I nod, making a show of stretching out my back. “I’ll go see if Gabe needs a hand.”
Molly waves that away. “He’s fine. You know how he gets when he’s in full blown dad mode. He lives for this. You can relax. Now that you mentioned it, I can’t stop thinking about that fourth piece of pie. I think I’m winding up for second dessert.”
“Fuck. Yes.” Liv sits up,I’m never eating againforgotten completely. “That sounds perfect.”
I consider that because it actually does sound amazing. “I could do second dessert. I’ll peek in on Soph and help Gabe get her down, then we can do second dessert right here, because I’m pretty sure we’re all going to need to lay on the floor afterwards.”
Molly grins and points to me. “You’re the smart girl.”
“Don’t you have a genius IQ?”
She shrugs. “I mean, yeah, but so do you, and you’re the chief software engineer for one of the most famous tech companies in the world, so takes one to know one, girlie pop.”
At the mention of the job that my entire family thinks I still have but that I do not, in fact, have anymore, I give a short nod and hightail it directly out of the living room and up the stairs before I have to answer any uncomfortable questions I’m definitely not ready for. Not now. Maybe not ever.
It’s not like my family ever needs to know what I actually do for a living, right?
Ugh. I might be so screwed.
“Soph, did you know that dinosaurs roamed the earth for more than one hundred sixty-five million years? That’s crazy when you think about it because modern humans have only been around for, like, three hundred thousand years. That’s nothing compared to the dinosaurs.”
I smile at my brother’s deep voice and Sophie’s answering babble.
“Isn’t she a little young for dinosaur facts?” I ask, leaning against the bathroom door, my heart melting into goo at the sight of my brother, billionaire tech genius, inventor of the Redwood smartphone, the most famous electronic device in human history, owned by sixty percent of smartphone users in the world, sitting on his knees on the bathroom floor with his sleeves pushed haphazardly up to his elbows, spouting dinosaur facts to his seven-month-old daughter as she splashes in the bathtub and a tiny projector displays multicolored dinosaurs onto the wall.
He grins up at me. “It’s never too early to start learning weird facts about human history.”
“Spoken like a true nerd.”
“Bet your ass, Ames. Takes one to know one.”
I crouch down next to him, running a hand over Sophie’s wet curls. “What do you think, baby girl? You going to nerd out like your dad and me? Your mom’s no slouch in the brains department either.”
“She sure isn’t,” Gabe says, his eyes going soft like they do every time he thinks about Molly, which is pretty much always. I don’t think anyone has ever loved anyone the way Gabe loves his wife. Even during the decade they were apart, there has never been anyone for him but her. No one deserves this kind of happy ending more than Gabe does, but it’s almost like the happier he gets, the more disconnected from him I feel. It makes no sense at all, and yet, there it is.
Almost like she knows where my thoughts are about to go, Sophie reaches a chubby hand up and pats my face, grinning at me with her two little teeth visible and blue eyes sparkling. She looks exactly like a tiny Molly.
I lean to the side and bump Gabe’s shoulder with mine. “There’s been some talk downstairs about second dessert. You in?”
Gabe laughs, leaning his shoulder against mine. “Molly was feeling bad about not trying the apple, wasn’t she?”
I soak in the comfort of my brother’s warm weight against my side. “She mentioned something about your puppy dog face.”
He smiles. “Gets her every time. Come on, baby girl, let’s get you ready for bed.”
I reach up and grab the towel Gabe has sitting on the bathroom counter and hold it up while he lifts Sophie out of the bath. Wrapping her up, he plucks her out of my arms and carries her into her bedroom, dimming the lights and laying her down on her changing table for a diaper and pajamas.
I lean against the wall, watching Gabe get his daughter ready for bed, a bubble of emotion in my chest. “I’m really glad you’re here, Ames.”
Gabe’s simple statement surprises me, like he can see my turmoil of emotions without even looking. “Me too, Gabe. You have a really beautiful life here.”
Gabe turns and looks at me, one hand on Sophie’s tummy to keep her from rolling off the changing table. “This is your home, too, you know. Wherever I am, there’s always a place for you and Liv.”
I just barely resist rubbing a hand over my heart where my chest aches. It’s like he looked directly into my brain and told me the thing that would hit the hardest. Because what kind of person with a brother this amazing would question where she fits into his life?
“Thanks, Gabey.”
He winces. “I hate that nickname.”
