the girls about Alex… I wasn’t thinking straight. I even ignored Nolan and Landon’s warnings. Hell the entire team, really. I was being an idiot… Just wanting someone to be around, just for me, you know? I knew it wasn’t working out for a while… But at the same time I couldn’t figure out how to get her out of the house without any drama… Landon saved my ass. I’m still so fucking pissed that she went after you.”

She shrugs and closes her eyes, her breathing is starting to grow slower and deeper with every breath she takes. “We all learn from our mistakes.” She hums and snuggles into my chest. “We can grow old and gray together, flipping off the opposite sex and driving them away with our garden hoses or something.”

I laugh to myself, my chest shaking and she smiles as she drifts off.

It’ll never get any better than this.

Chapter 13

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