Page 111 of Christmas with Brother's Best Friends
“At least it’s been happy tears,” I point out with a chuckle as I cradle Nessa against my chest.
Emma smirks before stepping away to take another good look at the empty room. Judging from her wonder-filled eyes, I can tell that she’s visualizing what the nursery will look like when we get done decorating it. Whatever she has in mind, it’ll be incredible.
“Remember when I worked for you guys?” Emma asks as she turns to face us.
Josh chuckles. “How could we forget? That was the big turning point in our lives.”
“You flipped everything upside down in the best way possible,” Max says before smiling down at our daughter as he stands next to me. “Now, we have this little one.”
“We went from only caring about SyncUp to having a whole family,” I say, joy and pride swelling in my chest. We’ve come such a long way, and I’m so glad for that.
Even if we didn’t really realize it back then, we were miserable being so alone. Our lives were nearly empty, and we were nowhere near feeling fulfilled.
Not until Emma came back into our lives.
“I guess that’s how crazy life can be,” Emma replies, her eyes glowing with happiness. “We’ve barely even begun our lives together.”
I pass a subtle look at Max and Josh, already knowing what they’re thinking. We’ve also been talking about doing something else that’s very special, but that’s another plan that we have to flesh out and put in motion. When the right moment comes, we’ll show her once again how much we love her.
We’ll do that for the rest of our lives.
“Tired of us yet?” Josh chuckles.
Emma hums under her breath playfully before gravitating closer to us, her hands and lips grazing us. “Never.”
“Let’s not make her regret that answer,” I tell the others pointedly, sparking laughter that fills the nursery-to-be.
We have a lot of work to turn this house into our home, but it already feels like we were meant to be here together. All of the pieces are falling into place, and there’s still so much to look forward to.
There’s no need for me to run anymore. I have everything that I could ever want within arm’s reach.
Chapter fifty
Epilogue: Emma
Six months later
The sounds of the city ring in my ears as I stride down the sidewalk in the middle of Manhattan, a nostalgic smile playing on my lips.
I remember walking down this street when I worked for the guys. I remember passing this bakery and smelling the fresh bread in the morning. I remember how my stomach would flip at the thought of seeing them again.
Those days feel like a lifetime ago, even if it wasn’t that long ago at all.
Our lives are totally different now, and if I came across the old version of myself today, I would probably barely recognize her.She struggled so much to know what she wanted, but I have everything that I have ever strived for.
A beautiful family. Men who love me. A perfect baby. An incredible home. And I’ve just started working from home again.
SyncUp is so wildly successful these days that there’s no need for me to work, but I still like flexing my creative muscles every once in a while. I have some leads on some work from home opportunities in the city that are long-term jobs, but until those pan out, I’ve decided to do some contracts here and there.
Today, I have a meeting with a new client who happens to live in the city.
It’s nice getting out in the city again, but I can’t help but miss Nessa and the guys already. We’re able to spend so much time together because the guys have mostly been working from home too, but we were all busy today. They had to go into the office for a big conference call, and I had my meeting.
Thankfully, whenever things like that happen, either my parents, my brothers, or Max’s parents are always eager to babysit. I couldn’t be more grateful to have such a good family network that’s so supportive.
I check the messages with my client, reading over where we’re supposed to meet again. Neon Sky. From what I’ve heard, it’s a fancy rooftop bar and lounge.
Sunset is on its way as the colors of the sky start to darken into a dusty orange hue. I speed up my pace and reach the tall building that hosts the lounge, beelining it to the elevator to head up to the top floor.
