“Well, I hope you know I’m totally game to babysit anytime you need it.” She laughs. “Babies are a handful, but they’re also something special. Sometimes I miss Greyson being that small. He was such a beautiful baby. Perfect.”
I know she doesn’t mean for her words to hurt me, but they do. Greyson was taken from me so quickly at times I wondered if he’d even existed.
“He was adorable,” I agree, though I’m totally biased. Sarah put together an entire photo album of all of Greyson’s years before I got to meet him and I look at it often, stroking his chubby little baby cheeks.
Greyson’s laughter carries over to us and I smile, watching him and Jace throw balls at each other, trying to hit the other.
“You’re going to be an amazing mom.” Sarah smiles at me, her eyes crinkling.
Even though she’s not old enough to be my mom, in many ways it feels like she is. She’s been kind to me, a friend and confidant. I trust her in ways I don’t trust a lot of people.
“Thank you. Sometimes it scares me, my parents weren’t the best and I wonder how on Earth I’ll know what to do.”
She shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll all click into place once that little guy or gal is here. Everything you need to know is right here.” She taps her heart.
I believe her too.
Greyson comes running toward us and hugs his mom, then hugs me.
“I’m tired,” he declares, out of breath. “Can we come back tomorrow?”
Sarah laughs. “Not tomorrow, bud, but we will come back.”
He frowns but nods. “Fine.”
Jace glances at his phone. “Thea’s bitching, we need to go.”
“Jace,” I hiss.
“What?” He blinks innocently. Finally, it clicks into place. “Don’t repeat what I said, Greyson. Those are grown up words.”
Sarah laughs and shakes her head. “Trust me, he knows if he repeats anything like that he’ll get soap in his mouth.” She stands and places her hands on his shoulders. “Come on, let’s go get your shoes. We have to get home so I can make dinner.”
“Bye, Grey. I love you,” I tell him and hug him one last time before he has to leave.
“Love you too, Angel.”
He presses his lips to my cheek and then he’s walking away.
I won’t lie, every time he walks away from me it hurts, but at least I know he’ll always come back eventually.
Jace gets his shoes and we head out. We’re having dinner at Thea and Xander’s place. It’s the only place big enough for all of us to get together unless we go out, but most of the time we’d all rather avoid the chaos of public spaces.
We get in Jace’s truck and he tosses his phone at me.
“She keeps blowing up my fucking phone. Tell her to chill the fuck out before I run her over with my truck and make it look like an accident.”
I snort and shake my head, reading the string of texts from Thea. I secretly love how she always texts Jace incessantly to bug the crap out of him. I love seeing him get riled.
Thea: Where are you guys?
Thea: Seriously, where the fuck are you?
Thea: I’m giving your food to the dog, making her throw it up, and then giving it to you.
Thea: JACEN
Thea: JAAAAAACEN you can run but you can’t hide