With that, Karrie raises her head a bit. “That he did.”

I throw my head back. “God, I’m thirsty.”

“You’re drinking coffee,” Matthew says. “How can you be thirsty?”

“I just am. You can be drinking and still be thirsty,” I tell him, walking over to the stool next to Karrie. “It’s a girl thing.”

“You are probably dehydrated,” he says, turning to continue making pancakes.

“You have no idea,” I say quietly and then take a sip of coffee. Matthew finishes breakfast while Karrie just tries to lift her head.

“Karrie,” I tell her, and she looks over at me. “I’ve decided that if you die, I’m going to marry Matthew,” I tell her, and she just looks at me, her eyebrows pushing together.

“Um, thanks, I guess,” she says.

“You’re welcome,” I say to her. “Besides, you don’t want him to get with someone who will actually love him, do you?”

“True …” she starts to say.

“Exactly. I’ll marry him, and he’ll never love me or have sex with me, so in the end, you’ll be winning.”

“What happens if I die?” Matthew says, and I look at him.

“Oh, she’s going to find someone else, and she’ll be fine,” I say, and now Karrie smiles.

“Why do I get stuck with you, and she gets to date?” Matthew asks, putting the plate of bacon down in front of us.

“Matthew, I don’t make the rules,” I tell him. “It’s just the way it’s going to go.”

“Great, so I get to marry you, and then she gets to marry some guy who is going to love her,” Matthew says, glaring and folding his arms over his chest.

“That sounds about right.”

“I’m going to haunt her from the grave,” Matthew threatens.

I look at Karrie. “Don’t worry about that. We are going to sage the house.”

“I’m not having this discussion,” Matthew says and calls the kids.

“There is no discussion really. You get me, and she gets, I don’t know, Chris Hemsworth.”

“He’s married,” Karrie says from beside me.

“Karrie,” Matthew hisses out.

“What? You’re dead. You don’t want me to be alone for the rest of my life, do you?”

“Um, yeah, I see nothing wrong with that. Since you’re leaving me with her.” He points at me.

“Hey, I am good eye candy, but I’ll also need like a hall pass to go and have sex with other people.”

“If you are going to have sex with other people, then so will I,” Matthew says, looking at me.

“Absolutely not. No husband of mine is going to have sex with another woman.”

“Enough,” Karrie says. “No one is dying.” She gets up and walks over to Matthew, but she is walking funny.

“Did he get the wrong hole again?” I snicker into my cup when she turns to glare at me.

“I told her it was a bad idea, but she kept begging for it,” Matthew says, his chest puffing out again. “The cry after? Not so good.”