One Summer Isn't Enough (Summer, #4)

chapter 30

CONRAD

TWO YEARS LATER

"Connie! Can you get the candles? I left them on the counter," Belly calls out from the backyard, wrestling with a particularly disobedient helium balloon so that it'll stay tied to the table.

I smile and shout back, "Yep! Bringing them," before hopping over a chair and grabbing the candles on my way out.

Out in the backyard, there's a large white table covered in outer-space-related paraphernalia for little kids, surrounded by every kind of dessert imaginable at a birthday party. Belly's dressed in a long, flowy white linen dress, and I'm matching her in a white linen shirt and khaki shorts.

Today is Elizabeck's second birthday. Her 11-month-old brother, Steven John Fisher, is waddling around in the grass in a tiny linen button-up that took me approximately half an hour of coaxing and tickling to get him into. We've invited over some of Beck's friends from the neighborhood, and Belly's baked her a chocolate-and-Oreo cake that looks like an astronaut helmet. I didn't believe that it was homemade until she showed me pictures of the cake before she frosted it.

Beck's in her astronaut stage, which really means that she loves laying out in the stars with us at night and pointing out meteors when they pass by. We bought her a tiny astronaut helmet, and she literally walks everywhere with it on. I think I have approximately five-hundred pictures of her with it on my phone by now. And that's me rounding down.

Right now, Beck's on FaceTime with Laurel on Belly's phone, who couldn't come because she's launching her new book. Jere is coming with Rory, and Steven and Taylor have miraculously made time for Beck despite their über-busy wedding planning schedule. We didn't want a big party, just the people who matter the most to us.

I hand the candles to Belly, and she smiles gratefully and eyes my button-up.
"What?"

"You look really hot in that shirt," she complains. "It's distracting me."

I roll my eyes and say to her quietly, "At this point, you've distracted me so much that I might as well have ADHD. My current attention span is the consequence of your actions."

Her cheeks flush and she quickly looks away, but her lips are still curved into that smile of hers. I open my mouth to poke at her some more, but that's when the back door opens to reveal Jere and Rory making their way over to us.

I whoop and hug Jere, clapping him on the back. I've missed him. He's grown a thin beard over the past year, which annoyingly looks really good on him. I'm kind of jealous, partly because I would never be able to pull it off, and Belly would probably take matters in her own hands and shave it off when I'm sleeping.

I shake Rory's hand and we exchange small talk while Jere spins Belly around and they talk excitedly about the cake. She shows him pictures of when Belly drew a Harry Potter scar on her forehead and we made her pose in different positions for about an hour. He laughs loudly when she shows him a video of Beck painting my nails, which I only allowed because Belly bribed me with...something better.

Beck finally comes out from inside the house, and she's dressed in a NASA t-shirt and an adorable little denim skirt, tiny white Adidas sneakers Velcroed onto her feet. She hurries over to me with her helmet tucked under her arm, and wraps her arms around my leg.

I bend down and pick her up, kissing her cheeks (baby cheeks and baby feet are so unbelievably soft, what the hell?). Jere coos and comes over to take her from me. He fits the 'fun uncle' role so perfectly, and Beck loves him. Stevie loves being with Rory, which makes so much sense. Beck has a kind of stubbornness to her, like Jere, while Stevie exudes a quiet kind of confidence, like Rory.

Beck squeals with delight as Jere throws her in the air, catching her and kissing her nose before throwing her up again. Meanwhile, Rory's found Stevie and is having a quiet conversation with him as he swings him softly back and forth on the swing set.

Belly comes over to me and loops her arm with mine, resting her head on my shoulder. I kiss her head and tell her, "It's perfect, isn't it?"

I feel her nod as she says, "It is."
We watch our beautiful children play with their uncles for a bit longer before going and joining them. And in this moment, with all of us together as one big family, I wouldn't change a thing.

THE END