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I am going to cry.

“Come here, love.”

I open my arms, and she slides right into them, making herself as comfortable as she can curled into my side.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” I whisper into her hair.

“You’re pretty amazing yourself.”

My phone beeps and a quick look confirms Remi is on his way back.

Whatever you’re hiding from me, you have ten minutes.

“Here,” I say as she pulls away. I gather up the forms and slip them back into the envelope. “I’ll hit a notary in the morning and go drop them off. Do you want to tell him when he gets back?”

I follow her into her studio, where she hides the papers in a desk drawer.

“Actually, I was thinking about keeping it a surprise until it’s official. Think he’d be okay with that?”

Man, he’s going to lose his ever-loving mind.

“That sounds awesome. Send Poppy an email and have her redo all that estate paperwork for me too, would ya? How long is this supposed to take?”

I throw my arm around her shoulders and lead her back toward the patio.

“Online says two-three weeks, Poppy says probably a month or two. You submit the request, they approve or don’t approve. Poppy said the only reason they wouldn’t approve you is if you were into something shady. After they say yes, you get the confirmation in the mail, then you take that to the court to file it. Once you get the final document, you can start the tedious process of getting new social security cards and changing your name on shit. Poppy said I can actually start introducing myself with the new name now, if I wanted. The only thing I can’t use it for are legal documents.”

The door opens, and Remi calls out in an incredibly mocking tone, “I brought sustenance.”

Julia laughs, and I roll my eyes, begging my body not to float away with my happiness.

“You did good, Jules,” I tell her as Remi bursts onto the patio, laden down with bags of food and a drink in each hand. “You did real good.”

~??~

“Psssst.”

Remi reaches over his shoulder and swats at me once or twice in a sleep-addled, ill-coordinated manner before giving up and tucking his arm back around Julia’s hips.

“Remi!” I whisper harshly into his ear.

His shoulders lift in a failed attempt to protect his eardrums, but he doesn’t acknowledge me more than that.

No help for it, then.

Taking care not to disturb Jules, who is currently huffing the sleep of a Benadryl-aided slumber, I slink my leg over Remi’s thigh and my hand up his chest and yank until he’s flat on his back with me hovering over top of him.

He blinks, vision groggy, face scrunched in displeasure.

“Can I help you?” he garbles.

“I know a secret!”

Even with his lids closed, I can see him roll his eyes.

“Congratulations. Can I go back to sleep now?”

Spoilsport.