“Oooh. I want a cousin,” Angie proclaims.
“Can someone pass me the mashed potatoes?” Markus asks and I shake my head.
This family.
“No! Jeez. Am I getting fat or something?” Claire asks, more to Jude than anyone else. Like the good husband he is, he shakes his head, holding her hand in a reassuring way.
“No, not at all,” my mom adds quickly. “It’s just you’ve been married so long.”
“Not even a year, Mom. That’s not long.” Jude shakes his head. “Jesus.”
“Really? I thought it was like five years.”
Lucy scoffs at my math. “I know. They are so sticky sweet in love, it makes us feel like we’ve been subjected to it longer than we actually have.”
I laugh in agreement as Claire clears her throat.
“Anyway…” Claire sings with laughter in her voice. Really, that’s all she can do.
Laugh at the insanity of this family.
“We bought a house here,” Claire says excitedly, her hands waving in a jazz hands sort of way that has my brows rising. I guess she figured everyone would be excited too.
But looking around, I’m sure everyone is thinking the same thing I am. “Why?” Jude sends me a dirty look at my question, and I hold up my hand. “I mean, I don’t understand why you did that when you live in Vegas and Jude lives in Cali.”
“My contract with the burlesque club is coming to an end, and I’ve turned down the renewal because I miss Jude and I want to be home more. I’m already turning over more to my Assistant Choreographer to make the transition faster.”
Silence comes after that last statement, and I can tell everyone is confused. Well, everyone except Coach, Markus, and Angie; they are all eating happily. Not a care in the world.
“I don’t get it,” Lucy says and I smirk. Leave it to my sister to say what all of us are wondering. But like he did to me, Jude starts to glare at her. “What? How is buying a house here helping?”
“Because, when the season is over, we will be living here.”
“Yeah, starting next year, I’ll be running my aunt’s dance studio a lot more since Reese is so busy with the boys,” Claire adds happily, speaking of her…er…cousins? I don’t know how that works. Phillip is her uncle, so, cousins? But before I can try to figure it out, everyone is nodding, so I do the same. Still not getting it, but oh well. Maybe I’ll actually see Jude more now. That is, before I sign my own contract and ship on out.
“So we’ll have a house in California and one here.”
“I’ll spend half the week here and half the week there,” Claire says.
“That’s a lot of travel,” Mom says, concern on her face.
But Claire nods. “Yeah, but it’s what’s best for us. We are happy.”
“And that is all that matters,” Mom says with a grin. “Because then you’ll start trying for a baby, right?”
“Ugh, Mom,” Jude groans.
“What? I want more grandkids.” Mom’s gaze then falls on Baylor.
“Whoa! Don’t look at me. They are more likely to have kids than us,” she says, hooking her thumb to Jude and Claire.
“Um, no, and it only makes sense that you guys have a kid first ’cause you live here. Easy babysitters,” Jude teases down to Jayden and Baylor.
“No, I can’t play and be pregnant, dumbass.”
“So? Do your job as a woman and have a baby,” Jude throws back at her, his eyes playful. But even I knew he was a dead man the moment he opened his mouth. The women at the table gasp, and laughter sputters out of me.
God, he is a dumbass.