Page 28 of The Paternity Puzzle

“We don’t have buttermilk,” Sawyer replied.

“That’s what the vinegar is for. You can make your own by adding it to regular milk.”

Sawyer arched a brow. “Come on.”

“Wait and see.”

Thirty-five minutes later, Sawyer pushed back from the table and held up his hands in surrender. “I will never doubt you again.”

Royce wiped a smear of syrup from his face with his napkin, but his smug smile remained. “What are your plans this morning?”

“I need to make some side dishes to take to my parents this afternoon, but I can hold off on that for a while.”

Royce waggled his brows. “Oh yeah?”

He couldn’t mean another round of sex. Had Royce discovered the fountain of youth while he’d been in Denver? “I’m all yours.”

Royce’s mouth spread into a wicked smile that would make the Joker jealous. “That’s what I’m talking about. I’ll grab the keys.”

“Keys?” Sawyer repeated.

“The hardware store is having a Memorial Day weekend sale.”

Sawyer groaned and hung his head in defeat. “But you already have one of everything from there.”

Royce pushed back his chair and stood up. “I could use some extra muscle carrying out the potting soil.” He stopped by Sawyer’s chair long enough to drop a kiss on the back of his neck.

Sawyer pushed back from the table with his empty plate in his hand and followed Royce to the sink. “Fine.” The lack of enthusiasm in his voice made his husband laugh.

“And we could look at paint color samples. I’m thinking something neutral, like the palest gray, yellow, or green.”

Sawyer didn’t have to ask what room Royce wanted to paint. “You don’t want to wait until we’re certain?”

“I’m going all in,” Royce said. “What do you say?”

All the turmoil Sawyer had felt vanished as he stared into his husband’s mercurial eyes. “I’m quite partial to the color gray for a nursery color.”

“Grab the keys and let’s go.”

Royce rubbed his hands together in glee when Sawyer parked in his parents’ driveway. “I should’ve worn sweats.”

Sawyer shook his head as he turned off the car. “It’s not Thanksgiving.”

“If Evangeline hosts a food gathering, it will be a feast worthy of stretchy waistbands.”

“You remind me of Joey fromFriendswhen it comes to food,” Sawyer teased.

Royce waggled his brows and grinned. “How you doin’?”

“Your New York accent could use some work.”

Royce accepted the challenge as he climbed from the passenger seat. He opened the back door, and Dolly enthusiastically wagged her tail in her doggie car seat. “How you doin’?” Royce asked her.

Yip, yip, yip.

“That one was a little better,” Sawyer called from the rear of the car.

Royce unsnapped Dolly’s three-point harness system that kept her securely in place. The memory of their doggie car seat search made him smile. Sawyer had been determined to find the highest-quality product with the best safety rating, and Royceinsisted on one that also looked cute enough for their princess. He figured the purchase had created the blueprint for thousands of future parenthood negotiations. Some would take days to decide, like the doggie car seat, and others would click into place immediately, such as the pale gray paint they’d found for the nursery. Their only debate at the hardware store had been how many gallons to buy. The nursery wouldn’t be a large space, but Royce knew the one-coat promise from most paint brands was complete bullshit. And then there was the primer to consider. Did they prep the walls first or buy a paint with the primer built in? Sawyer left that decision up to him, and Royce had gone with the combo option for expediency since they weren’t trying to cover a dark paint color.