Page 79 of Falling in Love with Two

I walk through the front door of the house and straight in to get a bottle of water. I played football at the park all morning, and now, I want to shower and get dinner in the crock pot before Leah gets home. She only had one appointment today, so I don’t imagine she’ll be gone too long.

Once I’ve got the pot roast going, I’m about to hop in the shower when I hear a knock on the door.

“Leah, did you forget your key?” I ask as I swing the door open. But it’s not Leah standing there.

It’s Ronnie.

And not the version of my sister that I’m used to seeing. Veronica Lawson is the most put-together person I know. Even when she’s just hanging out at home, she still looks like she could be doing a photoshoot.

Today, her hair is pulled up in a messy ponytail, she has no makeup on, and she’s wearing ratty sweats.

“Ronnie, you okay?”

With a duffel bag in hand, she pushes past me to come in.

“Oh good, you are alive. I was beginning to wonder when you decided not to respond to my texts and answer my calls.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I’ve been…busy.”

She drops her bag on the floor. “I kind of got that. Knocking someone up takes a lot of time, I hear.”

“Here we go,” I murmur. “Ronnie, that’s the reason I’ve been so distant.”

“Dylan, I can appreciate you wanting to take time with this woman to figure things out. And Mom told me she moved in. You guys need some time, and that’s fine. But what the fuck did I do to make you ice me out completely?”

“I didn’t want you to lecture me.”

She waves her arms in confusion. “You told Mom and Michelle! I think the two of them will have the lecturing covered!”

When I don’t say anything, she asks, “Why did you think I would be the one to lecture you?”

“Because you hate kids.” I say the answer as though it should be obvious.

“Why do you think that?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Ronnie. Maybe the fact that you avoid any and all children when they’re around. Or maybe that you basically wrote off Liz when she told you she was pregnant. Or maybe the fact that you have literally said, on multiple occasions, that you hate kids!”

She hauls off and punches me in the shoulder. “You giant boob!”

“Ouch!” I rub the spot where she hit me. “What the hell was that for?”

“Because you’re a giant boob!”

“I’m going to need more information than that,” I say. “Why am I a giant boob?”

“Because as much as I usually dislike kids, I’m not going to hate this kid because it’s your kid.”

“What?” I ask, caught off-guard.

“Dylan, do you know why I gave Liz a hard time? Because it’s fun. We all give each other shit. Of course, I’ll love her kid. I’ll love them just like I love Eve.”

“Well, you like Eve now that she’s a teenager. You didn’t really seem to care for her much when she was a baby.”

“To be fair, Dylan, neither did you. We were only like thirteen when she was born.”

She has a point.

Continuing, she says, “And if anyone in my life is going to have a kid that I’m going to absolutely love. It’s going to be yours.”

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