Page 65 of Double Play
Gael smirks. “Kai is going to cry.”
Andres scoffs. “Kai cries at commercials now… you’d think he was the one who was pregnant.”
“He cried when Isla ordered decaf,” Adriana adds.
I snort.
Andres tries not to smile. Fails.
Then the door opens again, and the air changes.
Kai walks in first, carrying the car seat like it contains the crown jewels. His face is pale with exhaustion and joy and terror, eyes glassy, mouth set like he’s holding himself together with willpower.
Behind him, Isla steps in slowly and carefully, wrapped in a cozy sweater and a beanie, looking smaller than she did a month ago but somehow more powerful. Like motherhood turned her into something holy and dangerous.
Her gaze travels across the room to the cleaned counter. From the baby gate and neatly stacked diapers to the food laid out on the table. She blinks fast, and I know she’s trying not to cry.
Kai’s voice breaks first, of course.
“You did all this?” he demands, like he’s offended by kindness.
Andres nods once. “Yeah.”
Isla’s eyes shimmer. “Thank you,” she whispers.
Adriana crosses the room and hugs her carefully. Gael kisses Isla’s temple like she’s his sister too, because she is.
Kai sets the car seat down on the coffee table like it’s the safest place in the universe. Rowan is asleep inside, tiny face barely visible under the blanket. He stares at her like she’s a miracle he doesn’t deserve.
“She’s here,” he murmurs. “She’s… she’s actually here.”
Isla laughs softly, exhausted. “Yeah, babe. That’s what happens when you have a baby.”
Kai glares at her like she’s being sarcastic on purpose. “Don’t be mean to me right now.”
“I’m not being mean. I’m tired and starving.”
Andres snorts quietly.
Kai shoots him a look. “Don’t start.”
Gael mutters, “God help all of us.”
Adriana laughs, then points at the food. “Okay. Isla, sit. Kai, eat. Everyone eat.”
Kai doesn’t move because he’s still staring at Rowan.
Isla touches his arm. “Baby?”
Kai blinks like he’s coming back from another dimension. “Yeah.”
“Let them hold her,” Isla says softly, like she already knows what he’s about to do. “She’s not going to disappear.”
Kai’s jaw clenches. “I know that.”
Isla raises a brow and Kai exhales, defeated, and looks at me.
“Jack,” he says, voice thick. “You hold her.”
