Coughing to cover my laugh, I let my eyes fall over her pleading expression and sucked hard on my lip ring so I wouldn’t smile. “Maddie feed you a story about the puppies being adopted quickly and she was afraid they’d all be gone by Saturday?”

“Wait, what? How did you know?”

“Because, woman I love whom I want to strangle sometimes, Maddie took you to the shelter to see which of the two puppies you liked best. They were officially adoptable, but they were holding both of them because I was going to get one for you.”

“You were?”

“Yeah, but obviously you jumped the gun on that one. So, uh, surprise . . . I guess?”

She squealed and launched herself at me, taking the puppy from my arms. “Thank you so much, I love him, you’re the best!”

I rolled my eyes and fell onto the bed. “What are we gonna name him?”

“Trip.” I knew from her tone there was no room for negotiating that, so I just smiled at her.

“All right, Trip it is. Are you going to make me pancakes now?”

“Make them yourself. I’ve been freaking out about your reaction all day, and I want to play with him now.”

And that was more like my Rachel.

3

Rachel

“YOU STILL DOING OKAY?” Kash asked, and kissed my neck softly.

“Yeah, your family is fun. I feel like I don’t need to say anything and they’ll just continue to provide all the entertainment.”

We were at a family dinner with a bunch of his aunts, uncles, and cousins—and though I’d been nervous to meet more of his family, there was no way to stay nervous around this bunch. There were a lot of them, they were loud, and they were a freaking riot. At any one moment at least two people were in an argument, there were cousins tackling or hitting one another, others giving one another a hard time about the game on TV, and even more laughing throughout the house. It felt like I was in a real version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Except Kash’s family wasn’t Greek.

I have two cousins, and I’d only met them once when I was really young, so I didn’t know what it must have been like for Kash to grow up with this. Out of the nineteen cousins he has, there were only three older than him and they ranged down to the youngest at eight years old. Even through the yelling and fighting, it was apparent this family loved each other and would stick together through anything.

I’d never known any different, so having Candice and her brother, Eli, as my best friends and makeshift family had been all I’d needed growing up. But seeing this—seeing the way Kash interacted with five of his cousins closest in age . . . I found myself wishing I’d had this.

“They’re something else,” Kash said, laughing, interrupting my thoughts. “That’s for sure. I’m gonna get another beer, do you want one?”

“No, but I can get it for you,” I offered, but he put a hand on my shoulder to keep me in place. A wry smile crossed his face when I glared at him.

A few of his little second cousins were infatuated with my hair and putting small braids throughout it. There was no way Kash was going to let me get out of this easily.

“I have to go potty,” announced one of the little girls, sitting on my lap.

My eyes about bulged out of my head, and Kash burst out laughing as he turned toward the kitchen. “Uh, well then you should go to the bathroom.”

“Will you take me?” She started squirming, and I thought I was going to die.

A little kid is about to pee on me! I looked around wildly as the little girl kept doing the potty dance on my leg, and I tried to figure out what I would have to do if I took her to the bathroom. “Um, okay. Just . . . don’t go before we get in there.”

Just as I started to stand, Ava—the mom—came to my rescue. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s go to the potty.” Looking up at me, she mouthed I’m so sorry, and turned to look around. “Rachel, I hate to do this to you—but can you hold Shea for me?”

I looked at the chubby infant in her arms, and my mouth popped open but nothing came out. I’d never held a baby before. But Ava had been sweet to me all afternoon, and right now she was saving me from bathroom duty, and I honestly didn’t know how I was supposed to say no to her. No, Ava, I will not hold your baby. Yeah, I could see that going over so well. I would forever be known as the girl that refused to help out.

“Sh-sure,” I spit out, and kind of just put my arms straight in front of me.

“She’s tired, just let her lay on your chest.”

I sat there frozen as Ava put Shea on my chest so her chubby cheeks were resting on my collarbone, and automatically put my arms around her to keep her there.

“Okay, I’ll be right back! Come on, sweetheart, let’s go!”

Blowing out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, I looked down at the baby in my arms and smiled when she kept fisting the collar of my shirt in her little hand. When she caught me looking at her, she lifted her head shakily and smacked her hand against my chin before dropping her head back onto my collarbone. The two girls that had been braiding my hair cooed over the baby for a minute before taking off after some appetizers that were brought into the house . . . and then it was just little Shea and me. I had just been thinking about how much easier this was than I’d thought it would be, when she grabbed a chunk of my hair and pulled as hard as possible.

“What is it with my hair today?” I whispered to her as I went through the painful process of getting every strand out of her little fist and making sure they stayed attached to my head.