“Well, your daughter peed on me, and my baby niece Sarah has power puked on me already… guess there’s only one more rite of passage then for me, huh?” Ryan laughed.

“It’s not official until it’s your own child,” Kelly corrected Ryan’s assumption.

“You mean all these other times don’t count?” Ryan whined.

Cami came running down the hall and ran right to my leg. I lifted her up and sat her back on my lap. “Are you all better now?”

She nodded her head. “I pooped.”

“On the potty like a big girl?” I asked. Ryan stuck his head over my shoulder to get in on the conversation.

“Uhuh. And, and, and my daddy... he wiped my bottom.”

“He did? What a good daddy!” I said excitedly.

“Wanna see my toys?”

“We’re going to eat dinner first, Cami,” Kelly said as she took the little girl off my lap. “Sorry about this. I couldn’t find anyone to babysit her.”

I waved a hand and smiled. “Don’t worry about it,”

We all took our seats at the dinner table. Cami insisted on sitting next to me. She was my new best friend.

“We’ll have fun later, I promise,” I said to Cami. “But first we have to put some yummy food in our bellies. Then maybe you can show me your toys.”

“Ooh, pwetty!” Cami had my new necklace in her hand. “Hearts! Can I have it?”

“Cami, no. That’s not yours,” Kelly reprimanded.

“I think it’s pretty too!” I whispered to Cami. “I like the way it sparkles!”

I looked over to Ryan and smiled. He was grinning at me again.

Cal and Kelly covered the table with a variety of gourmet foods that smelled divine. It was almost too pretty to eat.

“Kelly, everything is delicious,” I complimented while trying a taste of each selection.

“Thanks! Cal and I took some cooking lessons from a friend of ours who’s a chef. Usually we just have macaroni and cheese out of the box, but it’s nice to cook like this every once and a while.”

Cami didn’t eat; she wanted a peanut butter sandwich instead, but she wasn’t going to get one.

I scooped up some food on her fork and pretended I was going to eat it. She opened her mouth for me and I got her to eat a fork full.

“That was a good bite! My turn!” I took a nice bite of food.

“Cami’s turn! My turn!” I didn’t care that the three other adults at the table were staring at me. My game was getting the little girl to eat her supper.

“Taryn, I think we need to take you home with us. She hasn’t eaten like this in, well I can’t remember the last time she had such an appetite.”

Kelly looked astounded.

“Sorry, can’t let you do that,” Ryan interjected. “We’re staying on the East Coast, where things are normal.”

The bite of food I had in my mouth suddenly became very hard to chew. Did I just hear that correctly? I wished I could spit the food into my napkin so I could breathe, but I couldn’t be rude. I took a big sip of wine to wet the food in my mouth; hopefully that would help me swallow it. I really wanted to gasp in a few deep breaths of air. We… are staying… East Coast…. We… Holy shit.

“More!” Cami shouted at me, snapping my attention back to the table. Her little mouth was opened wide, just like a baby bird. I shoveled another pile into her mouth.

After that comment, I couldn’t eat anymore. I was in a freaking daze thinking about us… East Coast… children… rites of passages… little blueeyed babies… Once we were all finished eating, I helped Kelly clear the table while the men took Cami into the family room to keep her busy. I was scraping a plate into the garbage can when Kelly asked me, “Are you okay?”

I blinked a few times, wrapping my thoughts around her words. “Yeah, why?”

“You just got real quiet. I was wondering if it was because of what Ryan said?”

I smiled. “Kelly, every time he says we…” I took a deep breath.

She smiled back at me and whispered, “feels good to be in love, doesn’t it!”

“Yes, it does!”

We all sat back at the dinner table and talked; Cami was sitting on my lap and we were both coloring in a book with crayons. I was having a blast, trying to get the different shades of purple to blend on the petals of the flower I was coloring.

“Is that your masterpiece?” Ryan teased Cami.

“Whyin, don’t touch!” she scolded him.

“Another good thing about Pennsylvania – that’s where they make crayons,” Ryan stated.

“And Yuengling Lager too,” I added.

“Philly cheesesteaks,” Ryan continued.

“Will Smith is from Philadelphia,” Cal contributed.

“Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pens,” Ryan and I added together. We held our fists up and tapped our knuckles together.

“I’m taking you to a hockey game. I’ll check to see when the Pens are playing at home and we are going,” he said to me.

“Won’t have to twist my arm to get me to go!” I smiled at him.

“Hey.” Cami patted me on the cheek to get my attention.

“Taryn,” I said my name.

“Tawyn,” she repeated. “You color the gwass too. Use dis gween.”

“Can I color too?” Ryan asked.

“No,” Cami fired quickly. “Me and Tawyn coloring. You wait your turn.”

I started to laugh. Kids are so brutally honest.

Ryan pretended to sniff and he acted like he was starting to cry.

“I think you hurt Ryan’s feelings,” I whispered in her ear.

Cami looked up at Ryan and pouted. “Whyin, don’t cwy.” She set her crayon down. “I hold you.” She leaned over to him and he pulled her out of my arms.

My heart melted watching him hug her, while my thoughts wandered to picture him holding our child one day. He would make a great father.

I slid the coloring book and crayons in front of him so he could have his turn. She plopped down on his lap and picked her red crayon back up in her little hand. I couldn’t stop smiling.

It was almost nine o’clock and way past Cami’s bedtime when Kelly announced that she had to say goodnight to everyone. She was so quiet sitting on Ryan’s lap, minding her own business and just coloring that you barely realized she was there.

She started to cry when Kelly picked her up. Ryan gave her a little kiss on the cheek. I had to give her a hug; she demanded it.