“Yeah,” I smile. “Ma’s awesome like that. But be warned, if you happen to mention that your favorite color is blue or your favorite animal is, like, a zebra, you’ve pretty much sealed your Christmas and birthday gifts for the next forty years.”
“My favorite color is purple, and my favorite animal is a turtle,” she tells me, that smile still in place. “And though I love them both, I’m not sure I need an endless supply of either.”
“I’ll keep that tidbit to myself, I promise,” I say, slicing the dough and placing the little spirals in a greased dish.
“Seriously, I’m sure Knox and his girlfriend really appreciate what you’re doing.”
“What’s this about Knox?”The man himself barges into the kitchen with Rose on his hip. She’s all bundled up like a snow baby, so I kiss her cheek and start unzipping her jacket. I hear Lucy’s intake of breath, just as Knox realizes who I’m talking to.
“Lucy Alvarez? Shit. It’s been years. How’ve you been?”
“I’m fine. And you? Is that your baby? She’s beautiful.”
He smiles. “Poor kid looks just like me,” he tells her. “And life here is pretty damn—darn great. You keeping this fool in line?” he asks, pointing to me.
“Oh, no,” Lucy laughs. “That’s not my job.”
“You sure? I’m almost positive that’s in the official stepsister description—you need to keep this guy busy—”
Before Knox can stick his foot in his mouth any further, a tipsy Willa walks in and wraps her arms around his waist. She reaches up to whisper in his ear, so I shoo them off and reach my hands out for Rose.
“Oh my God, you two. Get out of here. No fu--funny business in my kitchen.” Learning not to swear around Rose is fucking hard.
Knox has his tongue down Willa’s throat, but she pulls away just enough to say, “‘s Rose’s bedtime.”
“If you two promise to wait until you’re upstairs to strip each other naked, I’ll happily put this sweet girl to bed.” No sooner are the words out of my mouth than Knox is leading Willa to the second floor.
“They are so cute together. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Knox Gallagher...smitten.”
“Yeah, my boy’s got edges, but Willa smooths them out,” I say, popping Rose into her highchair and placing some Cheerios on the tray. Immediately, she fusses and bangs her little fists on the plastic. “What’s the matter, Rosebud?”
She holds her arms out to me and makes her little gurgly baby noises that mean, “pick me up, you asshole.” And so, of course, I do.
I hear Lucy’s timer ding, and she shoots me a nervous look.
“Go get 'em, Luce. Let’s see how you did,” I encourage her, knowing full well that if they’re a flop, I’ll make a batch and let her pass them off as her own.
But my baking services aren’t necessary. The cookies emerge from the oven golden-brown and perfect.
“Whit! They’re so pretty! They look like they could be on a magazine cover!”
She’s not wrong. Those are some pretty damn perfect looking cookies.
“Wait a sec then transfer them to the wire racks, ok?”
She works on that while I babble to Rose and fix her a bottle. I’m betting Willa needs to pump and dump tonight...and I’m also betting Knox has her too busy to worry about that right now, so I warm up a bottle and find everything I need in the diaper bag. With one hand, I cover the tray of cinnamon rolls, careful to keep Rose’s fingers out of it. After sticking that in the fridge, I grab my phone, and Rose and I make our way upstairs.
I took the room on the third floor for many reasons. It’s huge, first off. I’ve basically got an apartment up here. And there’s an awesome view. And, when I wake in the middle of the night screaming in terror, I’m less likely to wake the whole damn house.
Although, admittedly, they usually wake up anyway. And now I have a night-terror companion in Phoebe. Thankfully, though, my new meds help me sleep soundly enough that the night terrors are pretty much a thing of the past.
I lay Rose in the middle of the bed and change her into a fresh diaper and jammies. If you’d have told me a couple months ago that I’d be a diaper-changing pro, I’d have laughed my ass off. But Rose has made all of us step up our game.
It’s still a little early and I have no doubt Knox and Willa are making sweet, loud love, so I grab a stack of books and crawl onto the bed with Rose.
“Whit?” Lucy’s voice has me palming my phone. “Are you busy?”
“No, sorry. I had to get Rose all settled since her parents are fu— enjoying some quality adult time. So, we’re hanging out for a bit, isn’t that right, Rosebud?”
