Page 7 of Keeping Score

Maybe that’s why Liam kept him around as a best friend. Brody was capable of balancing out my brother’s grumpiness like no one else I’d ever met.

“Who will be fine?” Brody slipped an arm around me, making my stomach feel like champagne bubbles from his proximity.

“Lily,” I told him at the same time Liam said, “New topic.”

Cassie exhaled and stepped closer against Liam’s side.

“Oh, yeah,” Brody nodded. “That kid’s a trooper, just like Uncle Brody. Last week, she ate an acorn. It was hilarious.”

“She what?”

“Shut up, Brody,” Liam growled, “before you give my wife a heart attack.”

“Don’t stress, Cassie,” Brody said. “It was just the little hat on top. Not the whole thing.”

Liam exhaled the weariest sigh while Cassie let out a whimper.

I pinched Brody’s arm, trying to convey that if he kept talking, we’d be revoked of our babysitting privileges.

And as much as kids freaked me out, I genuinely enjoyed spending time with Lily. I imagined it would be different, being stuck with a kid for twenty-four hours a day. Being an aunt was definitely more my speed.

Way less opportunity for me to screw her up that way.

“Let’s go sit down,” I suggested. “I might have to order one of everything on the menu if this is the only time in my life we’ll get to eat here.”

Liam and Cassie looked grateful for the suggestion, while Brody looked at me with an expression that asked, What did I say?

It wasn’t him. Liam and Cassie had just gotten neurotic since having a kid. Don’t get me wrong, they were fantastic parents—they just took that position very seriously.

Given each of their individual personalities, I couldn’t say I was entirely surprised by the development.

Brody and I, though? We didn’t have that type of lifestyle in us. We liked to have fun. Date nights and vacations. Staying up till the sun rose on days we didn’t have work. Spending Sunday afternoons drinking on the beach.

We were as far removed from the life Cassie and Liam were living as two people could possibly get, but that’s how we liked it.

I had enough responsibility in my work life without the added pressure of having to be a parent on top of it all.

“How’s your birthday been so far, Mags?” Cassie asked, sitting across from me at the table.

“You know,” I shrugged. “Work. Coffee. More work.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t take the day off!” Cassie exclaimed. “Turning thirty is a big deal!”

“How would you know?” I teased. “You’re still a baby.”

“Hey, I’m only six months younger than you,” Cassie protested with a laugh. “And anyway, I have wisdom beyond my years,” she said, batting her eyes dramatically.

Liam snorted.

“You’re right, Cass,” Brody nodded. “You give the best advice. Thanks for reminding me about renewing my registration, by the way. Apparently, it was like six months overdue.”

I rolled my eyes while Liam asked,

“How did you not already know that, man?”

This was the way we always were.

The four of us had become a unit over the last few years, in a way I’d never had before, and I couldn’t imagine ever living without it.