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FIVE

LENNOX

“Which room am I putting these sex toys in, Hockey Daddy?” I holler down the hall, knowing Gavin is going to lose his shit on me.

Sara waddles beside me, cackling like a drunken sailor. Sadly for her, she hasn’t had a drink in months because she’s seven months pregnant. “We should hide them throughout the house.”

“There’s no way Gavin and Millie left their toys out for you to put away,” Liv calls from the nursery where she and Beckett are working on putting together one of the cribs. Yes, I said one. Because Millie didn’t only go and get pregnant, no, the girl went and got pregnant with twins.

Sara grabs my arm. “Why are you squeezing your thighs tightly together?”

“Was just thinking about Millie being pregnant with twins, and my kitty got scared. Can you imagine the stretching that thing will be put through.”

“Oh my god, Len, can we not!”

I shrug. “Yeah, I can see how you’d be worried considering you’re about to give birth to Brooks Langfield’s baby. That man is huge. Bet your baby has a huge head.”

Sara’s jaw falls open. “My daughter does not have a huge head!”

I pat her belly. “Poor girl definitely does. But don’t worry, Auntie will buy you lots of pretty hats.”

“You’re an asshole,” Liv says with a laugh.

I peer into the nursery and grin. “I’m sure your coochie is perfect. Beckett would accept nothing less.”

“Her coochie is perfect,” Beckett says proudly. When Liv hits him, he seems to realize what he just said and scowls. “Well it is, but Jesus, did I just say coochie? Where are my brothers? Shouldn’t Gavin be putting this together?” He glares at me again and then walks out of the room, leaving me giggling while Liv falls back on her ass and sighs.

“I’ll help you,” Sara offers.

I grab her arm. “No. Brooks gave strict instructions. You aren’t to lift a pretty finger. I’ll help Liv.”

“I can’t believe you are all going to be living on this street. It seems like a lifetime ago that I moved into Delia’s house with the girls, and we thought we would die there all together. Because it was falling down.” She giggles. “And also because I never pictured getting married again let alone to Beckett.”

I grab the directions, and we start to work on the crib together while Sara supervises. “It really is crazy to think how much your one decision to move in with all your girlfriends created this whole ripple effect. I mean think about it, if Beckett hadn’t moved in with you, he never would have seen how stressed you were traveling all the time, and he wouldn't have promoted me.”

“And you wouldn’t have started working exclusively with the hockey team and then slept with Seb,” I add.

“Can we not?” Sara whines again.

Liv giggles. “And then decide to fake date your best friend and fall in love.”

Sara sighs. “I love that story.”

“And there’s no way Gavin would have been ready for kids if not for him wanting to always be like Beckett,” Millie adds, as she appears in the room with what appears to be a soccer ball in her shirt. I swear the girl is all belly at five months pregnant.

“I don’t want to be like Beckett!” Gavin hollers from who knows where in the house.

“Sure ya do!” Beckett screams.

“Beckett’s ducking awesome.” That’d be my husband.

We all laugh again.

“And if you hadn’t moved in with Brooks, I couldn’t have stayed in your apartment,” I say proudly.

“Squatted in my apartment,” Sara says with a jab of her finger in my direction.

“Potato, potahto,” I sing.

“And if she hadn’t squatted in your apartment, she wouldn’t have gotten a job as a wedding planner, and I wouldn’t have walked in with Jill—” Aiden starts as he stalks into the bedroom carrying a big box.

“Nine-inch nose!” I yell.

Millie and Liv burst into giggles.

Aiden smiles and shakes his head. “And seen the love of my life.”

“Awwwww,” the girls all coo as my cheeks grow warm.

All of the girls have amazing stories, but ours really is my favorite.

“And just think, none of that would have happened if Delia’s aunt didn’t die and leave her that house,” Liv adds.

“Ducking Medusa,” Beckett grumbles, but he saunters up to Liv and wraps an arm around her, nuzzling into her neck.

“We should probably send her a fruit basket or something,” Gavin muses as he walks in carrying an oversized Bolts teddy bear.

“She prefers the blood of Corporate America, but be my guest,” Beckett mutters.

Liv snorts and shakes her head, nudging Beckett’s ribs. “Be nice.”

Beckett frowns. “She’s not even here.”

“Alright, since you boys are all here, I’m going to take the preggos and Liv with me for pedicures,” I tell the boys.

Gavin drops the bear and reaches for his pocket. “My treat. Thank you for helping today, girls.”

I shake my head. “Nope. It’s my treat.”

“ Lennox ,” Sara warns.

My husband shakes his head and reaches for me, pulling me close, his chin landing on my shoulder. “It’s her love language, Sar; let her love you.”

Warmth pools in my belly. This family. This man. He knows me so well. Loves all my quirks, and I know everyone in this room does too. I love them all so much.

I turn in his arms and stare into my husband’s warm brown eyes. “You are so getting lucky later.”

He presses his lips to my nose and then drags his mouth to my ear. “I’m always lucky, Lex. I’m the leprechaun and I married you.”