29. Katie

CHAPTER 29

Katie

“ H ey, C-man! Will you come to the kitchen for a bit? Nolan and I want to ask you about something,” I call down to what we’re now calling the rec room. I found two really comfortable chairs at a thrift store and created a little reading nook down there to go with our yoga studio vibe. It’s become a great space to spend time together when we don’t feel like watching TV.

Cody comes into the kitchen, a questioning look on his face.

“Come sit with us.” I pull out the stool next to mine.

Nolan is standing on the other side of the island with a soft smile. Ever since we said “I love you,” he’s seemed more relaxed here. He’s always felt like he belonged with us, but now it’s as if he knows for certain I’m not going to kick him out randomly. I didn’t mean to make him question my feelings for him. It just isn’t a simple task to drop every wall I’ve built over the last nine years. It’s taken time and every ounce of patience Nolan possesses. It’ll likely take even more as our relationship progresses, but for now, I think we’re both happy .

“What’s up?” Cody looks at us. “Is Nolan finally moving in?”

I choke. A coughing fit hijacks my body as I try to regain my composure.

I finally get myself together with the help of the glass of water Nolan gets for me. “I take that as a no.” Cody laughs.

Nolan chuckles. “No, I’m not moving in—yet.”

“You’d be okay with that?” I ask, a little surprised. I’m not even sure who I’m asking specifically. I didn’t miss the way Nolan said “yet.” It’s Cody who answers, though.

He gives me a look like I’m crazy. “Well, yeah. He’s here all the time already, so it would make sense.”

“Right, sure. I guess we’ll have to talk about that later.” My heart is pounding at the idea of Nolan moving in. What’s surprising is how much I genuinely want that to happen. I’ve started to hate the nights when he’s not here.

Nolan smirks at me as if he knows what I’m thinking before he looks back at Cody. “We wanted to talk to you about your birthday. My family wants to throw you a party to celebrate, but your mom and I weren’t sure if you wanted to have a party with your friends, too.”

“I could have two parties?” Cody’s eyes widen.

“If you wanted,” I say.

“We could also invite your friends to the party with my family,” Nolan adds.

“That many people would never fit in our house.” Cody grins.

Nolan laughs. “No, they wouldn’t. My brother, Matthew, has offered to host your party. He has a huge basement where you could hang out with your friends. The adults would be upstairs. Of course, we’d have food and drinks and games and stuff. It’s totally up to you.”

Cody looks at me. “I could have family and friends at my party? At the same time?”

I smile at him, trying to keep the tears at bay. “Yeah, baby. Nolan’s family wants us to hang out with them more often. We thought this would be a fun way for you to start getting to know them better.”

“Can it still be Percy Jackson-themed, like I wanted?”

“Duh. I’ve already got ideas for decorations. I think swords and shields are a must,” Nolan says. He winks at me when I narrow my eyes in annoyance. Yes, let’s give nine-year-old boys swords to play with. Brilliant plan.

“Then I’d like to have it at Matthew’s house. That sounds really fun. And I don’t have that many friends to invite. Just four.”

“You can invite as many as you want, okay?” Nolan says with sincerity.

Cody nods.

“We better get started on planning. Two weeks doesn’t give us very much time.” To-do lists start forming in my head with everything I’ll need to get done. I should’ve been thinking about this long before now, but I needed this past week to recover after what happened with Bryce.

“We’ll divide and conquer. A lot of it can be ordered online and shipped to Matthew and Tilly’s,” Nolan reminds me.

“Can we go shopping for stuff, too? I want to help.” Cody bounces in his seat.

“I don’t see why not. Let’s see what we can get online first, and then we’ll drive to Greensboro to get whatever is missing,” I say.

Cody’s belly laugh is killing me. He hasn’t stopped giggling at Nolan’s ridiculous antics.

We’re walking around the party store in Greensboro, trying to find party favors and things for Cody’s birthday party tomorrow .

Nolan was able to find everything we needed online, but he didn’t want to disappoint Cody, so we decided to take a trip this afternoon when we got done with school. Much to my annoyance, Nolan’s family has bought entirely too much stuff for Cody’s birthday. I haven’t spent a penny on the entire event.

They’ve all said that since it was their idea to host a huge party, they should foot the bill for it. I didn’t agree, but I’ve been vetoed by every person in the family, including Nolan.

Nolan finds some silly disguise glasses and puts them on. They have a huge nose and a grey mustache. He looks ridiculous. “What about these? No one would even guess it’s me.”

“Nooo. Those are too silly.” Cody giggles.

Nolan sighs. “Fiiiiine. No disguises, then.”

They’re trying to find something fun to add to the party favor bags. Nolan found some T-shirts for Cody and his friends that say Camp Half-Blood from the book. They wanted to find something else to add to the outfit, but there hasn’t been much that’s jumped out at us.

Cody gasps and runs down the aisle. Nolan and I look at each other in question and follow quickly behind him.

“Check it out! These things look real, but they’re not.” Cody pulls out a sword and waves it around.

“Can we get them, Mom? Pleeeeeasssse.”

Nolan grabs one, too, and squishes it in his hand. It collapses easily, and he looks at me with puppy dog eyes that could rival Cody’s.

I drop my head back with a groan. “Fine. But I swear, Cody Ezra, if someone gets hurt, you won’t be able to do anything like this again.”

This is going to end in disaster. I can feel it.

“En guard!” Nolan holds his sword up to Cody, who immediately drops back into a fighting stance. The two of them sword fight until they’re laughing too hard to continue. Then Nolan grabs about ten more swords, and I raise my eyebrows.

“What? My siblings would be pissed if I didn’t get them swords, too.”

I grin. “Fair enough.” Cody runs up to the candy section while Nolan and I slowly follow behind. “Thank you for making this birthday special for him.”

“He deserves it. That’s why we’ve all pitched in and gone overboard. We did it with Noah, too.”

“Just know that he’ll expect this next year, as well.”

“Uh, duh. He’ll be ten, so we’ll have to do it up big.”

I laugh, happiness filling my entire body to the brim. I had no idea that having a family would feel like this. It’s going to take some getting used to, but for the first time in a long time, I’m looking forward to the unknown.

“No, he didn’t!” I gasp in surprise.

“I swear he did. Ask Matthew.” Tilly raises her eyebrows and nods.

“How did you ever forgive him?” I ask. I hadn’t known that Tilly’s brother didn’t know she and Matthew were dating. Hearing how shitty he was when he caught them together before they could tell him sounds horrible.

“Des and I had a come to Jesus moment, and Matthew also forced him to talk through it. Everything’s fine now, but he was a real bastard about it for a while.”

“It’s hard to picture, isn’t it?” Ellie says as she blows up balloons with the tiny pink air compressor she bought.

“Definitely doesn’t fit the guy I met on New Year’s.” I adjust the balloons in my arch to fit exactly how I want. The girls and I have been decorating the main floor of Matthew and Tilly’s house for Cody’s birthday party while the boys have been in the basement, making a ruckus. They’re supposed to be decorating, but I doubt much has truly been finished. Cindy, Sue, and Steve are putting the finishing touches on the food in the kitchen. They got him a cake in the shape of a trident. It’s the coolest thing, and I cannot wait for Cody to see it.

This party is over the top and more impressive than anything I could have ever put together for him. I’m trying not to let myself feel bad about that. All of Nolan’s siblings brought stuff over to make this party what it is, and there’s no reason to compare myself to them. There are six siblings, if I include Natalie. Not to mention their partners. I’d never be able to match that, even if I had more money.

“That’s looking amazing, Katie,” Natalie says. Baby Carson is strapped to her chest and passed out cold. I give him a little stroke on his head and smile at him.

“God, I miss that age.” I shake my head and laugh. “What am I saying? I miss every age.”

“Tell me about it. I’m both excited to watch him grow and hating it just as much.”

“I hope you know you’re always more than welcome to bring Noah over to hang out with Cody and me if you guys need a night to yourselves.”

“Thank you. Noah hasn’t stopped talking about Cody since they went to the science museum. Most kids don’t have a clue about what Noah is interested in, but it sounds like the two of them never stopped talking.”

“That’s what Cody said, too. He loved spending the day with Noah.”

“Mom!” Cody comes running toward me in his bright orange T-shirt. “Come check out what we did in the backyard.” He grabs my arm and pulls me out of the living room and to the back door.

“I thought you guys were decorating the basement.”

“We did that, too. ”

I follow him down the deck stairs where a huge blowup obstacle course has been set up.

“Isn’t it awesome? It’ll be like we’re in training at Camp Half-Blood.”

Nolan and Matthew come over to us with huge grins on their faces. They look just as excited as Cody. Nolan leans in to kiss me. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s a lot. Where did this come from?”

“I found a place that rents them.” Matthew runs a hand through his hair.

The blue-and-red monstrosity has a climbing wall, slides, and even columns to run through. It’s… elaborate. The boys are going to have a blast.

“You kind of want to run through it, don’t you?” Nolan teases.

“Definitely.” I tilt my head back to see him better. “Thank you for this. All of it.”

“He deserves it. And so do you.”