Page 53 of Ripped & Shipped
“A younger woman. Look at you go.”
“Alex,” Courtney playfully warns with a smile on her face.
“What? I think it’s great.”
Courtney scrolls through some comments.
“Lots of people are trying to ship you two.”
“Ship?” Alex asks.
“Oh, sweetie,” Courtney says with a laugh. “Ship. It means to try to get two people together romantically.”
“Oh, yeah. I knew that. I was just seeing if Chris knew.”
Courtney looks at me and rolls her eyes.
“You so didn’t know,” I joke, even though I only found out the meaning of ship last week because of all the comments on Ella Mae’s post.
“Awww,” Courtney coos, still watching the video. “She wiped your chin.”
I don’t blush. I just feel a little prickle rise across my skin.
Alex busts out laughing.
Honestly, is there nowhere I can go without someone highlighting that moment between Ella Mae and me?
“This I have to see,” Alex nearly shouts.
“I’ve gotta run. It’s been great seeing you two.”
“Okay. Okay. We’ll stop,” Alex says, holding his hands up like he’s innocent. Then, to Courtney, he says, “Babe, you can show me later.”
Courtney laughs. “I promise we won’t lie in bed watching this over and over tonight, Chris.”
“Yeah. We’ll just watch it a few times. We’ve got better things to do in bed.”
“Alex! My word, you’re on your worst behavior whenever Chris is here.”
Courtney’s still smiling at her husband with those adoring eyes, reminding me of what I wish I had.
Kassie comes running in.
“Mommy! The wizard turned the pwincess into a toad. But I breathed all my marshmallows at him. I told him, you stop it. Don’t you turn the pwincess into a toad. But then she was a toad. And I was holding her. And she was smiling at me even though she was a toad!”
“That’s amazing, Kass. Want to help me make the salad for dinner?”
“Dwagons don’t cook.”
Courtney chuckles. “If you help with salad, I can help you make a potion to turn the princess toad into a princess again. How does that sound?”
Kassie stares at her mom, twisting her lips to the side. “Otay. You can do that. I’ll make salad.”
“Deal. Let’s go wash our hands. Give Uncle Chris a hug goodbye.”
Kassie loops her arms around my legs and I bend down to press my hand to her back, holding her to me until she pulls away and skips off toward the kitchen.
“We’ll see you next week, Chris,” Courtney says, leaning into me for a side hug.
