Page 149 of Good For Me

Ash gives a barely discernible nod and looks at the floor.

“Dude, that’s awesome,” River says, ruffling his hair. “Who’s the girl?”

“Monica Gonzales,” he says, eyes darting up to meet his older brother’s, a sheepish smile tugging on his lips.

“Seriously?” River crows. “She dumped the asshole? Did you impress her with your kickflip?”

Ash shakes his head. He’s still blushing, but he also looks awfully pleased with himself.

“He wrote her a poem,” Violet crows.

River throws his head back and laughs as Ash lunges for his twin. She dances away and River claps a hand on Ash’s shoulder. “Dude. That is so awesome. Play to your strengths.” He ruffles Ash’s hair again. “You’ve definitely got that sensitive, artistic vibe going. Girls are going to love it.”

“Worked for me,” Daltrey says, and it’s Daisy’s turn to laugh.

“No one thought you were sensitive, buddy. You and your brothers were brawling in the school hallways every week.”

“I must have done something right,” he argues. “You liked me.”

“I liked you for your body,” she says, totally deadpan, and all of her children, River included, groan like they’re being tortured. I just laugh and finish cooking dinner.

Rose and Leo show up a few minutes later and Fox slides in right as we’re sitting down to eat. “Sorry I’m late,” he says. “Everly and I had a meeting with the show’s producer in Hollywood and traffic was a nightmare.”

“Oh, Jesus,” River mutters. “Here he goes with the reality TV star schtick again.”

“I was also late,” Rose says in a hoity-toity voice. “I had a costume fitting, because I, too, am such a busy and important television personality.”

“Sorry I can’t make Christmas, Mom,” Violet adds. “I’ll be too busy hanging out with all my super cool celebrity co-workers.”

“And I’m going to have to leave early tonight,” Ash says gravely. “I have a very important shoot first thing in the morning. You know how it goes.”

“You’re all hilarious,” Fox says drily. He turns to me. “You sure you want anything to do with this family? It’s not too late to run away to Fiji.”

I shake my head. “Fiji is over-rated. I was recently there with Steven Spielberg—have you heard of him? Huge director, very important. It wasn’t nearly as nice as I thought it would be. They let the normal people use the same pool as us famous people.”

River gives a mock shudder. “Can you imagine?”

“I hate all of you,” Fox grumbles as Rose gives me a high five over the table.

“In all seriousness,” Daltrey cuts in. “What did the producers have to say?”

Fox eagerly tells us about everything that’s been happening with the second season of the reality show—they start shooting right after Christmas. I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to have cameras following them around all day, but Everly has been equally excited about the start of filming.

“When does the season end?” River asks.

“We should be done late February.” He looks at my belly. “So keep that baby safe and warm until then. I want the cameras out of my life before I meet my niece or nephew.”

“The baby better wait a hell of a lot longer than that,” River says, rubbing a hand down my middle. “We still have a lot to learn. I don’t know the first thing about diapers or bottles or any of that stuff.”

“You could come help out at the shelter,” Rose suggests. “I’m sure the moms there would be happy for you to take some babies off their hands for a while.”

“I’ll totally take you up on that,” I tell her. “I never even babysat when I was a teenager. I don’t think I even know how to hold a baby.”

Daisy waves her fork dismissively. “I had to have a nurse show me how to hold Rose in the hospital. Eventually it becomes instinct.”

Daltrey nods. “No one knows what the hell they’re doing at first.”

Daisy smirks at him. “Some of us still didn’t know what we were doing after the second kid.”