Page 65 of Embracing the Change

Gage had gone to let Chloe and Judge’s dogs out again.

Matt, who was a practicing vet, had been called away on some horse emergency, and Cadence had asked if she could tag along, he’d said yes, so she went with him.

Hale and Elsa were upstairs, taking a nap with Laird, since Laird, in a new place and not feeling it, had made their night last night not very restful.

Alex and Rix had gone home due to the fact that Rix was like Judge’s twin from another mother, and as such, he acutely felt Judge’s pain. Not to mention, Rix loved Chloe like a sister. He was as demolished as Judge had been about what had happened, he was just better at hiding it. But Alex hadn’t missed it, so she was seeing to her man.

Heddy, Genny’s friend, had swung by the hospital to check on Chloe and meet JT.

And now, they were discussing Duncan heading into town to grab copious tapas from some place called El Gato Azul for dinner when Duncan’s first son, Sully prowled in.

“What the fuck are you all doing here?” he demanded in lieu of greeting.

Sully had a job in Texas and hadn’t been able to get on a flight until late that morning. He’d told them not to bother coming to get him, he was renting a car in Phoenix.

“What are you doing here?” Duncan asked his boy.

“I went by the hospital first,” Sully answered. “Coco was sleeping. Judge was out. JT was adorable, but he was also out. I called Gage, and he said he was meeting Sasha, Dru, Mi and Jake at COLT Grill for some barbeque, like serious shit didn’t just go down. And you all are sitting around with cocktails. So again, the fuck?”

Good.

They were all sleeping, with Judge being out.

“That family needed some time without everyone hovering over them,” Duncan explained.

At that, Sully got over his pique and moved further into the room. “What are you drinking?”

Genny lifted her glass. “Nora whipped up some watermelon sangria. It’s delicious. Have some. There’s plenty.”

Sully turned to his dad. “Please tell me we have beer.”

“Who are you talking to?” Duncan asked as reply.

Sully came in and kissed the cheeks of the women, shook the hands of the men, but gave his dad a hug before he went to the kitchen.

Jamie sipped his bourbon. Nora could mix a mean cocktail, but he drew the line at watermelon sangria.

On this thought, he turned to her sitting beside him on a couch (Puck, incidentally, was tucked to her side, and since he’d already noticed Puck was partial to Chloe, Jamie made note the cat had a type, one it shared with Jamie). She was swiping all over her phone.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m looking up baby stores in Phoenix,” she murmured, then she turned her attention to Genny. “The results I’m finding are dire, my dear.”

“I have some things on reserve at some stores in LA. I finalized purchase on all the boy stuff when we got the news,” Genny replied, and concluded, “They deliver.”

Being the true New Yorker she was, Nora made a hilarious face when Genny said the words “in LA.”

Which meant Jamie was smiling.

He was also counting his blessings.

Because…yes.

Finally.

He was learning.

The call was expected, and it came early that evening.

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