Epilogue

EPILOGUE

JUDE

T hey had decorated Imagination, a mixture of trees and lights, streamers and garlands, all celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. I brought along homemade peppermint bark. The kids had helped Brooke and me make it last night, although Amelia said it was too "spicy" to eat.

She'd warned all the kids off it when I offered some. Tucker was the only one to accept a piece. That kid would eat anything.

"What's everybody up to next week?" I asked, nibbling on a bit myself.

With only a few more days until Christmas, the guys and I thought we'd get one last playdate in for the year.

"We're doing Christmas in Boston again," Liam said, surveying his third of the place, where Finn and Tucker played.

I poked Dylan in the side with my elbow. "What about you?"

"Me and Gen are going over to see the kids open presents at Paige's on the twenty-fifth, but then we're getting them for the week because we're taking them to Arizona. "

"Nice."

Dylan lowered his voice, resting his elbows on his knees, holding his to-go cup of coffee between his hands. "But I don't how much longer Scarlett will keep going with the whole…S-A…"

He slowed, his dyslexia obvious, but Liam and I got the idea.

"Seb stopped believing in second grade," I said, double-checking he still lounged in the corner, playing on his Switch. "Caught me wrapping the gifts."

Dylan grunted next to me. "I still haven't bought anything for Gen yet."

Liam peered around me. "Clock's ticking."

"I know, but I don't know what to get her. She keeps saying nothing, but I'm not giving her nothing." He toyed with the brim of his baseball cap. "What'd you two get your girls?"

"Day at the spa and…" Liam pulled his cell phone from his back pocket to show us something on the screen, a picture of a picture. "I found this woman on Instagram. You send her a photo, and she draws it."

The picture was an illustration of Finn in Kennedy's lap at a table, both of them grinning in front of what appeared to be a mug of hot chocolate and a can of whipped cream. Kennedy held her finger in the air with some cream on it, probably after she'd wiped it off Finn's face since he still had remnants around his mouth.

"Aw, man," I crooned. "I love that."

On the other side of me, Dylan agreed. "Maybe I should give Genevieve something like that. How much was it?"

"Couple hundred."

Dylan huffed. "Or maybe I'll frame a picture of my dick."

I shook my head in amusement. "I got Brooke this thing that clips to her e-reader and a remote, so she doesn't have to hold it. Evie likes to read, right? "

"Yeah, but mostly audio. We listen together."

"You still doing that?" Liam asked, and Dylan nodded.

"Not often, but sometimes it's better than watching TV."

"Brooke and I read books together." I stopped myself. "I mean, she sends me books to read."

Liam grinned like the Cheshire cat. "Got your own book club, huh?"

"Bet you're into some kinky shit." Dylan smirked. "It's always the ones you wouldn't think who are."

"I plead the Fifth," I said, and then, "Why don't you ask Nate what to get his sister?"

Dylan lost his shit-eating grin real quick. "That guy's on my last nerve."

"What happened now?"

"He's trying to convince me to make him my best man."

Dylan had proposed to Genevieve this past June, and they'd set the date for this coming June after her dance recital since she ran a studio and wanted to wait until the season was over.

"Why not?" I shrugged. "He was mine. Makes a good best man."

"I told him we weren't doing that. You know it's gonna be small. Tucker and Scarlett are going to stand up with us."

"That's nice," I said, and Liam nodded.

"Yeah, but now he's giving me shit about doing a bachelor party and all that." He waved his hand as if batting away a fly. "I don't want it."

I bit back a smile. That was the thing about Nate. When he wanted something, he could be really persistent. Annoyingly persistent. He'd also go to the ends of the earth for the people he loved. "Eh, he's a good guy."

Dylan grumbled his agreement.

"What are you doing for Christmas?" Liam asked me. "You never answered. Hey! Boys!"

Finn and Tucker turned to him in plastic firefighter helmets, stopped midstride, on their way to running into each other headfirst. Tucker jumped up into the little fake fire truck, while Finn changed direction and ran headfirst into the wall. Liam heaved a sigh. "For Christ's sake." He stood up, gesturing at his son to chill. "Remember when you got staples in your head? You want more?"

Finn shook his head, tossed the helmet down then zipped over to the opposite end of the room, now in Dylan's zone.

Once Liam relaxed again, I said, "Brooke's going to come over Christmas Eve to exchange a few presents with the kids. We haven't done any more sleepovers yet, so she's not going to be there in the morning, even though I invited her. She thought it was too much, too soon for them, so I'm gonna pick her up to have dinner at my parents'."

Dylan spread his legs out wider, slouching more. "It's going good?"

"Yeah. It's going really great. If it were up to me, she'd move in tomorrow, but we know that's a while off. She's going to come to a few counseling sessions because we want to build a house on her land, and we figured between moving out of our house and selling the kids on the idea of a new one, it'll be a lot. I mean, realistically, until everything is all said and done, that wouldn't be for at least two years."

Liam helped himself to a little piece of the peppermint bark. "You thinking you're gonna get married?"

"Yeah, actually, we are. Not for a while, but we want to make sure the kids are good, and when we do, we'll involve them."

"You've got it all settled. I can't believe you were sitting here a few months ago, saying you wanted to hook up with somebody."

"I know." I couldn't believe it myself. "I guess I needed something to make me see what was right in front of me."

"A kick in the ass," Dylan said around his coffee cup. "We all need it every once in a while. "

Liam aimed a meaningful brow at him. "Or a punch in the face."

"Bro, don't start."

Liam smiled and patted my back. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks."

"Gen really likes her," Dylan told me and then pointed to the right, past Liam, at where Finn had his head stuck in the mailbox. "Hey."

Liam covered his face with his hand, his Boston accent thick. "I swear to god, I'm gonna lose it."

I bit back a laugh and got to my feet. "I'll get him. We dads gotta stick together, right?"

Dylan and Liam both raised their coffees to me in salute.

I snapped my fingers as I crossed to Finn. "That's what I'm getting you two for Christmas. Matching T-shirts."

"But none of us are single anymore," Liam noted as I pulled Finn free. He scurried away, heading for Amelia and Scarlett in the grocery store.

"Married Dads Association," Dylan tossed out, and it sounded damn good to me, although that left out one person.

"What do we do with Nate?"

Dylan shook his head. "Can't be initiated."

Liam agreed. "No kids and not about to be married."

"Sucks for him," I said. A person to love and kids running around didn't make a life, but they did certainly make it brighter. Wilder.

I sat back down, my gaze coasting around this veritable jungle of children, my two accounted for, with plans for Brooke to come over later with dinner. My life had been a roller coaster, with the lowest of lows and the highest of highs, and if I'd learned anything, it was to appreciate those highs. Ride them until the end.

Life wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn good.