The Kiss: An Anthology About Love and Other Close Encounters(17)

“You look like hell,” Gavin says to Will.

Will shrugs and falls into a chair at the kitchen table. He runs his hands through his unkempt hair, then folds his arms across the table and rests his head on them. “I did just get my first solid hour of sleep in two weeks,” he says. “So things are looking up.”

If he’s this tired, I can’t imagine how Layken feels. “Is Layken still asleep?” I ask Will.

Will lifts his head and shakes it. “She’s awake. She’s just trying to pull herself out of bed.”

With that, I make my way to their bedroom. I open the door and it’s almost dark inside, but I can see her motionless under the covers. It doesn’t look like she’s attempting to get out of bed at all. “Layken?” I whisper.

I hear the covers rustle, then her head appears. She smiles and I hop onto the bed next to her. “You finally get some rest?”

“Kind of,” she says with a groan. She scoots herself up and props herself up against the headboard. “I’m starting to wonder if maybe Julia is a vampire, because she never, ever sleeps. Was Katie like this? I can’t remember that long ago.”

I laugh. “Yep,” I say, rolling onto my back. “Remember that day I came over to your house in my bra?”

Layken laughs. “I forgot about that.”

Katie was about three weeks old and I was so frazzled and tired, I walked right across the street with her in my arms and was completely unaware that I wasn’t wearing a shirt. She had spit up on it a few minutes before and I had every intention of putting a different one on, but it just slipped my mind. I didn’t notice until I walked through their front door and Will looked at me, wide-eyed and nervous, and said, “Eddie? You’re kind of almost naked.”

The sad part is, I looked down at my bra and I just rolled my eyes and walked back to my house to put on a shirt. I wasn’t even embarrassed. You lose your ability to be embarrassed when you have an infant. Suddenly, things that once seemed important become not so important when you’re being peed and pooped on daily.

“How are the boys doing with dinner?” Layken asks.

“Well…that’s debatable. They seemed pretty frazzled, so we ended up ordering pizza.”

Layken laughs and throws the covers off, then picks her pants up off the floor. “I guess I should go relieve Will. He’s been giving me a break since this morning so I could catch up on sleep. He starts work again on Monday, so I’ll be waking up with her alone after that.”

I sit up on the bed. “Actually, she’s been asleep for a while. I think Kel and Caulder may have found her weakness.”

Layken looks at me curiously.

“The dryer.”

Her eyes bulge. “They put her in the DRYER?” She begins rushing toward the door.

“On the dryer,” I clarify. “She likes the vibration.”

She pauses at the door and turns to face me. “She’s on the dryer?”

I nod.

“And she’s asleep?”

I nod.

“And she’s safe? She can’t fall off?”

“She’s fine. And very peaceful looking.”

Layken sighs, relieved, then walks back toward the bed. “That’s good. Come get me when the food is ready. I’m gonna steal fifteen more minutes of sleep.”

I stand up and head toward the door, but turn back to face her just as she’s pulling the covers over her head. “Layken?”

She looks at me and waits for me to continue.

“Isn’t it amazing? Seeing Will with her? I saw him kiss her earlier and it was just the sweetest thing. It reminded me of when Gavin would hold Katie as an infant and kiss her on the nose. I used to love seeing that.”

Layken smiles endearingly. “Will being a dad is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,” she says. “It’s killing me to know we have to wait four more weeks. I assumed we were done with countdowns forever.”

I laugh. “Go back to sleep,” I tell her. “I’ll come get you when it’s ready.”





*


“Tuck and tweet,” Katie yells.

Katie has no idea how to play suck and sweet, but since she turned two years old, she’s always been the first to demand we play it as soon as we sit down to eat, only she’s not very good with her pronunciation of it.

“As soon as Layken gets in here, we’ll play,” I tell her.

“I’m here, I’m here,” Layken says from behind me. She makes her way to the table and pulls the chair out next to Will. He already has her plate ready. “You first, Katie,” Layken says to her.

Katie is sitting between Gavin and me. She usually sits next to Caulder, but for some reason, Kiersten took that seat tonight. Which is strange, because she usually sits next to Kel, but Caulder is between them now. I can tell by the way Kiersten is poking at her food and staring down at her plate that something is wrong with her.

I hope it’s not an issue between her and Kel, because I’ll make sure Kiersten marries into this family if it’s the last thing I do.

“What’s your suck, Katie?” Gavin asks her.

Katie pulls her finger to her chin as if she’s actually contemplating an answer. We all know she isn’t really contemplating, because her answers never make any sense.