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“But haven’t you heard?” I tug her hand and she scooches next to me. “I have this new policy when it comes to Thursday nights. My wife has class on Thursday nights and she told me from day one of our relationship that she doesn’t miss class for anything.” A smile tugs across her lips. “Which means that if I want to see her I’d better darn well prioritize going to class with her.” I lean across Walter and press my forehead to hers. “And I really do want to see her.”

A soft sigh shudders through Jill, but she doesn’t say anything.

“You do know by class, I meant small group, right?” I say, a little unsure now. “I was doing a bit. Trying to throwback to our early days—

“Oh, I know, I got that,” she says, then she closes the little bit of distance between our mouths and captures mine with her own. Walter yelps and scurries out from under us. That’s more than fine by me, since it allows me to take Jill by the waist and pull her the rest of the way against me.

With that done, I give my full attention to kissing her back.

She pulls away far too soon, but it’s only to say, “That was my contribution to the throwback, a nod to the way you walked up and kissed me out of nowhere.”

“Best choice I’ve ever made,” I murmur, then I start the kiss back up, because we might as well lose this Dorothy-planned race in a style she’d approve of.

“You two and the PDA!” Hannah shouts somewhere in the background of our kiss. “It’s a real blind spot of yours.” Jill and I tear apart to see her and Luke approaching. Unlike us, Luke is the wheelbarrow and Hannah holds his ankles. It doesn’t look as if this arrangement makes anything easier. Luke seems fine, but Hannah appears to be struggling to hold his heavy legs up. Her face is red and her breathing is heavy. She’s smiling, though. Contrary to her words, she looks extremely pleased to have stumbled upon us kissing. I feel a swell of affection for my sister-in-law. She really is like a little sister to me.

Brooke and Will plod up next to Hannah and Luke. They tried the same wheelbarrow setup as me and Jill. Brooke’s face is the same shade of red as Hannah’s.

“Is the race over?” she gasps. “Is this the end because my arms are dying. Dy-ing.”

“Not the end,” I tell her cheerfully. “But feel free to join us in the loser's circle.”

Brooke visibly bristles. “Loser's circle? Um, no, no, no. Brooke Barrett doesn’t lose.” She looks up ahead and groans as she spots the three couples that have already crossed the finish line. “Dang. Apparently I do lose.”

“Might as well do so with some flare,” Jill suggests merrily. “It will be like at a kids’ track meet when everyone in attendance cheers for the kid in last place. We can all come in last together and the crowds will go wild because of our perseverance.”

“No, they cheer because they feel sorry for the kid and don’t want them to feel worse than they already do about being bad,” Brooke retorts, getting to her feet. “I can’t believe we lost,” she grumbles. “Where did we go wrong?” she asks Will.

“Easy, I got distracted by your ankles,” Will tells Brooke. He appears unconcerned by their loss. “You know they were the first thing I noticed about you the day we met,” he adds with a wink.Brooke laughs, miraculously already looking less upset about their loss.

“Oh, yes, how could I forget your concern for my nice, working ankles?” she quips. “You didn’t want them getting injured as I jumped to my death.”

“I believe you mean as you landed from skydiving,” Will replies.

“Same difference,” Brooke challenges.

“And yet here you stand alive,” he counters.

“I got lucky,” she says.

“No, I’m the one who got lucky, honey.” Will wins the argument with this final statement and Brooke practically melts into him.

“Wow,” Hannah exclaims, looking around between us and Will and Brooke. “Babe,” she says to Luke, “Jill and Max are kissing, Will and Brooke are flirting…quick we need to do something cute and romantic too!” She turns imploringly to Luke who has evidently been married to Hannah long enough not to be taken aback by the dramatic request. He doesn’t even bat an eye, just takes her by the hand and pulls her toward him as if he means to dance with her. Then he starts humming a familiar tune as he leads her one step to the left then one to the right. “And I would wheelbarrow 500 miles,” he begins to sing in his off-key voice, “and I would wheelbarrow 500 more, just to be the one who wheelbarrowed a thousand miles to lose this race with you-ou-ou.” He dips her on the word “you,” and Hannah squeals with delight. She got her cute and romantic.

“Alright then,” Hannah declares, when Luke has pulled her back up, “now that Luke and I have won the cutest couple award, let’s go lose this race.”

Brooke and Jill exchange a look, rolling their eyes at their sister’s antics, but smiling all of the same.

“There are still some people finishing,” I point out. “We’re going for dead last.”

“Not if we get there first,” Brooke challenges, then frowns. “Err—last. Not if we get there last.”

“Now you’re turning losing into a competition?” Hannah asks with a laugh. “Your wife has a problem,” she tells Will.

“Will loves my problems, thank you very much,” Brooke replies smoothly. “Don’t you, babe?”

“I’m not sure how to answer that,” Will says. “It feels like a trick question because usually you get annoyed when I try to help you solve your problems…You tell me you just wanted me to listen. It has honestly never made sense to me.”

“That makes perfect sense,” Hannah pipes up.