24. Nolan

CHAPTER 24

Nolan

“ E arth to Nolan.” A hand waves in front of my face, and I’m snapped out of my daydreaming to see my siblings staring at me like I’m crazy.

“What? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“We were just wondering what’s up with you. You’re being weird today.” Tilly smacks Matthew on the arm. “What? It’s true.”

I snort. “I’m fine. Just distracted today.”

“You sure? Everything okay at the bar?” Adam asks. I glance at Ellie while she plays with her blonde braid. She’s giving me a knowing look, and I’m suddenly unsure of what to do. I want to tell my siblings everything about Katie, but is she okay with that? I haven’t asked her since New Year’s when she didn’t want anyone to know. Does that still apply now? Adam, Ellie, and Carter already know. But I’m not the one who brought it up, they were. It’s different. I think.

“He’s dating someone. A very special someone to us.” Ellie decides for me. I could kiss her for that. It will now be Ellie’s fault that everyone knows about me and Katie. She waves her phone at me, silently telling me she’s either told Katie already or is going to tell her for me .

Shocked excitement builds in the room. They ask a million questions on top of each other, which makes it difficult to separate who’s asking what. I try to provide answers, but with everyone talking at the same time, I doubt anyone hears anything.

Carter whistles, effectively shutting us all up.

“Everything okay in here?” My mom peeks her head around the dining room wall that leads directly into the living room.

“It’s fine, Mom. We’re being heathens, as usual,” Matthew explains.

“Oh, okay. Well, dinner will be ready in a few minutes.” Mom heads back to the kitchen without further discussion. Family dinner is always chaos. There’s too many of us for it to be any other way. Add in that all four of my siblings have partners, on top of our unofficially adopted sister Natalie, her husband Tucker, and their two sons… Let’s just say Mom and Dad’s house has never been quite this packed.

All we’re missing is Katie and Cody to round out our family. I hate that they aren’t here today. It’s like I’ve forgotten something important. I invited them to come with me, but they had to go to a birthday party for one of Cody’s friends.

“Well? Are you going to spill?” Natalie gives her son, Carson, something new to play with from the massive bag she has next to her on the floor.

“Right. So, I started dating Katie.” I clench my teeth to keep from spewing every detail they don’t need to know about. Things like how much I love her and the incredible night we spent together on New Year’s and how every other night since has been better than the last.

“Katie? Our Katie? Mom of Cody, Katie?” Tilly asks, her eyes sparking with interest.

“I think you need to say her name one more time just to make sure,” Matthew teases .

“Shush, you. I’m excited.”

I grin at Tilly. “Yes, that Katie.”

“How? When? What?” Matthew asks, mirroring Tilly’s expression, only he’s not making fun of her now.

I make a face at him, silently asking what’s wrong with him. “I didn’t realize this would be such a big deal.”

“The only reason it’s a surprise is because you never date anyone long enough to tell us about them. That’s it,” Adam says, as if he didn’t know anything about this.

I think that was supposed to make me feel better, but it doesn’t. Not really. It only makes me feel more unqualified to be with her.

“I think the two of you make sense. She’ll ground you, and you’ll bring a little fun into her life,” Carter says. I smile at him gratefully. He’s always had my back and understood me better than any of my siblings.

“I agree. Lord knows that girl needs some laughter, not to mention a decent fu—” Ellie glances at Noah and Carson, who are keeping themselves busy on the floor. “Wrestling match.”

I throw my head back with a laugh. Katie told me that she shared everything with Ellie last night during their girls’ night. It’s nice to know I’m doing something right with Katie.

Adam frowns down at Ellie, who looks back at him with an innocent expression. “What? I’m not wrong. Even Katie agreed.”

“Anyway…” I get us back on track. “I am dating Katie, and things are going well. We’ve been seeing each other since New Year’s, and I’m really happy.”

“That’s all that matters,” Adam says.

“Actually, I wanted to talk with you guys about something. Katie’s birthday is coming up, and I kind of wanted to plan a surprise party for her.” I look at Ellie. “Do you think she’ll hate that?”

Ellie bites the inside of her cheek as she thinks. “Maybe outwardly because she doesn’t love being the center of attention.” I start to deflate, even though I’ve been thinking the same thing, but Ellie’s next words give me hope. “However, I think this is exactly what she needs. She’s never had anyone in her life who has made her feel special. You going through the trouble to plan a party specifically for her will be just the thing to help her see how much she means to you.”

“She’s everything to me.”

Ellie’s grin is blinding. “Then let’s start planning.”

It took an entire week, some heavy subterfuge, and a few carefully worded suggestions to get Katie’s surprise party planned. I didn’t want to lie to her. That felt shitty when she’s only just now trusting me to take care of her. But I also couldn’t tell her the truth, which meant I had to be very intentional about what I told her so she wouldn’t be suspicious.

Cody spilled the beans about Katie’s birthday one night during dinner a couple of days after we went to the arcade. He’d asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday, and she looked like a deer in headlights at his question. I’m not sure if she thought he wouldn’t remember or if she didn’t want me to know it was almost her birthday, but in the end, she said she’d be fine with having dinner, just the three of us.

I told her I’d plan a little something for her birthday—specifically leaving out the word dinner—even though she protested. Cody managed to convince her to let me do this. He insisted that she deserved a special night after all the birthdays she’d planned for him. She couldn’t say no to his cute little face. Trust me, she grumbled about it for half an hour after he went to bed.

Tonight is the big event. Ellie took Katie out shopping for a new dress for what Katie thinks will be a fancy night out. Ellie insisted that she buy it as Katie’s birthday present, again using the “she deserves it” excuse to pamper Katie.

While the girls are shopping, Cody and I are getting the house decorated. I told him after they left that we were throwing a surprise party for her instead of going to dinner. I couldn’t chance him accidentally saying something to throw her off. He understood why I kept it a secret, which made me feel less guilty.

I told Katie I would take Cody to get some fancy duds for her “special night” as an excuse to keep him with me. We did go shopping, but it only took us half an hour to pick out clothes. He’s been loving being a part of the planning today. His ideas for decorating have been way better than mine, so I’m oddly grateful he’s been here to help. Seeing his little smile light up his face when I praise one of his ideas gives me feelings I’ve never had before. Pride or maybe love… I don’t know exactly, but it makes me want to do it as often as possible.

Everyone should be showing up in about an hour, and as I look around the living room, excitement wrapped in a ball of nerves starts to make me nauseous.

“Your mom’s not going to get pissed at me for all this, right?” I turn toward Cody. He’s sprinkling plastic confetti on the table by the door.

“Nope. As long as she doesn’t have to clean it up.” He tilts his head to the side. “Well, she might not be happy at first, since she doesn’t love being surprised, but then she’ll realize why she’s being surprised, and she’ll be happy.”

That was mostly unhelpful. Oh, fuck. I slide my palms over my eyes. This is going to blow up in my face. I’m talking massive destruction. Everywhere. No part of me will survive. This was such a bad idea.

Suddenly, tiny arms are wrapping around my waist. Cody is hugging me for all he’s worth, and my whole body settles into the embrace. It’s exactly what I needed to come back from the panic.

“Thank you for putting my mom first. No one has ever done that before.”

“Aw, shit, kid. You’re going to make me cry.”

“That’s okay. Boys are allowed to cry any time they need to.”

“Well, fuck.” My throat starts to get thick, and tears actually threaten to fall. I clear my throat and take a deep breath before I squat down in front of him. “You’re right, Code. I just didn’t want to do that on your mom’s birthday. I have a feeling she’d know I was upset, and she’d wonder why.”

Cody gives me an understanding look. “She’d definitely know. It’s like she has this superpower and knows when something’s off. I can’t get away with anything.”

That makes me laugh. “It’s annoying, isn’t it?”

“Seriously.”

I check my watch. “We better go get dressed before everyone starts showing up. Thank you for your help today.”

“You’re welcome. Thank you for including me.” He starts to go up the stairs to his room but turns around. “I’m not just glad you’re here for Mom. I really like having you here, too.”

“Dammit, Cody. I was doing so good,” I tease through my emotions.

He grins at me and runs up to his room, yelling, “You owe me five bucks for all your curse words.”