Page 110 of Ask Your Mom If I'm Real

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

How did I know?

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I just knew.”

“Interesting.” Neesha smiled. “I can’t wait for you to meet Ginger and Noel.”

“Do you all have Christmas names?” I looked at Jeremiah. “Is Jeremiah Christmas?”

“No,” Chris said. “Jeremiah’s isn’t Christmas. I gave him so much shit about it that he started being a real dick to me. That’s why everyone calls him Dix now.”

I grinned. “Your whole family calls you Dix?”

“Yes,” he grumbled. “And there’s no amount of beatings that make it stop.”

I flashed him a saucy grin and said, “I’ll stick with Kermit then.”

“Kermit?” Chris asked with raised brows.

“The song Jeremiah was a Bullfrog, then changed to frog in my head. Then it went to Kermit.” I shrugged. “I have a weird way of remembering things. That’s why I still know the periodic table as well as I do because I’d correlated each symbol with a saying.”

“Interesting,” Chris and Neesha said at the same time.

For the next couple of hours, we talked and laughed as I learned about the man that I’d be moving in with—I still couldn’t believe that I was doing it.

Yet, again, something in my heart told me that this was the route for me.

This was my exit.

I needed that exit, too.

And Jeremiah was holding the key.

“If it’s still snowing tomorrow,” Neesha said as she got up, stretching her arms up high over her body. “Kyle’s going to drive everyone here in his truck.”

Kyle was a worker for the city and had access to the city’s one and only snowplow.

“That works,” Chris said. “It would be nice not to have to go to Noel’s place for once.”

“Ugh,” Neesha said. “You’re right. But then everyone’s coming over here and we’ll have to clean up after.” She paused. “I guess I’d have to clean up regardless, so maybe coming over here is more convenient. And I could sit down in my favorite chair when I’m done.”

“I’ll help,” I said as they walked back toward the hidden door from earlier. “Any way that I can.”

Neesha looked at me. “Do you know how to make pumpkin pie?”

I blinked. “Yeah.”

“Score.” She smiled. “I’ve been craving some like crazy, and no one else likes it enough to ever make it.”

“I love it.” I looked over at Anleigh that was still in Jeremiah’s arms. “And Anleigh adores it. If you allow it, she’ll eat the entire thing.”

Neesha fist pumped the air. “Woo!”

Ten minutes later, I was stepping into the shower with Anleigh, who was too weak to do much more than be held.

Fifteen minutes after that, I was laying her down in the guest bedroom, sound asleep.

I stared at her for long moments before the voice at my back said, “Are you going to stay in here with her?”

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