Page 194 of Always Us

“Yeah, but I swear I’m not dating anyone. And when I do start dating, I already know about sex and condoms and—”

“Okay, stop.” My little sister did not just say ‘sex’ and ‘condoms,’ did she? How does she know about sex? “You’re 13, Lilly. You shouldn’t even be thinking about that stuff.”

“I’m almost 14. Everyone my age thinks about that stuff.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not everyone so stop thinking about it.”

I’m only 26 and yet I sound like some old-man dad telling his kid not to have sex. But shit, Lilly’s way too young to be talking about condoms and sex. I know I had sex when I was 15 but that was a mistake. I should’ve waited longer.

“After dinner, will you race me in the pool?” Lilly asks.

I look over and suddenly she’s a little girl again. Just like that, she switches. She’s in that in-between stage where she’s not sure if she wants to be a kid or a grown-up. Despite her excitement over a text from a boy, I think she wants to stay on the kid side a little longer.

“Yeah, we’ll race.” I hug her into my side. “But you know I’ll beat you.”

“You’re old, Garret. I’ll easily beat you.”

“Hey! I’m not old!”

She laughs and walks out of the room, but I hear her talking. “Once you’re a dad, you’re officially old.”

I pick up Hannah, holding her in front of me. “Do you think I’m old?”

She just giggles, drool dripping down her chin.

I kiss her cheek. “Promise me you’ll never talk about sex or condoms when you’re 13. Or 15. Or ever.”

She giggles again, then stuffs her fingers in her mouth. I take her back to the kitchen. It’s empty, so I walk to the patio door and see that everyone’s outside. Harper and Jade are talking. Lilly is at the table, working on another one of her drawings. Grace is across from her, holding Abigail. And Sean is tossing the baseball to his boys.

I never thought this would be my life, at least not before I met Jade. Before that night in the parking lot when I first saw my future wife, I was lost and angry at the world. I was just going through the motions with no real purpose. I drank too much. I slept around. I went along with the fake life that was given to me.

Back then, I never thought I’d have a wife or a family. Or true happiness. I thought my life would be spent working, running a company. When I think about that, I almost sound like my dad. I never wanted to be like him, but the future I’d planned for myself was exactly his life. I just didn’t realize it at the time.

But then that beautiful girl with the big green eyes who was just as lost as I was, came into my life and saved me from myself. And I saved her. Now we both have this life that’s better than either one of us ever imagined.

Hannah squeals and takes her drool-covered fingers from her mouth and points to Jade.

“Yeah, that’s Mom. You want to go see her?”

I kiss Hannah’s cheek, which draws her attention back to me. She lays her head on my shoulder, her tiny hand gripping my shirt.

I kiss her again, this time on her tiny head. Then I look back out at the rest of my family, and our best friends, together and having a good time.

This right here? It’s exactly what I wanted in life. I just didn’t know it. Until I met Jade.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Another Two Years Later

JADE

I cradle one in each arm, their tummies now full and their eyes sleepy. It’s 2 a.m. and everything is quiet. The room is softly lit by a lamp next to the door.

The three of us sit on the small, light blue couch across from their cribs. This couch is my favorite piece of furniture, because every night Garret brings the girls in here and reads them a story before bed. He sits on this couch and the girls pile on him, one on each side, snuggled under his arms.

And I sit beside them, holding the newest additions to our family. They arrived ten weeks ago. That’s right—they. As in more than one. We had twins. Twin boys, Ethan and Miles. I call them my mini-Garrets because they already look like him.

“Hey,” Garret whispers as he walks in the room. He’s shirtless and wearing white cotton pajama pants that hang low on his hips. His skin is tan, his muscles defined. Even after all this time, he still stirs something in me whenever I see him. Love. Heat. Excitement. Desire.

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