My insides warm with pride.

I don’t correct people when they address me in the formal way, not because I want to be put at a distance from them, but because I love to be addressed by my new name. The one I share with every person I love.

“Merry Christmas to you too.” I log off, letting out a sigh of relief.

There’s a knock on my office door.

“Come in!” I call out.

The door cracks open. Trevor pokes his head in. “All done?”

“All done.”

The door swings wide, revealing Trevor holding Blaze, our son.

Blaze is three months old, and I’m still shocked by how big he’s gotten.

Blaze’s toothless mouth immediately parts when he sees me, the corners of his lips turning up into a huge smile.

“Is that my baby?” I call out, spinning around in my chair and leaping to my feet.

I go scoop him out of Trevor’s arms and kiss him all over his face, ruthlessly.

Trevor smiles. “He was getting bored of me.”

“Oh, I’m sure not. Did you make daddy feel like he’s boring?” I relish his hiccupping attempt at a laugh. “God, he smells so good.”

Trevor leans on the doorframe. “You can thank me for that. He didn’t smell so good five minutes ago.”

“Ah, my hero.” I step up to Trevor.

We share a tender, short kiss.

Trevor’s fingers tangle in my hair, freshly dyed green for Christmas. “How’d it go?”

“Great. Thanks for letting me do that. I know it’s not ideal, our first Christmas and–”

“I’m never going to stop you from flying. Half an hour on Christmas didn’t kills us, did it? Did it, Blaze?” Trevor twiddles his fingers against Blaze’s paunchy belly.

Another attempt at a laugh.

“He’s so close to getting it!” I bounce my baby on my hip.

“They grow up so fast,” Trevor says without a hint of irony.

We’ve learned in the past three months since Blaze was born just how fast it goes. Hell, the past year we’ve realized how fast it all goes. In a blink of an eye we were exes, then I was waddling around nine months pregnant, and now we have a three month old and a booming video game company that’s being featured on morning shows across the country.

We’re exhausted. And it’s not always easy. But man, is it worth it!

“I like this sweater, Mr. Hawthorn.” I run my hand down Trevor’s burgundy pullover. “Very smart looking.”

Trevor rolls his eyes. “We don’t have time for you to flirt with me.”

“No time for a flirtation?”

“Because one flirtation turns into another turns into me wanting to do things I don’t want to say in front of our child, Iris.”

I laugh. “He can’t understand you.”