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  She shot him a wry look as he laughed from the gut, Lacey only snickering as she shook her head. Putting the nipple on Mena’s bottle, she handed it to him. “Try to keep the laughing to a minimum. I don’t want my baby to have shaken baby syndrome.”

  He scoffed, taking the bottle and kissing her cheek. “Are you reading this stuff? It’s classic.”

  Walking away, he let out another gut-busting laugh and Kacey rolled her eyes. “He’s a dork.”

  “That is very true,” Lacey agreed, cleaning the counter before leaning against it. “But the status is cute. It’s weird seeing you two so lovey-dovey after you almost murdered him in the living room however many weeks ago.”

  Kacey shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, but it’s good, right? Like, you don’t think we are rushing it?”

  Lacey shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t ask me about rushing. I married your brother after seeing him for the first time in like nine years. Not sure I’m the right person for advice on that. I mean, some people said I was crazy,” she said with a grin. “But if it helps, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

  Kacey smiled as she nodded. “It’s just been so perfect. Like we laugh constantly, and when we aren’t laughing, we are doing it, and when we aren’t doing it, he’s telling me he loves me. And God, Lacey, I waited so long to hear those words leave his mouth that I find myself absorbing them, just in case he stops telling me. It’s like I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop, for all this good to just evaporate.”

  Holding her gaze, Lacey said, “It will.”

  Kacey’s mouth dropped open, shocked. “What the hell do you mean? Do you think we won’t last?”

  Lacey shook her head. “No, Kace, I think y’all are solid, there is so much love between you two. But you have to remember, he is recovering. He is finding his footing in this thing called sobriety. His go-to was to drink when he was mad, hurt, or sad. Now he is having to find new outlets. But the thing is, he chose you to make this journey with him.”

  “I know that,” Kacey agreed. “And I won’t let him do it alone.”

  “Right, but with the good comes the bad. And while, yeah, it’s too good to be true right now, and you are living the life you want, it won’t last. He’s gonna hit a bad spell, and that’s when you need to worry. Because will you be able to be the rock he needs? Don’t look at me like that!” she shrieked then, and Kacey held her hands out.

  “You’re freaking me out!” she accused, but Lacey shook her head. “I know all this, but you are making it seem like I can’t handle it, which is making me second-guess myself.”

  “I’m just saying that when it’s sunny, it’s great. But it’s how you weather the storm. So enjoy the good now, because there’s no telling when the storm will come thundering through your life, and you’ll be left holding on with everything inside of you,” she said with more conviction. “You are so strong, Kacey, and Jordie knows this; he feeds off you and loves you something insane. And I know you love him, but my thing is, don’t overthink this. Enjoy it, love him, and when it gets bad, then you’ll be ready. But why wait for the possible impending doom? It won’t do anything but stress you out.”

  Deadpan, she asked, “Impending doom?”

  Lacey shrugged, not even smiling. “He is hard-set on not relapsing, Kacey, but do you know the statistics on that? Hardly a single alcoholic makes it through the first year without failing at least once.”

  Panicking a little bit, Kacey looked wide-eyed at her. “So you think he will? Do you think I’m crazy for being with him?” she asked and, really, she wasn’t sure why she asked. It didn’t matter what Lacey thought. She wasn’t going to leave Jordie. She believed in him, loved him, and would stand beside him no matter what.

  “I don’t know, and no, I don’t think you’re crazy. I know how much you care for him, how long you’ve been in love with him. I just hope and pray that he doesn’t let you down. Let all of us down. But alcoholism, it’s really a disease, such a scary sickness.”

  Kacey couldn’t agree more. “He’s got this though, I know he does.”

  “I hope so,” Lacey agreed. “It worries me because, if he does fail, I know what that will do to you if he doesn’t pick himself right back up. And that scares me. You’re invested to the extreme. No matter how much you try to hold that back and control it, you are, Kacey. And I really don’t want to see y’all crash and burn.”

  Letting out a long breath, Kacey leaned on her hand. “This is a really reassuring talk. Thanks.”

  Sensing her sarcasm, Lacey smiled. “I told him the same thing, but he promised me he wouldn’t hurt you, and I want to believe him. I do believe him. It’s just the statistics are against him.”

  “But Jordie isn’t a statistic,” Kacey decided. “He’s above that, you’ll see.”

  “I really do hope so, and I hope that you guys get married and have babies and move out of here,” she said with a teasing grin, and Kacey smiled despite not really wanting to.

  All week she had been living in a little fantasy world, but then Lacey came along and didn’t scare her, per se, but she did worry her. Everything she said was everything Kacey had thought, but hearing it from Lacey validated her fears. So many things could go wrong, but Kacey didn’t really care. She’d be there—it was that simple. Like before, she knew going in what Jordie was about, and she loved him anyway. He wasn’t an easy man to love, but his love was worth it and she wasn’t going to let go of that.

  “He hasn’t invited me to AA groups or even therapy, but he takes Karson. My feelings shouldn’t be hurt, should they?”

  “Do you want to go?” Lacey asked, looking up from her phone, smiling. “They are crazy,” she said, pointing down to it and Kacey rolled her eyes.

  “Focus, Lacey,” she snapped and Lacey laid her phone down.

  “Right. Now, do you want to go?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tell him that,” she said simply. “Jordie isn’t shy when it comes to that kind of stuff, plus I’m sure he wants you to go.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed, leaning to the side to stretch her back as Lacey picked her phone back up and then laughed.

  “Jordie just said that they’re all just mad ’cause he’s hung like a horse and they traded their dicks for strollers,” she snorted and slapped her hand against the counter. “Such dorks.”

  “Right? I’m dying,” Karson said as he entered the kitchen, Mena tucked in his arms. Lately, you didn’t see Karson without Mena. It was adorable, but when Lacey told Kacey he was sad he was going to have to leave Mena when they went on road trips, it kind of broke her heart. He was such a good daddy.

  Leaning against each other, Karson and Lacey looked on their phones, both of them laughing and looking like the poster couple for Better Homes and Gardens magazine. She was tempted to look too, but glancing at the clock, she saw that Jordie would be home soon and he’d want an answer. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to live with him—she pretty much already did—she just felt like it was too soon. But then, looking up, she saw the pillar of the love she wanted. They seriously got married like two or three days after seeing each other in however many years. They did rush into it, and Lacey even left him at one point, but Karson would be damned if she was going to leave him without a fight. He went up and got his woman, and Kacey knew in her heart that Jordie would do the same thing. So what was holding her back?

  “Jordie asked me to move in with him.”

  They looked up at her, both with quizzical expressions on their faces. Shrugging, Karson said, “Okay?”

  “What did you say?” Lacey asked.

  “I told him I didn’t know. It just seems fast.”

  “Fast?” Karson scoffed. “We got married right away, and when I came back here, I was living with Jordie. Kind of forgot to tell you that, too,” he laughed, but Lacey shot him a dark look.

  “Those damn tissues,” she said, shaking her head. “But yeah, and we’re good, Kacey.”

  “You know people do this every