Page 57 of Packing for Vacation

“Any of them. I’m the girl you accidentally knocked up, not your messenger.”

“You’re my coparent. And I appreciate you. More than you realise.” She’s a beta, and I think if she hadn’t fallen pregnant with Amo, she very likely would have gone about her life without that much proximity to alphas and omegas. Instead she’s put up with me, put herself through law school with a baby, and still made senior partner at her firm before I ever did. “You’re a superstar.”

“Don’t try and butter me up. Tell me about this omega.”

“She’s from Canada. A bit younger, sh⁠—”

“How young?”

“Thirty-one, okay? It’s not that bad.”

“Do you like her, or is it the hormones speaking?”

“I like her. I really like her.”

“She’s gonna want kids.”

“Kao. The opposite. She never wants children. It’s a dealbreaker for her.”

Leilani’s eyes grow wide, her brows disappearing behind her dark fringe. “Is that so? But what about Amo, then?”

“Amo is eighteen. She’s an adult.”

“And if your omega — what’s her name?—”

“—Lizzie.”

“—Lizzie. If your Lizzie is in heat, how are you standing wherever it is you’re standing?”

“Because she’s with Scott right now.”

The change in Leilani is instantaneous. She grows very still, that protective streak in her coming out. “Scott. Scott Harris?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because she not only scent matched to me, she’s scent matched to Scott as well.”

Amo clearly gets her dramatics from her mother because the phone is thrown again. “Are you serious?!”

“Āe.”

There’s a long pause, where I’m left staring at a blank ceiling on screen. Finally, Leilani’s face appears once more.

“Is this even going to end well?”

Well that’s a sobering question. “I hope so.”

“I hope so, too. You were broken the last time, with Elaine.”

“I know.”

“No, I don’t think you realise. You were like a zombie for a year.”

“I know. I was the one living it.”

“Yeah, but it affected Amo and I. It was hard, Matiu. It was hard seeing you suffer. It was hard trying to explain to our 3-year-old why Daddy was so sad all the time. I’m not trying to make it about me. I’m just trying to make it clear that it’s really fucking important that you protect your heart this time round.”