39. Nelly

Chapter 39

Nelly

“ S ee,” Matty said, his hands on his hips as he stood in front of the fridge. He stared straight ahead, inspecting the drawing he made that first week I was here. “I knew it from day one .”

“Knew what?” Seb asked, raising a single brow at his son as he shoved the last bit of a banana in his mouth. He leaned against the kitchen counter, his plain white shirt tugging around his muscles and his joggers hanging low on his waist.

I stood behind Matty, my arms crossed, inspecting the image right alongside him. I had no idea what he was referencing.

“That we were going to be a family,” he said as if it was blatantly obvious. “Me, Daddy, Nelly, and Carl the House Goalie.”

Seb snorted with his mouthful of banana, pushing off the counter immediately and crossing the kitchen. He came up behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist, and I could hear the swallow as he forced the banana to go down his throat. “You know, bud, I did get you better crayons. You could draw a new one, maybe one where Nell is the right color and she isn’t so far away.”

I covered my mouth to hide the laughter I couldn’t quite keep down.

“No, I like this one,” Matty grinned, his head turning over his shoulder to look up at us.

Seb’s hand found mine, his fingers playing with the ring on my left hand. “Did you think, when you agreed to this, that our first family portrait would be in crayon?” he asked me, his lips pressing a quick, banana-scented kiss against my cheek. “Because I certainly didn’t.”

“Honestly, it’s the best we could have hoped for. And it was free ,” I chuckled. “That’s a steal, if you ask me. A Matthew Blue original in this very house. They say he predicts the future with his drawings, you know.”

Matty giggled and spun around, one hand up with a pointed finger and the other on his hip. “I do predict the future,” he said matter-of-factly, pointing that very same finger to the other one I’d hung recently, the stick figure he’d crafted after seeing an older man walking a dog out the front window. “And I predict we’re getting a dog.”

“A dog ?” Seb balked, lifting himself a little higher and resting his chin on top of my head.

Matty nodded, his face completely serious. “A dog, Daddy.”

“And why do we need a dog?” Seb huffed out a chuckle as he squeezed me just a little tighter.

“To make our family complete!”

Complete. I swallowed at the uncomfortableness of that, of the finality of that. I hadn’t given much thought to whether or not I actually wanted children of my own — I’d planned on IVF for Morris’ sake because he’d always wanted kids. And I was good with them, clearly, but I hadn’t ever given myself the space to consider what I wanted.

I loved Matty. Was that enough?

Seb’s head moved, his mouth coming to my ear. “Complete doesn’t have to mean anything,” he whispered, almost as if he’d read my goddamn mind. He knew where my thoughts went far too well. “You’re enough as you are. But if you want more, we can make that happen.”

I locked my fingers with his. “I need to think about that,” I breathed.

He pressed a kiss to my temple and lifted his head again. “What kind of dog do you want, Matty?”

“Any!” he squeaked, turning back to inspect his work a little harder. “But maybe not a weiner dog. Those are weird.”

I twisted in Seb’s arms, looking up at him over my shoulder. “You’re happy to get a dog?”

“I do like dogs, you know,” he chuckled. “And besides, Matty will never shut up about it if I say no, and lord knows you’ll fight for it, too.”