Page 112 of Ruled Out

As I help Will pull back the green wrapping paper, the first picture comes into view, and Claire gasps as the glitter swirls around it inside the plastic cube.

“Oh my, it’s a picture snow globe. Jessie, it’s beautiful.”

When all the wrapping is on the floor by our feet, Will shakes the cube, and multicolored glitter swims around inside it. Each side displays a photo of Will throughout his first year. Two of them include me—one at the beach, taken when he was four months old, and another at his first Christmas. One is with Mia at Luna and Zach’s house party. One with Jensen, Kate, and his sister in front of their fireplace—I took it at Thanksgiving last year. The last two were snapped on the day he was born—one just with his mom sitting up in bed, holding him and June, and then with the whole group together.

“Wait, there’s a picture of me with him too,” Mia says, bringing her hands to the cube, and Will passes it to her, still mesmerized by its sensory nature. “Jessie, this is beautiful.”

“Wait, you started open—” Kate cuts herself off as she catches sight of what Mia’s holding.

Will’s mom has always struggled to show her emotion—something we’ve always understood about each other, even if we’ve never said it out loud.

Tears gather in the corners of her eyes as Mia hands it to her.

I watch Kate as she studies the images. “I don’t have many pictures of my childhood, but there is this one of me with my mom on the couch in our living room. It’s pretty special to me, and I thought maybe Will would like something he could keep. Something that reminds him that he’s been loved by a lot of people from the moment he was born.”

When Kate looks at me, the tears are now trickling down her cheeks, and she turns to my girlfriend. “Mia, would you just take Will for a second?”

The moment Will is in Mia’s arms, Kate’s are around me. “I know we don’t talk about it much, and that’s okay. But I want to say thank you, Jessie. Thank you for being a great friend to my husband, a great friend to me, and the greatest uncle my children could wish for. All I’ve ever wanted was for my children to feel loved. I know you get that.”

I swallow thickly. “I do, Kate. I’m so happy you got your happy ending.”

She pulls back and tips her head toward Mia, who is busy helping Claire count Will’s fingers. “You got yours too.”

MIA

“Do we break them up now … or later?” Felicity drawls as I stand in the backyard with her, Luna, and Kate, watching Jon, Jensen,Zach, and Jessie race around a makeshift track on Hopper Balls.

I fight to hold back laughter as Jessie bounces up and down on something that is designed for elementary children.

“I don’t know,” I say with a smirk. “We could take bets on who’s going to end up on their ass first.”

“They were meant for the children!” Luna brings a hand to the side of her mouth and shouts.

“He looks like a giant green dick.” Kate points at her husband. “He started talking about more kids last night, and for a while, I was considering it. Now, I need to erase this image from my mind forever.”

I turn to Kate and waggle my eyebrows. “He said you liked the costume.”

“When he’s holding my son and daughter, yes; when he’s bouncing around like an overgrown child, no.”

“Somehow, they have to turn everything into a competition.” Felicity shakes her head as Jon breaks from the group and bounces toward us.

When he reaches his wife’s feet, he looks up at her. “Hop on, Angel. There’s space.”

Felicity looks over at us and then back at Jon. “I’ve got a better idea. How about boys versus girls? There’s another four Hopper Balls, right?”

I swear I see Jon visibly gulp. “Yeah, there’re a few spares, but …”

Before Jon can finish his sentence, all four of us are across the grass. Kate, Felicity, and I grab the Hoppers, and Luna takes Aster from Rachel.

“I’d better not since I don’t want to go into labor this early.”

Zach pulls off his sunglasses and eyes her as I bounce up alongside Jessie, stopping at the makeshift line Jon drew earlier with white chalk. “Watch the master at work, Rocket.”

Flicking her auburn hair back, she brings Aster’s hands between hers and claps them together. “We’re cheering for the girls.”

Jon looks down the line at the rest of us. “All right, three laps around the circuit. First to cross the line wins. I’ll go easy on y?—”

“Three, two, one, GO!” Felicity rushes out, setting off at a crazy speed.

---