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Lyndi squeezes by me in the dining room, and only when she doesn’t fit do I realize what’s wrong with her.
“You’re pregnant?” I gape at her, and then Ward. That little devil. He got his wife pregnant and didn’t tell me? Scratch that. Obviously, I didn’t need that info.
Lyndi gasps. “Do I look pregnant? Ward, you didn’t tell me I was getting fat!”
A grenade drops into the pit of my stomach and I wait for it to explode. Did I seriously misread that?
“What? No, I’m sorry.” I frown at her stomach. The stomach that looks like it’s holding a full-sized basketball under her black shirt. I don’t know kids very well but I’m pretty sure they start out like that.
A laugh breaks through my worries. “I’m sorry, that was too fun,” Lyndi says.
“It serves you right for avoiding us for the last month,” Ward says with a pointed look. He’s right. They are my family, and I should have come over the second I got back to Arizona.
“Alright, alright, I have been properly chastened.” I hold my hands up in surrender. “You’re glowing, both of you.” I poke Ward’s stomach. “And your dad bod is coming in nicely.”
He gets me in a headlock the second the words are out of my mouth.
“I can still take you, Special Agent.”
That was before. With two quick moves, I’m out of his grasp and ready to take him to the ground.
“Boys,” Lyndi chides, “no wrestling at the dinner table.”
“We can only do that on the trampoline,” Crew pipes in.
I ruffle Crew’s hair as I snag a seat beside him. “I don’t want to embarrass your dad when he loses. How about I take you on instead?”
“Challenge accepted.” Crew squints his eyes and punches a fist into his other hand. We shake on it as Ward and Lyndi sit on the other side of the table.
“Alright,” I blow out my cheeks, “tell me everything I missed.”
“I’m getting a sister!” Crew says. Then launches into everything he’s going to do with the baby when she comes out. Nerf wars, wrestling, and bike races. The kid is in for a rude awakening.
The adults pass the food around the table as Crew chatters. Why did it take me so long to come over? I was so worried about intruding on their perfect family, but now, I don’t want to leave.
They aren’t perfect; there’s permanent marker on the table, and scuffs on the walls. They are normal, and I need normal.
After Lyndi tells me about some of her latest sewing endeavors, all of which go entirely over my head, Ward fills me in on the business. The one he swore up and down he’d never be a part of but is now getting ready to take over.
“Uncle Caleb, guess what?”
I turn my attention back to Crew who can only go without talking for a total of thirty-five seconds. “What, buddy?”
“I asked a girl to be my valentine.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “But it’s June.”
His shoulders droop. “I know. That’s why she said she had to ask her mom.”
My shoulders tremble as I try to suppress the laughter. But laughter is the best stress reliever, and this kid is like magic that way. My screwup last night hardly feels relevant in the grand picture when I’m sitting here surrounded by a family full of love.
I bite down on my bottom lip and the pain rears up, reminding me of my moment of recklessness. There’s nothing as reckless as love. The very idea of it is out of the question for me.
There was a reason I picked the FBI. Relationships in my line of work can become a liability in a minute. And I don’t have anyone left to protect.
Chapter 5
Amelia