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Chapter Twenty

One Year Later

"Happy Birthday dear Reagan, Happy Birthday to you!"

The little girl, dressed head to toe in pink, including two pink rhinestone barrettes stuck in her outrageously curly raven hair, giggled as Brian helped blow out the one candle sticking up from a silvery sugared pink cupcake. When Bri pulled back she stuck her fingers in, squealing in delight before stuffing the crazy-inducing stuff in her mouth.

"MINE!" Bentley complained.

I held out a little plastic baggie of chocolate Teddy Grahams. He looked up at me with a look that screamed - are you SERIOUS?

It was a perfect late summer day in Atlanta. I hadn't been to Bri and Leigh's often, mostly because the Victorian decor freaked me out. There was nothing like getting lost looking for a bathroom upstairs and bumping into a statue of a naked dude holding his weiner.

"Here's a cuppy for Bentley!"

Leighanne, dressed in a pink dress that looked like an adult version of her daughters, held out a pink fairy-ed up cupcake. Ben reached for it greedily.

"Yum nummm," he said.

"Don't you have any in maybe, blue?" I asked. Leighanne looked horrified.

"Rea's theme is pink!"

I rolled my eyes. I held the cupcake steady as Ben took a bite. He pulled away with a pink 'stache.

"Good?"

He nodded. I swiped a little taste for myself. I had just pulled my saliva-soaked finger out of my mouth when Bri started walking by. I looped my finger around his beltloop and tugged. He looked down, saw me, and cheesed it.

"Hey Nick! Hey Benners! Thanks for coming."

"Like we'd miss it," I said. "Ben picked out his half-sister's gift all by himself."

"It's not a ring is it? Because I keep telling you, we folk from Kentucky don't do that anymore."

Ben put his shaggy head against my chest and kept smacking at the cupcake. The older he grew, the more he looked like me. Currently he was an almost-two version of my 2002-rocker self since he freaked out at the sight of scissors. His hair was long overdue for some TLC. I squeezed him gently and rolled my eyes.

"I was joking you know," I said. "Besides, he has his sights set on someone new now. He still likes the black haired girls, but he seems to like his ladies as young as he can get."

"Wha--"

"Hey Rok, you got any of those wipe thingies? I'm dying here."

Bri looked to his right horrified. "She left you alone with the baby?"

AJ bounced his head, sliding his shades down his face just enough to squinty-glare back at him. "I'm responsible, y'know. But right now I can't handle this shit. Literally."

"Mimi!" Ben said in delight. He began to squirm and I set him down. He squished the last hunk of the cupcake in his fingers and started to head towards the five-week old baby. Michelle "MiMi" McLean got a forehead full of icing.

"Nick!"

I looked up guiltily. Kelsey pointed at Ben. "Don't let him rub icing on a baby's head!"

"He's annointing her," I said. "It's like a biblical thing. Now they're pink fairy soulmates."

Kelsey scooped him up and tipped him upside down. Ben's hair fanned out and he began to laugh hysterically. She swung him carefully side to side. "What am I going to do with you boys?" she said. Bri made a praying motion her way, winked, and stepped inside, no doubt to find AJ some wipes. I leaned forward.

"I know what you can do," I said, my voice dropping low, conspiratorial ly. "You can sleep with me."

She pulled Ben upright and grabbed a napkin. She spit on it and began to wipe his fingers. "I told you Carter," she said. "No sex before marriage."

"Ha!"

It was my turn to glare at AJ. I looked back up at Kelsey. Ben adored her. I adored her; I was actually being FAITHFUL to her. We had been living together the last six months. I wanted, no needed, to get laid. Bad.

But marriage? It was one thing to figure out what to expect when I wasn't expecting...

Figuring out how to de-flower a woman without taking the plunge?

Now THAT was a whole 'nother story...