Part 5 (2/2)
”No, not at all,” my mom adds quickly. ”It's just you've been married so long.”
”Not even a year, Mom. That's not long.” Jude shakes his head. ”Jesus.”
”Really? I thought it was like five years.”
Lucy scoffs at my math. ”I know. They are so sticky sweet in love, it makes us feel like we've been subjected to it longer than we actually have.”
I laugh in agreement as Claire clears her throat.
”Anyway...” Claire sings with laughter in her voice. Really, that's all she can do.
Laugh at the insanity of this family.
”We bought a house here,” Claire says excitedly, her hands waving in a jazz hands sort of way that has my brows rising. I guess she figured everyone would be excited too.
But looking around, I'm sure everyone is thinking the same thing I am. ”Why?” Jude sends me a dirty look at my question, and I hold up my hand. ”I mean, I don't understand why you did that when you live in Vegas and Jude lives in Cali.”
”My contract with the burlesque club is coming to an end, and I've turned down the renewal because I miss Jude and I want to be home more. I'm already turning over more to my a.s.sistant Ch.o.r.eographer to make the transition faster.”
Silence comes after that last statement, and I can tell everyone is confused. Well, everyone except Coach, Markus, and Angie; they are all eating happily. Not a care in the world.
”I don't get it,” Lucy says and I smirk. Leave it to my sister to say what all of us are wondering. But like he did to me, Jude starts to glare at her. ”What? How is buying a house here helping?”
”Because, when the season is over, we will be living here.”
”Yeah, starting next year, I'll be running my aunt's dance studio a lot more since Reese is so busy with the boys,” Claire adds happily, speaking of her...er...cousins? I don't know how that works. Phillip is her uncle, so, cousins? But before I can try to figure it out, everyone is nodding, so I do the same. Still not getting it, but oh well. Maybe I'll actually see Jude more now. That is, before I sign my own contract and s.h.i.+p on out.
”So we'll have a house in California and one here.”
”I'll spend half the week here and half the week there,” Claire says.
”That's a lot of travel,” Mom says, concern on her face.
But Claire nods. ”Yeah, but it's what's best for us. We are happy.”
”And that is all that matters,” Mom says with a grin. ”Because then you'll start trying for a baby, right?”
”Ugh, Mom,” Jude groans.
”What? I want more grandkids.” Mom's gaze then falls on Baylor.
”Whoa! Don't look at me. They are more likely to have kids than us,” she says, hooking her thumb to Jude and Claire.
”Um, no, and it only makes sense that you guys have a kid first 'cause you live here. Easy babysitters,” Jude teases down to Jayden and Baylor.
”No, I can't play and be pregnant, dumba.s.s.”
”So? Do your job as a woman and have a baby,” Jude throws back at her, his eyes playful. But even I knew he was a dead man the moment he opened his mouth. The women at the table gasp, and laughter sputters out of me.
G.o.d, he is a dumba.s.s.
”Jude Marshall!”
”Really, Jude?” Lucy asks as Claire shakes her head.
I look to Coach, but he's just laughing. ”Man, she's gonna kill you.”
”Your funeral.” Somehow Markus is able to comment around stuffing his mouth as I sit back and watch the show.
As I expected, Baylor's eyes narrow, her face turning red as she declares, ”My job as a woman is to murder you, Jude Sinclair.”
”And I won't stop her,” Jayden adds.
”Neither will I,” Claire says and Jude just shrugs his shoulders.
”Bring it. I'll take you out like I did last time.”
That has Baylor's eyes blazing even more. ”It was a cheap shot, and you know it.”
”You took her legs out,” Coach hollers. ”On a breakaway!”
”Like a p.u.s.s.y,” Jayden declares with a nod.
”I had to stop her.” Jude shrugs like it was a given, but it was a dirty play. And when Baylor punched him square in the jaw, man, that was probably my favorite thing ever to watch.
That girl is twenty shades of nuts on that ice.
”Whatever. I'll kill you dead, Sinclair,” she sneers and Mom throws her hands up.
”Enough. It's over. Baby talk done. I'll shelve it for another time.”
”It's gonna be a while. No babies here,” Jude says.
”Or here. Make sure to dust that shelf, since no one is bringing it back up,” Jayden adds.
”Definitely not here. Say h.e.l.lo to your one and only baby doll.” Lucy cups Angie's face. Angie sends a big, toothless grin to my mom and she smiles.
”And she's more than enough, aren't you, stinker?”
”Yup,” Angie cheers then as my mom's smile grows. I know that her initial request wasn't directed at me, but I decide to throw in too.
”Sorry, Mom. I can't give you a baby either. No woman,” I tease and she smiles.
”Thank G.o.d. The world isn't ready for another Jace Sinclair.” She pats my hand lightly and I scoff.
”For sure, man. That would be a spoiled, whiny-a.s.s baby,” is Jude's opinion.
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