39. Oreo Bribes Work Every Time

THIRTY-NINE

It worked out well that Noah, Jo, Brett, Peter, and I all lived in the same building. It was how we met Noah, and he eventually introduced us to his group of friends.

With the amount of sleepovers Stass and Ana had at my apartment, it made sense that they had their own room to share. I let Stass pick the colors and her bedding, which was why the walls were painted Shrek green and the comforter was princess pink. I picked my battles, and I wasn't going to complain if this helped her sleep at my place.

There wasn't much time to show Del around when we left this morning, so we made up for it while we waited for Jo and Noah to change the girls into their pajamas and bring them to our place. Del and I had done the same before we explored.

"It's a nice place, I guess." She released a dramatic sigh and let her hand drag along the wall as we walked down the hall. "No library, though."

I rolled my eyes. There was a theater room, home gym, six bedrooms, walk-in pantry, huge balcony, and floor to ceiling windows, but no library. Boohoo.

The front door banged open and I tried not to cringe as I heard it hit against the wall. It was less than two seconds before Stassie was yelling for me.

"P! P! P!"

"Stassie Morgan, get back here!" Noah scolded. "Baby Lily might be asleep."

"Baby?" she asked. I rounded the corner with Lily propped up against my chest. Stass ran and collided with Del's knees, demanding to be picked up. Del held her a safe distance from Lily, who was thankfully still awake.

"Sorry about that." Noah set their bags down next to the kitchen island. "Well, good luck. You might need it with that one."

"Nah, piece of cake. And this time I have backup." I jerked my thumb in Del's direction.

Noah just laughed. "Whatever you say Uncle P."

It was not, in fact, a piece of cake. In the month and a half that I'd been gone, Stass had become a tiny terror. She was quick as fuck when she got going. If this was what we had ahead of us with Lily, I was scared. Del and I took turns chasing after her when she got ahold of something a three-year-old had no business touching. My apartment was baby proof but apparently not toddler proof.

We finally struck a deal that she could watch Moana and eat Oreos if she sat quietly on the couch. Lily and Ana were both overtired and needed to get some sleep. Del held both of them while she rested, kicked back on the long end of the couch. It was quite the contrast with the two girls snuggled into her chest. Lily's dark curls were damp with sweat from all the screaming she'd done when Stass "accidentally" pinched her toe.

Ana's eyes were half closed. The blonde fuzz on top of her head had barely started coming in even though she was twice Lily's age. Stass was seated in my lap on the other end of the couch, her face covered in Oreos. Jo would probably kick my ass for bribing her with cookies, but their evil grins as they headed out the door meant they knew what they were leaving behind. I couldn"t blame them for wanting some time alone. I was so happy to be back in the city with my friends but I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss our quiet home where no one but our parents had a key. I wanted Del back in my t-shirt with no panties, though I didn"t hate how warm and snuggly she looked in her blue cloud pajama pants and matching long sleeve shirt.

Stass was fully invested in the movie as the duck-chicken looking thing kept getting thrown in the water. The two little ones were practically asleep. I pulled out my phone and tapped into my messages with Del. I liked that I had to scroll down a bit because we'd been together so much lately that there was no need to text.

Parker:

You look so pretty.

Her eyes flicked up to meet mine, and a blush crept over her cheeks.

Del ??:

You're a good uncle.

And dad.

Parker:

She's not usually this exhausting.

Del ??:

She probably just missed you.

Parker:

I missed her too.

Does it make me a bad person that I'd rather be home with you and Lil than here alone?

Del ??:

I don't think you were alone. You have a revolving door of people who love you here.

Parker:

You're right. That was selfish to say.

Del ??:

I know what you mean though. It's the same with me at home.

Parker:

You saying you're lonely without me?

She read the message and rolled her eyes

Parker:

Because the only time I don't feel alone is when I'm with you. Our family feels like home.

She didn't look up this time, and for some reason I really needed to see her reaction, to feel some kind of validation that she was just as fucked up about me as I was about her.

Del ??:

Don't make me cry James.

I don't know if I'd ever seen Del cry from happiness, but was it terrible to say I wanted it to happen? I wanted to know exactly how she felt and that I wasn't in this alone. I was dreading the day I had to ask her if she would move to Seattle with me. I knew she wanted out of Roe and more opportunities for herself. I wanted her to make the decision because she couldn't stand being away from me for another second. But I knew if I pulled, she'd push. So I kept my mouth shut and we put the girls to bed.

While Del was brushing her teeth, her phone lit up on the nightstand with a reminder that said she had three missed calls from an unsaved number during the time we were texting.