“You too, you know?” he says, voice rough. “The best Papa Bear.”

“Knowing my luck, they’ll be neurotic messes who think too much and talk without a filter and end up offending everyone within a two-mile radius.”

“And will make a mortal enemy out of a seagull.”

“Hey! I didn’t do anything to that fucking evil rat with wings. It always came after me. And did you know seagulls have a lifespan up to fifteen years? I learned that on the internet while trying to get ideas for tonight. That motherfucker could still be alive, plotting and planning until I’m completely complacent before it exacts its revenge.”

“Your life is so weird.”

“Right? Lucky you.”

“Lucky me,” he says with a hum.

I’m dozing a little while later when I hear him whisper, “We’re going to be good parents. I know we will.”

Right now, here in this moment, everything is fine.

I’m asleep a moment later.

12. Where Bear Faces the Reality of Married Life

IT’S MID-AUGUST when he snarls at me, “You think I asked for this? Jesus fucking Christ, Derrick. It’s hard enough that we’re having twins, but we also have to have your little sister here too. Sometimes it’s just too much, okay?”

And I’m staring at him, my skin buzzing like I’m made of bees, my fists clenched at my sides. I’m angry, so goddamn angry. Otter knows it too, and I can see the moment when what he’s said hits him, and he pales. The blood drains from his face, his eyes wide. He’s on the other side of the kitchen, and for the life of me, I don’t know how we’ve gotten this far. One moment, things are fine. It’s a sunny Saturday afternoon, and we’re talking in the kitchen, and then he says that he has a meeting next Tuesday in Portland that could lead to a new short-term contract for him. Some magazine wants to hire him to photograph something, and I offhandedly reminded him that we had an appointment with Megan and the obstetrician. He said he’d have to skip it, and I reminded him that he’d skipped the last one because he’d been busy with a different job. And maybe I said, “Don’t you think Megan needs the both of us there? After all, she’s having our children,” and that set him off. He said things, I said things, both of us trying to keep our voices low because Izzie was upstairs, just having finished her lunch. We’re supposed to be going school shopping for the both of us, given that I go back the week after next to start all the bullshit admin meetings and prepping for the new year, and Izzie starts the first week of September on a Thursday (which might be the most ridiculous thing in the world).