He grunts and pulls away. “I’ll call Stacey. Have her pick up Ben.”

“I’m sorry.”

He arches an eyebrow at me. “For?”

“Bringing this on you. Again.”

He shakes his head. “I’d do almost anything for him. You know that.”

And yeah, I do. It’s taken me a long time to accept that, a long time to trust Dom and his place in Ty’s life. And maybe that’s been unfair on my part, but I couldn’t help it. For the longest time, Ty was the center of everything, and it hurt to see that someone else could care for him better than I could. Things changed, and they’re changing again.

“You’re a good guy,” I tell him.

He squints at me. “How many glasses of wine have you had?”

“Okay, Officer,” I growl. “Only two.”

“Uh-huh. Everyone inside?”

“Yeah.”

He nods before bending down to pick up Ben and settle him in the crook of his elbow. Ben yawns and lays his head down on his dad’s shoulder, watching me without speaking.

“Hey, Ben,” I say, smiling quietly.

Ben doesn’t say anything, but then I don’t expect him to. I haven’t seen him in a couple of months, and it always takes him time to get used to everyone again.

Dom’s up the stairs, pausing next to Ty. He leans down and whispers something in his ear. Ty listens, but his expression doesn’t change. He’s still smiling, and he nods when Dom straightens back up. He kisses Dom’s jaw, just once, and Dom rubs his hand over the back of his head.

And then Dom’s inside, the door closing behind him.

“We just going to stand on the porch?” Ty asks. “Or are we going to go inside and have me act surprised for the party I’m not supposed to know we’re having.”

I smile weakly. “How’d you know?”

“The cars in the driveway,” he says as if I’m stupid. “And it’s almost my birthday, and I’m coming home for the first time in almost six months.” His eyes widen a little. “Is there a jumping castle in the backyard? Because if there is, you two cannot do anything gross in it. I didn’t just drive across the country to watch you two mack all over each other.”

“Mack,” I say, my distaste evident. “Kids these days. Mack.”

He rolls his eyes. “Well, what are we waiting for? Look, here’s the surprised face I’ll make.” His jaw drops, and he looks terribly surprised. “For me? You really, really should have.”

And he’s happy. God, he’s so fucking happy.

I hate her now more than I ever have.

“We gotta talk, Ty,” Otter says. “Some stuff came up. But after that, yeah. We can go inside and act surprised.”