“I do. Lauren and… Mike? He’s a fireman. She’s a librarian. Right, boys?”
“Right, Mr. Early!”
“Mommama says it’s fine—”
“With you if it’s—”
“All right with her!”
Wow. Twins. “It’s okay with me,” he said softly, just for Early’s ears. He wasn’t going to say yes without Early’s buy in.
“All right, boys. Let me talk with your Momma, but I think we can work it out.” Early winked at them as they ran away, hooting and hollering. “I figure a night alone in the hot tub is good, right?”
“It’s exactly what we need.” It was worth having a house full of boys tomorrow. He took a breath. “Exactly.”
“Perfect. A bottle of wine, some pizza, the hot tub, good music, and us.” Early nodded. “And the moving truck comes tomorrow, so the twins can occupy the boys while we mess with our stuff.”
“I could kiss you right now.” He wouldn’t, because this wasn’t the venue for that kind of thing. “But I’ll be patient. The truck comes tomorrow? Already. I’m looking forward to moving our things in.”
“It will help make the house ours, you know?”
He rested a hand on Early’s back; surely that was mild enough for a family gathering. The touch grounded him, reminded him why he was here. Made him feel less disoriented. “Is this what it was like when you moved to Denver?”
“A little, yeah. I felt like the whole world was changed—new and exciting, but unnerving and hard.” Early shrugged, head tilting like he did when he was remembering something. “I had you, though, and you are my true north.”
He nodded. “Yeah. Yes, to all of that.” And he’d never known that Early was unhappy—or, at least not as happy as he could have been, because Early was so obviously happy now. “Plus the law firm doesn’t do potato sack races to break the ice. That was awesome.”
“Well, we are living the mountain town life now.” Early met his eyes. “I’m going to work hard to make you crazy happy.”
“Well, I guess I’d better work extra hard to appreciate that.” He gave Early a suggestive wink. “I’ll get started on that tonight.”
“Mmhmm… First, let me introduce you to the twins’ Momma. You’ll talk to her a lot.” Early rolled his eyes. “A lot, a lot.”
“Ah, one ofthose.” He was okay with that. He had the Momma thing down. “Mommas love me.”
“They do. She’s the children’s librarian. She knows a little bit about everything. Her husband’s a stud.”
“Librarians always get the hot ones.” He chuckled. “What does he do again?”
“Firefighter. So he’s one day on and two days off. I try to make sure she’s never left with all four boys when he’s not home.”
“She’s got four? Damn, okay. More is easier anyway.” Parenting was much easier when the boys had friends over to keep them entertained. “I’m game.”
“No. No, I meant her twins and our boys. Although…”
An obviously pregnant woman walked up, red hair curling around her face. “Looks like we’re sharing children again.”
Early laughed right out loud. “Yes, ma’am. Lauren, this is my man, Connor.”
“Hey, Connor. I’m Lauren. It’s so good to meet you.”
Connor shook hands with her gently. “Good to meet you. Those boys of yours are adorable.”
“They’re a handful. Especially now.” She laughed as she patted her belly. “I bet you’re glad to finally be here, huh?”
“You have no idea.” Connor sighed, smiling. “It’s been a hard summer.”
“I bet. I can’t imagine not having Mike around. He’s got the boys, by the way. They’re wanting to go play gooney golf and have corn dogs and watch movies tonight.”