Page 105 of Summer with My Sexy Ex
I kiss her. Pouring everything I have that’s PG-13 into it. We may get off on sex in public, but in the middle of the bar with her brother, my best friend, watching is crossing a line even I won’t go near.
And I’m okay with that. Because I don’t just love her for the sexy times, I love her for all those others in between. The mundane, normal everyday moments that make life worth enjoying.
epilogue
Blake
I’m hijacking the first part of the epilogue. I deserve it. I mean, not only did Inotget my happy ending, but I had to watch the two of them get theirs when I was supposed to be having mine. Do you know what it’s like to watch the two people you are closest to in the world find happiness with one another andexcludeyou?
Don’t get me wrong, all I’ve ever wanted is for both of them to be happy. And, in all honesty, it’s not that bad. Most of the time.
It’s been almost two years now, and I’ve never seen either one of them happier. Did I mention they made me a godfatherandan uncle? Roles I take very seriously. Little Nico and I are best buds. We’re celebrating his first birthday today, with a pool party, of course.
I’m the only one who wasn’t shocked when Brie found out she was pregnant shortly after the second wedding. They can’t expect birth control to bethateffective. They go at it all the fucking time. Not that I want that idea in my head with my little sister. Just sometimes it’s hard to ignore. Like now, when Nico and I come in the house to change his diaper, and his parents are audiblyindiscreet,to say the least.
Pretty sure you can hear them three blocks down—
“There’s my little man!” Darby follows Nico and me into the nursery. I’ve still got him in a standing position on the changing table. He immediately rejects me in favor of the pretty girl.
Traitor.
Darby sweeps in to take him in her arms. Nico squeals his approval and immediately grabs her hair and sticks it in his mouth.
“I guess this means you have to change him now,” I smirk.
“Oh, we don’t mind that, do we, Nico?” Darby baby talks. Nico babbles back at her, drooling all over his fist.
“Dude,” I tell him. “Keep it together around the ladies. You can’t let them see you drooling. Keep it on the down low, my man.”
Darby giggles. Nico bonks her on the forehead. “Don’t listen to him, Nico,” she says. “If you like a girl you tell her right away. Don’t hide your feelings like a silly boy. Go after what you want.”
“How are you doing, Darbs?” I ask her, knowing she just went through a messy breakup. She was a good friend to me after I broke up with Taylor and I’d like to return the favor if I can.
“Day by day, right?” she asks, plastering a fake smile across her face. “Going back and forth between regret and relief in equal parts.”
“Oof, I remember that,” I say. “Your brain knows you dodged that bullet, but your heart is really wishing it had hit you anyway.”
She nods. “Exactly.” She gets his diaper off, and I get a new one to hand her.
“It gets better, I promise.”
She nods, and a small tear escapes her right eye.
“Aw, babe, come here.” She pulls Nico off the changing table and turns so I can take them both into my arms. Nico grabs a handful of my t-shirt and shoves it in his mouth, angling his little body toward me.
I rub her back to try to comfort her, I don’t really know what to do to help other than try to be supportive when she needs it.
Nico squeals, bouncing in Darby’s arms, and warmth spreads between us. It takes a minute to realize what it is.
“Tell me that didn’t just happen,” she says, giggling.
“That my little buddy just peed on us,” I say. “Okay. It didn’t happen.”
Her giggle turns to a laugh. “We should have put a diaper on him right away.”
“You think?”
She laughs harder. “I’m going to grab a towel; do you have him?”
