Page 110 of Designs on You

“So you’re happy building houses with occasional visits to your finance company?” Warren asked Linc.

Linc shrugged and took a sip of his iced tea. “It’s working. I have a phenomenal management staff who don’t need me there every day watching their every move. And if they do need me I’m only a phone call away. Plus I’m in the office a few days each month for meetings.”

“Sounds like a perfect setup to me,” Joe said. “With the baby coming, I’m doing the same with the health clubs. I’ve promoted some people to top-level management positions so I can spend less time at the clubs. I want to be home more with the baby.”

“That makes good sense,” Linc said. “We all know Warren willnod at the baby when it’s born and then head straight back to the courtroom.”

“Hey.” Warren shot Linc a look. “I plan to take a month off.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.” Linc smirked.

“Believe it, bruh.”

“I have a question,” Eugene said. “And it might be a sensitive topic, but who’s the daddy of this kid?”

“We don’t know, actually,” Warren said. “We each provided sperm, and then the fertility doc separately fertilized the donor embryos, which were frozen until a surrogate was found. They implanted the ideal one, which meant the one with the best chance for survival. We didn’t care about the sex of the child, and we honestly don’t know whose sperm got used.”

Joe slung his arm around Warren’s shoulder. “It’s our baby, no matter what.”

“Well, you’re Black, and Warren’s White, so I think it’ll be obvious once the kid arrives.”

Joe laughed at Eugene. “Yeah, we know. But it still won’t matter.”

“We’re both the child’s legal parents,” Warren said. “So in case—God forbid—something happens to either of us, or in case of a divorce…”

“Which will never happen,” Joe said.

Warren nodded. “Right. Anyway, in case of…well, dire cases, we both share legal custody equally even though only one of us will actually be the biological parent.”

“Helps to have a lawyer in the family, huh?” Linc asked.

Warren nodded. “Yup.”

Eugene couldn’t help but grin. “You guys are gonna be the best dads.”

“Thanks, Eugene,” Joe said.

“Yeah, thanks, kid,” Warren said.

Eugene shook his head. Sometimes he hated being the youngest. He’d always be the kid to them.

But maybe that was okay.

He smiled and took a drink.

• • •

Natalie wriggled her toes, admiring the shining pink polish as the woman at the nail salon put the finishing touches on her pedicure. Next to her, Lisa regaled both her and Hazel with hilarious stories of Linc’s and Eugene’s childhoods.

“And then the three of them decided it would be fun to climb inside a cardboard box at the top of the stairs and ride it all the way down. They crashed into a wall. I thought I’d be running to the ER with at least one or two of them with broken bones. Instead, all of them came tumbling out of the box, laughing hysterically, not a scratch on them.”

“Oh my God,” Natalie said. “Kids will scare the life out of you, right?”

“At least once a week, if not more than that. I have way too many stories like that.”

Natalie shook her head. “Mine have been minor. So far. Maybe mine aren’t daredevils like yours were.”

“Or maybe they’re just lulling you into a false sense of security,”Hazel said, “only to spring the dramatics on you when you least suspect it.”

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