Page 63 of Mad Love

She nods and walks toward us, smiling as she bends to kiss him.

“Love you, sweet boy,” she whispers.

I put him in his bed and Sadie turns on his new sound machine. We grin at each other when we hear the waves and move quietly out of his room.

“I wonder if he’ll sleep any longer with the waves going,” I whisper.

“I hope so,” she says.

We look at each other, still standing in the hallway. I like having her and Caleb upstairs now. I didn’t realize how empty this house felt before they got here.

“Want a glass of wine or anything?” I ask. “We could watch a movie.”

She looks surprised. “Oh. Sure. Yeah, that sounds great actually.”

I grin. “We’ve had a long, hard day of shopping. We deserve this.”

She laughs. “If that’s a long, hard day, I’ll take more of those, please.”

We go downstairs and I point toward the basement staircase. “Want to help me pick out a bottle?”

She shakes her head. “I wouldn’t know what to pick. I trust you...and I like everything,” she adds.

“I don’t have a bunch of fancy shit, despite my fancy wine cellar,” I say.

I jog down the stairs and grab a bottle of red. Hopefully she’ll like this one.

When I get to the kitchen, Sadie is putting a bunch of crackers and dried fruit out on the long, pretty board Felicity gave me for Christmas. She slices cheese and winds it around the crackers and then adds prosciutto and salami.

“That looks great,” I say. “My sister gave me that thing and I’ve never used it. Now I don’t know why I haven’t.”

“I’ve never used one either. But this is what they do on some of the home shows I like. They have a massive charcuterie board sitting on the table or kitchen island when the family comes to see their remodeled home for the first time. They’re usually piled higher than this, but this is a good start for the two of us.” She laughs. “It always looks delicious…and it’s pretty.”

“It is.” I nod.

She glances up and catches me staring at her. I hold up the bottle of wine.

“This okay?”

She nods without looking at the bottle and I chuckle, moving to grab two stemless wine glasses. I pour wine into each of them and when she steps back from the tray, I hand her a glass.

“These are pretty too. Did Autumn pick these out?”

“No, Olivia gave me these. I’ve never used them either. First time for everything.” I smirk and lift the charcuterie board and my glass and take it to the movie room downstairs.

Sadie turns up the baby monitor and looks at the screen. I set the board down and move to look at the screen with her.

“He isout,” she whispers.

“I can’t believe how much he’s already grown,” I say.

We move toward the two chairs in the middle and sit down.

“Do we need plates? I can go grab some.” I motion toward the bar down here.

“I’m good without one,” she says.

I turn the TV on and Sadie laughs when she seesThe Proposalplaying.

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