Proving Paul's Promise

Friday’s face colors, and she looks everywhere but at me. “Paul,” she whines, closing her eyes tightly as she winces.

“Well, we hope so,” Cody says as he goes to sit down on the other side of Garrett. He takes Garrett’s hand and pulls it onto his knee. They’re so damn cute together they make my back teeth ache. “We’ve been trying to adopt for a long time, but it hasn’t worked out.”

“What are the chances this won’t work?” I ask. I might as well know what I’m up against, right?

Cody holds up his hands like he’s weighing something. “We have no way of knowing. Not until next week.”

“Chances are good, though?” I ask.

They nod.

“I hope it works out for you.”

They cast questioning glances toward Friday, and I can’t help but wonder what they’re thinking. I’ll ask her later, after they’ve left, I guess.

Sam comes out of the bedroom and stops, looking from Cody and Garrett to Friday and back. “Hell yeah,” he finally says. He lifts his hands like he’s praying to God and says, “Thank you for small miracles. And for putting Paul out of his misery.” He shoves my shoulder. “Glad they finally told you.”

I choke on my beer. “You knew?” I croak out.

“Well, yeah,” he says. “If you weren’t looking at them through that red haze of jealousy you got going on, you’d have seen it, too.”

I throw a wadded napkin at his head, but he just laughs.

The door opens, and Emily waddles into the room. Emily is married to my brother Logan, and she’s almost nine months pregnant. She’s so damn adorable with that pregnancy waddle that I can’t help but grin. Sam isn’t quite as smart as me. He laughs out loud.

Emily walks up behind him and threads her hand into his hair. She gently yanks, tilting his head back and looking into his eyes. “Are you seriously laughing at the pregnant chick?” she asks.

He holds up his hands as though he’s surrendering to the cops. “Not me,” he says.

She kisses him quickly on the forehead and shoves his cheek gently, and he makes room for her on the couch. She drops down beside him and sits back, blowing out a heavy breath. Sam lays a hand on her belly. “How’s my niece doing in there?” he asks. He leans down and talks to her belly, and she giggles, shoving him away with a hand to the side of his face.

“She’s fine. Still cooking.” She lays a hand on her basketball-sized belly and smiles.

Friday introduces Cody and Garrett, and Emily helps herself to some pizza.

“You want some water?” Sam asks.

“Yes, but I don’t want to get up,” she says. She bats her lashes at him.

He groans, but he gets to his feet and goes to get her a drink.

“Can you turn the TV on?” Emily asks. “They’re doing a news report on that band I played with last week.”

I flip the TV on and go to the channel she tells me to. She leans forward as she sees the lead singer of the band being asked questions.

“Turn it up,” she cries.

She listens intently while they talk with the lead singer. She’s pretty in a dead-of-the-night sort of way. It makes me want to wash all that dark makeup off her face to see what’s underneath. Kind of like I want to do with Friday. I’d love to see what Friday looks like without the red lipstick and the heavy lashes. I’d kind of like to see what she looks like without her clothes, too. Heat creeps up my cheeks when I catch Cody smirking at me. Apparently, I looked at Friday’s legs a little too long.

A grin tugs at my lips, and I shake my head.

“Busted,” he sings out.

Friday looks from him to me and back. “Who’s busted?” she asks.

Cody opens his mouth to answer her, but Emily saves me by butting in. “They asked me to record with them,” she says as she takes the remote and turns the volume back down.

That takes my attention off Friday. “Seriously?” I ask.

She nods. “I’m still thinking about it. They want me to tour with them, too, but I told them no.”

Sam shoves her shoulder, and she grunts and points to her belly. “Um, helloooo?” Emily sings. But she’s grinning, too.

The door opens, and Pete walks in. Damn, it’s like a revolving door tonight.

“I can’t believe you turned them down,” Sam says.

“Who turned what down?” Pete asks. Sam and Pete are identical twins, but anyone who knows them can tell them apart.

Sam points to the TV. “Em got an offer to tour with the girl band, Fallen from Zero.”

“Shut the f**k up!” Pete cries. He throws himself over the back of the couch so that he lands with his legs across Sam’s lap.

“Watch the belly!” Emily yells as she covers it with her palm. He’s far from hitting her, though.

“That drummer is hot,” Sam says. He’s still watching the footage with no sound, since we play the TV with subtitles for Logan all the time.

“I would have thought you’d like the lead singer best,” Emily says, watching his face.

He shakes his head. “Not my type.”

“Not enough ass,” Pete tosses out. “He’s not into skinny chicks.” Pete looks over at Emily. “No offense, Em.”

Emily rolls her eyes and points to her very pregnant belly.

Sam shoots Pete a look and shoves Pete’s legs out of his lap.