Page 31 of Roundabout

“With a lice removal kit? Some fucking party.” Beckett flings the box, sending it sideways before it falls to the asphalt between him and Marc with a clatter.

“Your husband’s such a baby sometimes,” I tell Paige since I’m just about done with him.

As if to further prove my point, Beckett crosses his thick arms over his chest to literally pout.

Yep, I’m done.

Paige chuckles while sauntering up to her husband. “He’s always a baby.”

As soon as she’s in reach, he shoots out those tree branches he calls arms and hugs her, making her laugh even harder.

Bentlee goes over and picks the kit up, saying, “If anything’s broken inside, you owe me twenty-five dollars.”

“I’ll pay it, mama,” Marc tells her, grabbing one of his wife’s back pockets to drag her to him. “We all fucked this one up.”

“What exactly did we fuck up? What are you celebrating?” Coty asks.

Paige and Bentlee remain quiet, giving me the floor.

I take a deep breath, not stopping until my lungs ache. I can’t believe I get to actually say this.

“I adopted Brittni and Makya.”

Relief trickles in to replace the anger in Coty’s every muscle. It’s slow but it’s spreading. “What? How?”

“Independent adoption. Marshall got the ball rolling yesterday and today we finalized everything. We just got done.”

“Fuck,” he breathes out, turning around and dragging a hand down his face. Almost immediately, he returns to me, grasping my jaw in his hands and pressing his forehead to mine. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I thought—”

“You thought the worst of me. You thought I was fu—”

“Don’t finish that sentence.” Coty slams his eyes shut on a wince. “Please.”

“How could you even think that? After everything we’ve been through together… And Jace? What does he have to do with any of this?”

When Coty opens his eyes again, they’re on the move, roaming every inch of my face.

“We saw you were at Marshall’s and we…”

“Not we. You two,” Marc says.

“It was mostly Marc.”

Beckett earns himself a colorful curse from Marc.

“I, okay? I thought you were trying to take Jace from me.”

“Oh my God, Coty. Take Jace? What gave you that idea?”

“The call I got from the wedding planner where she said you were considering cancelling the wedding. It sounded like you were running.”

“I’m not running. I was never going anywhere.”

“Then why did you tell her that?”

“I was only asking about our options in the event I’m unable to cover my portion anymore.”

“Can you cover it?”