Page 64 of From Our First

Dakota cringed. “Really, Nate?”

“Don’t blame Nate,” Macon put in. “I was going to get one for us anyway.”

“It’s so much grease and sugar,” Dakota said.

“Did you say sugar?” Joshua asked, bouncing on his toes. I laughed, then let go of his hand to run my fingers through his hair.

I shook my head. “We’ll make sure you get all the funnel cake and horrible junk food you could ever want. But you’re not allowed to puke.”

We stood in line, waiting to get into the venue, and Joshua looked up at me, his eyes wide.

“I’m going to puke? Cool.”

I rolled my eyes. “No. You’re not allowed to puke. We will be the fun aunts and uncles who give you junk food, but only on special occasions because your mother will disown us if we go too far. However, you’re not allowed to puke. I despise vomit.”

“Okay. I promise not to puke. In front of you.”

That made me laugh, and Nate grinned and gave the little boy a high-five. “Seriously, though, I puked in front of Myra once, and she threw up right next to me. Spewed everywhere.”

“Do not tell him that story,” I chided, and everybody laughed.

“Oh, but you need to tell us,” Prior said on a laugh.

“It was nothing. It was in college. Things happen. We are not telling everybody that story. I’m a sympathetic vomiter. Even talking about it…” I took a deep breath and swallowed the bile in my throat. “Okay, now I don’t want a funnel cake. Look at what you’ve done. You have ruined junk food for me.”

“Not all of it will be junk food,” Macon said, shaking his head. “I see a couple of food trucks down there that have been in the downtown area near my practice. That taco truck? It’s gourmet.”

“Ooh.” I eyed the vehicle.

“Oh, yes, there’s a bunch of fusion trucks around here,” Dakota added.

“Okay, so you guys get the funnel cake and we can gorge ourselves on gourmet,” Hazel said, looking down at her notes. Why she had a notebook—as did Paris—I’d never know.

“I think we need to get one of everything.” Cross rubbed his hands together.

“Yes, everybody’s going to have a bite of everything they want, but I promise, nobody’s going to puke.” Hazel met my gaze.

I visibly shuddered. “Okay, that’s enough of that.” I turned to change the subject. “I’m sorry that Arden couldn’t come.” I glanced between the brothers.

“The last time we came here, the sun was a bit too much for her. It flared her lupus,” Nate explained. “She’s hanging out with Liam and his family today since a few of them aren’t feeling well.”

My brows rose. “What do you mean?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s morning sickness,” Cross said, grinning like a fool.

“Oh my gosh, how many of them are pregnant?” I asked.

“I’m not sure, but I think they’re enjoying themselves. Since we’re still waiting to hear about the adoption process for Liam and Arden, they have a lot of plans to go through. So, they’re just hanging out today, and we’ve got the rest of the Bradys here at the music festival.”

“Yay, I love that we’re all Bradys.” Joshua skipped with Macon as we passed the line, and I gave everyone a bright smile, trying to ignore the awkward tension.

The rest of them were Bradys. I wasn’t even an ex, technically. I hadn’t taken Nate’s last name.

And I wasn’t engaged or married to him now.

I wasn’t a Brady.

And I didn’t know if I wanted to be.

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