Page 49 of Three of a Kind

“Oh.” Brooklyn grabs the phone. “Okay, thank you.”

She stares at the screen, blinking.

“You can answer it. I’ll step over and introduce our kids,” I joke.

I squint.

Is it insulting to compare my dog to her toddler?

Brooklyn answers the call, moving a few feet away toward her building.

I did say I was going to supervise Libby and Nova.

Christ…

I think my palms are sweating.

Libby looks at me with her big hazel eyes, and I get my shit together. She looks so much like Brooklyn; it’s uncanny. Dark curls fall around her shoulders, and she has the same heart-shaped face as her mother. She’s wearing a white T-shirt with a heart on it and jean shorts. It makes it even more obvious how overdressed Brooklyn is for the heat.

“Hi,” Libby says, like she’s trying to remind me she’s waiting.

Damn, Gunner wasn’t exaggerating when he said it seems like she could be the product of cloning.

And that’s a good thing.

The more DNA she got from Brooklyn, the less she got from Avan fucking Barrett.

Okay, I’m pretty sure that’s not how biology works, but still.

Nova sits, like she knows she’s supposed to, but her entire body wiggles with pent-up energy.

My eyes dart between Brooklyn and Libby as I stop in front of her stroller.

Grabbing a treat from my pocket, I squat down. “Your name is Libby?”

“Yep,” she says, nodding so dramatically her curls bounce.

“That’s a pretty name. I’m Maverick.” I chuckle. Based on how hard it is to decipher the words she’s already said, I have low expectations on her not butchering it. “You can call me Mav.”

It gives me such a sense of déjà vu. I said something similar to Brooklyn that night at the bar.

“What’s he’s name?” Libby asks, pointing to Nova.

Gunner was right. I got the general gist of what she means, but that was a grammar disaster.

It’s still cute as fuck.

“Her name is Nova.” I break the dog bone in half. “She wants to meet you.”

“Okay.” Libby’s hazel eyes get huge. “She likes me?”

A silly smile breaks out over my face.

I’ve been around my friends’ kids and Aurora, my boss’s daughter, but most of them are babies.

Libby has a lot more personality than that.

“She does, but I know she’s big. If she scares you, just tell her, down, Nova, and she’ll listen. Can you hold your hand out flat for me?”

---