“Yes, madrecita,” the boys say in unison. They only call her that if they try to get on her good side.
Rasmus chuckles, clearly entertained. Hunter crosses his arms, eyes narrowing at my baby daddy. “Alright, now that we know you’re fluent, I want to say one more thing.” He switches toSpanish to get his point across. “No offense, man, but you’re still not good enough for my sister.”
Rasmus lifts an amused brow. “Oh?”
“Yeah, I mean, look at her. She’s stunning and smart. She’s worked so hard to get where she is. Meanwhile—” Hunter waves a hand vaguely at Rasmus. “—you’ve got a freaking man bun and lots of baggage based on the rumors. You might be good at hockey, whatever, but that’s not the point.”
Rasmus only smiles. “What I’m hearing is you think I’m attractive and talented. Thanks, buddy.”
Hendrix bursts out laughing, while Holden looks personally offended on Hunter’s behalf.
“That’s not what I said,” my brother exclaims. “You twisted my words!”
“But that’s what I heard.” Rasmus shrugs.
Hunter glares at me. “This is your fault, sis. You let him be all charming, and now he’s part of our family until we all die.”
My dad speaks up. “Well, that took a morbid turn. I think you should consider your words carefully before coming to the next family dinner,” he tells my brother and turns to Rasmus. “Now, son, would you want some homemade key lime pie for dessert? It’s an old family recipe from my grandmother’s side of the family. Or we can eat that cake you brought. You decide.”
I smile because I notice Rasmus’ awe when my dad called himson. It warms my heart. If tonight is any indicator of what the eighteen plus years of family dinners will be, I don’t mind them at all.
31
NOW, TAKE ME LIKE A GOOD BOY
RASMUS
Dinner with Haisley’s family went about as well as I could’ve expected. Her brothers were suspicious, their mom sharp-witted, and Jeremy…well, he wasJeremy—his usual mix of genuine warmth and protectiveness.
It’s been a long day, but Haisley doesn’t look too tired. If anything, she looks deep in thought. I glance at her as I slow for a red light. “You okay?”
She blinks and turns to me. “Yeah, just thinking.”
“That’s dangerous.”
“It’s almost time to find out.”
I don’t need to ask what she means. We’re at the point in the pregnancy where we could find out the sex if we wanted to.
“Do you want to know?” I ask carefully.
“I don’t know. Do you?”
It’s a fair question. I haven’t let myself think too much about it,mostly because I already feel like I’m holding on so tight to something I still can’t fully believe is mine.
“Yeah,” I admit. “I think I do.”
She studies me, then turns to stare out the window. “Why?”
“I guess I want to picture them better. I already do, but they’re blurry, you know? I can see us with a baby, but I don’t know the details…” I trail off.
Haisley doesn’t say anything right away. Her fingers move over her stomach in slow, absent circles. “I get that. I picture them, too.”
My heart rate kicks up. “But?”
“Part of me wants to wait. Enjoy the mystery of it, you know? There are only a handful of times in this life that a person can be that surprised,” she explains. “Then another part of me thinks Ineedto know. I wasn’t expecting any of this, and I think I’ve had enough surprises.”
“Then let’s find out,” I tell her earnestly, reaching over to curl my fingers over hers. “Do you have a preference?”
