I nod. “I’ve been a few times. It’s beautiful.”
Rosie smiles wistfully. “I bet. I’ve only seen pictures, but it looks incredible. The snow-covered trees, all those twinkly lights…it looks like magic. I wanted to go so badly, but of course the lights weren’t on in the summer. My parents said we could come back in November for my birthday to see all the lights.” Her chin quivers as new tears build, sliding silently down her face. “My parents passed away in September. We never got to go.”
Cupping her cheek, I swipe at the tears that come rolling down. “I’m so sorry, Rosie.”
“It’s why I’m here. Why I chose Vancouver, even though there’s an incredible veterinarian school forty-five minutes from my hometown. Because this is the last trip we took together. Because we were so happy here. We were together, and we were happy. Because Vancouver, because here, right here , is where I feel my family.”
Rosie climbs to her feet, holding her hand out to me, inviting me to follow suit. She traces the shape of the heart, the date, that D and M . “I don’t want to lose this again. I can’t. I can’t forget where this tree is.”
“You won’t,” I promise her. “I’ll remember. We can put something here to mark it. Plant some flowers.”
She grins. “Peonies?”
I smile, touching my thumb to the dimple in her chin. “Peonies.”
Rosie stares at the heart for a long moment before she places her hand over the carving, eyes fluttering closed. When they open again, there’s a clarity behind them, a newfound hope. She’s not lost anymore; she’s found.
She clutches to her heart. “You know what I think, Adam? I think you’re the one who found it because you’re my family now too. You feel like it, anyway. You didn’t just find my family; I found my family in you.”
I’m glad I can give her something she’s been missing, something she so desperately craves and so wildly deserves.
Because I know, in her, I’ve found something I’d given up on.
I’ve found love.
“I think she’s ready to have sex.”
The chatter around me dies, and four sets of eyes rise to mine. Carter twists his twenty-fifth Oreo apart, slowly licking at the icing, and Garrett rips open a bag of Flamin’ Hot Funyuns before sticking his hand inside, pulling a handful out at the literal pace of a turtle. Jaxon pops the cap off a bottle of beer even though he already has one, excitement gleaming in his eyes as he tips both back to his mouth at the same time, and Emmett pulls out his phone, the sound of his fingers clacking at the screen filling this awful silence.
A horrible, high-pitched, dying bird type of screech filters into the backyard from Carter’s kitchen, and sweet Christ, what I wouldn’t give to get that awkward silence back.
“Rosie’s ready to have sex !” Cara shrieks from inside. “Our sweet angel baby’s getting his dick wet !”
“Jesus fuck—” I scrub my hands over my face and look to Emmett. “Does she ever, you know…not?”
He shakes his head wistfully. “Never. Never does she not. She always does.”
“When do you see her next?” Jaxon asks, reaching for Garrett’s Funyuns. Garrett glares, tearing the bag out of reach.
“Tomorrow.”
“And what makes you think she’s ready for sex?”
“Well, she…we’ve been…I mean, things have progressed, naturally.”
Garrett shoves a handful of his snack into his mouth. “Naturally.”
Carter tosses his cookie into his mouth. “So you w-icked ’er cookie.”
“I refuse to acknowledge you when you talk with cookies in your mouth and call body parts after them.”
“Meh meh meh meh meh,” he mimics, then tries to rip the Oreo pack out of my hand when I grab it. “No! You don’t get my cookies if you’re gonna make fun of me.”
“Carter,” Olivia warns from inside. “Share your cookies.”
His brows tug so tightly together with his frown as he relinquishes the cookies. It’s incredibly hard to take him seriously when he’s wearing that T-shirt, Support Your Local Girl Dads stamped on it. He makes grabby hands at Emmett, who’s holding Ireland. “Gimme my baby.”
“No.”
“If I can’t have my Oreos, I need my princess.”
Emmett tickles Ireland’s belly, and she giggles around the silicone hockey skate she’s gnawing on. “She’s happy right here. Aren’t you, angel?”
The patio door slides open, Olivia stepping outside. Her gaze sweeps the patio before landing on Emmett and Ireland. “There’s my girl. I need to feed you, sweetheart, but I promise I’ll bring you right back to Uncle Emmett, okay?”
“I’ll be waiting.” He blows Ireland a kiss and leans back in his chair, crossing one ankle over the other, looking me over. “Back to you having sex.”
“You know she slept over for the first time last week. And she’s been saying…she’s been saying she wants this next time to be baby free. So I think…do you think…” I brace my elbows on my bouncing knees. “Does that mean…?”
The four of them leap from their chairs, high-fiving each other.
“Ay-yo !”
“There it is!”
“That’s totally the sign!” Garrett tells me, sinking back down to his seat.
Carter nods. “Ollie always says she wants baby-free time when she wants to go all night or get super loud.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Olivia growls from inside. “Carter !”
Emmett clinks his beer against mine. “Looks like you’re having sex tomorrow night, bud.”
“Tomorrow night? But that’s…so soon…and what if I…” My throat runs dry, and I lick my lips. It’s been so long. Too long. I’m out of practice. And what if I’m not good? I look down at my trembling hands and blurt, “My hands are sweaty.”
Jaxon watches me carefully. “So Rosie’s ready…but are you?”
Am I ready? Nobody’s ever asked me that before. I guess…I guess I hadn’t really thought of it. I was never ready before, but then, none of those girls were Rosie. I just want to be enough for her.
I leap to my feet, knocking the Oreos to the ground, eliciting a gasp from Carter, who dives for them. I shove my fingers through my hair and blurt the first thing that comes to mind. “I-I-I…I don’t have any condoms.”
With his cookies safe on his lap, Carter runs a palm over his puffed chest. “I’d give you one of mine, but it’d be way too big.”
Olivia’s snort drifts through the patio door. “Carter, if anyone’s taught him the importance of wearing a condom, it’s you. Everyone here knows you don’t own a single one.”
Garrett exhales loudly, leaning back in his chair, kicking his legs out in front of him, resting the back of his head in his clasped hands. “I’d give you some if I had them, but Jennie lets me fuck her raw.”
“Yeah I do, baby !”
“Take that back,” Carter growls lowly.
Garrett tosses one of Carter’s cookies in his mouth. “No.”