The bedroom door flew open, startling me, as Lucy came flying in. “Mom, can you make us eggs?” she whined. “Brody said he’d do it but we had to pay him a hundred dollars. We don’t have any money.”

I shook my head and laughed. “Sure, honey. Just one sec. All right, Lauren, I gotta get going. I’ve got some hungry hungry hippos and a blackmailing boyfriend on my hands. Plus, I have to work again today.”

“You do? Oh God.”

“Think positive, Lauren. Think positive.”

I didn’t know if I was reassuring her or me or both of us.

“Are you going to tell the girls?” she whispered into the phone.

“You know she can’t hear you, right?” I laughed, winking at Lucy who was sitting at the end of my bed, staring at me. “And the answer to that is a big fat no. I’m hoping he just goes away. Think it’s a possibility?”

“Um, no.”

Lauren and I said our good-byes and I followed Lucy out into the kitchen. The closer we got, the stronger the bacon smell got and all was right in the world again.

Brody was standing at the stove with his back to me. He had on a blue T-shirt that was just tight enough to accentuate his toned back and shoulders. Those same blue pajama pants he wore the first time I’d stayed at his house hung loosely from his hips. The memories of our first morning together made my cheeks flush. I walked up behind him, slid my arms under his, and wrapped them around his waist. I laid my head against his back and closed my eyes as the familiar smell of him calmed my nerves.

“Good morning.” A light chuckle mixed with his surprised tone.

“Don’t move. This is nice.” His back vibrated against my cheek as he laughed harder, squeezing my hands in his.

“Do you have to go to the hospital today?” he asked.

The knot in my stomach returned. I was dreading heading into my bedroom and putting my scrubs on. I was dreading driving up to work and seeing an ambulance parked outside. I was dreading seeing Maureen again, who probably thought I was a total flake after yesterday.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Why? Quit. Stay home with us. You don’t have to work. Who needs a degree these days anyway?”

“Not a chance, but you’re sweet.” I squeezed him tight one last time and turned around to the fridge.

“Why not? Do you ever want to be a stay-at-home mom?”

“I don’t know. After him, I swore to myself that I would never depend on a man again. It was embarrassing to move back home and rely on my mom to feed and take care of us.”

“What about when we have kids?”

I spun to face him, nearly dropping the eggs that were in my hand. “What?”

“Down the road, when there are dozens of little Brodys running around the house, do you want to be home with us?”

“Dozens of little Brodys?” I chuckled.

“Why not?” He grinned.

“Uh, I can think of a few reasons. My poor uterus for one.” I poked him in the chest.

“Okay, fine. Not a dozen, but at least like… six.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “After that, we can just practice—a lot.”

“I’m definitely down for the practicing.” I batted my eyes at him. “And what do you mean at home with us? You’ll be traveling most of the time.”

“Yeah, but not forever. Eventually I’ll retire and do the full-time dad thing.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I cocked my head to the side and looked at him skeptically. “Since when does staying home with kids all day interest you?”

He looked over at the girls, who were watching a movie in the living room, and shrugged. “Since them.”

I grinned at him as my stomach flipped. “You’re too good to be real.”

“Nope, I’m real and I’m all yours.” He reached over and grabbed my T-shirt, pulling me in close to him.

“Until next week,” I pouted dramatically. “Then you have to start practicing every day and we won’t see each other much. Add in games and you’ll forget who I am.”

I was not looking forward to his season starting. My subconscious knew it was coming, but I was purposely not thinking about it. I’d gotten so used to seeing him often over the last couple months, this would definitely be an adjustment.

“It’ll be tough, but we’ll still see each other,” he said, lifting my chin up to face him. “We’ll just have to make an effort to really, uh, make good use of the time we do have together.”

I set the eggs on the island and shoved my hands up the back of his T-shirt, pulling him hard against me. “I like the way that sounds, Murphy.”

“I love when you call me Murphy.” He groaned as he trailed kisses down the side of my neck, stopping at my collarbone.

“Really? I’ll have to remember that,” I cooed.

My glance panned over to the clock. “Holy crap! I gotta hurry.” I rushed over and tossed a pan on the stove.

“Go. I got this.” Brody came over and grabbed the handle of the pan.

I tried to snatch it back from him, but he held it high above his head so I couldn’t reach it.

“Stop.” He laughed. “I admit that I’m better with a hockey stick than I am with a spatula, but I can handle scrambled eggs. Go get ready. You can pay me back later.” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down again.

“Deal.” I smiled and started out of the kitchen, but he caught my wrist and pulled me toward him as he bent down to kiss my lips.

I quickly turned my head to the side and covered my mouth, mumbling through my hands, “I haven’t brushed yet.”

“I’ll take my chances,” he said, gently pulling my hands away from my mouth. “Pay the toll, stinky.”

“Lucy, are you dipping your popsicle in syrup?”

She grinned at me and nodded, clearly proud of herself.

“Great.” I laughed. “At this rate, you’ll be diabetic by noon. Your mom’s already going to kill me if she finds out I let you have popsicles with your eggs and pancakes.”

“We won’t tell!” Piper grinned, red juice dripping off her chin.

“You guys rock!” I leaned over and high-fived her. “Okay, my little Twinkies, next on the agenda: what do you want to do today?”

“Play Barbies.”

“Watch Sleeping Beauty.”

“Build things with Play-Doh.”

“Play Mario Kart.”

“Can we paint your nails again?”

I got dizzy looking back and forth between the two of them as they spit out more things than were possible to accomplish in one day. “Whoa, whoa.” I held my hands up. “I might need to write this down. Are we taking naps at all? Please?”

“No!” they squealed in unison.

“I have an idea. Mom was running late today and didn’t pack a lunch. What if we go to the hospital and surprise her?”

Smiles lit up both of their faces as they nodded furiously.

I looked down at their plates of brown, gooey syrup mixed with red popsicle juice and bits of scrambled egg and sighed. “I’m gonna clean up breakfast while you guys play for a few minutes, okay?”

With that, they hopped down from the island and ran toward their bedrooms.