"Dad, do not embarrass me," Chloe warns as we drive up to Luke's place. Dad, she calls me. It's the best word ever.
"I would never embarrass you. Not in a million years."
"Da-ad," she groans. "Seriously. My friends are going to be here. Everyone's going to be here." She brings the car to a stop and puts it in park.
"Don't forget the emergency brake out here so my car doesn't go rolling down the hill."
"Ugh." Chloe sighs exasperatedly. "I know that. You don't have to remind me. We literally just got out of the DMV, where, I'll remind you in case you forgot, that they just gave me a license to drive. By myself."
"I don't need to be reminded about how old you're getting, kid."
"Is mom here?" Chloe jumps out of the car. "I'm going to show her my license. My photo is so stupid-looking, though. The guy didn't even let me fix my hair first."
I look around, my eyes searching the crowd of people gathered – my brothers and their wives and holy hell, fourteen kids between the four of us, and a bunch of Chloe's friends and Lily and her parents somewhere in the sprawling crowd of people on Luke's front lawn. "There she is, right down there."
Chloe takes off faster than I do. Lily walks toward us, but Chloe gets diverted by a group of her friends, who squeal as Chloe shows her the brand new license. When Lily reaches me, she rolls her eyes. "I see her friends trump me," she notes. "and that's after she picked you to do the driver's test with her instead of me."
"It's not my fault that you screamed and freaked her out when she was practicing driving with you."
"There was a deer in the road!"
"I can't help it if I'm the chill dad. I'm relaxed. So chillaxed."
Lily groans. "That's good, because you're obviously not the cool dad."
"That's not what you said last night." I pull her against me, my hand on her lower back.
She laughs. "I did not call you cool."
I talk low in her ear. "If I recall correctly, you said I was hot. So, so hot. There was a lot of moaning involved."
She slaps me on the arm, and I bring my lips down to hers. Her lips are the most familiar thing in the world now, but kissing her gets me every time. When I pull away, she looks at me the way she used to look at me when we first met – the lusty way, not the way she'd look at me when she wanted to kill me, although I'm definitely accustomed to that look now, too. "Don't worry about it. I got a lot of eye rolling and dramatic sighing on the way back from the test."
"Tell me she won't be like this forever," Lily whispers.
"Oh, hell, I hope not." I laugh. The truth is, aside from the eye rolling and sighing – and the occasional slammed door – Chloe is a damn good kid. We still get the play-by-play about all of the school and friend drama - at least, I think so and she's got a pretty good head on her shoulders. She's class president this year, and this week anyway, she says she wants to go pre-med when she graduates in a couple of years. A few months ago, she wanted to play professional soccer, so we take the career declarations with a grain of salt.
"Mom! There you are!" Chloe yells, pulling Lily away from me to hug her. "I passed my driver's test! I can totally drive us home, right?"
"Yes, you can drive us home."
"Seriously, you guys. Can you please stop making out at my birthday party? Everyone thinks it's so gross."
"Sorry, kid, no can do," I tell her. "Making out with your mom is my favorite pastime."
"Mo-om! Tell him it's totally humiliating when you guys kiss. I just saw tongue. Seriously. You're too old."
"Did she just call us too old?" Lily asks.
"I think she did." I grin at Lily before pulling her toward me again dramatically bending her down in a dip so I can plant a kiss on her lips.
Chloe groans in frustration. "I am so going to send you my therapy bills when I'm older."
"Mom! Dad!" Dylan, our seven-year-old, comes running up to us and I groan.
"Can't I make out with my wife in peace?" I joke.
"No, dad!" Chloe scolds.
"Whatever you're about to say, if it involves tattling on your brother, I don't want to hear it," Lily says.
"But Will says he's going to put his tongue on Chloe's cake and take a photo of it!"
"What?" Chloe yells. "Where is he? I'm going to kill him!"
"Don't kill your brother. He's only six. He's still cute. Wait until he becomes a teenager!" I say.
"How does he even have a camera?" Lily asks.
"He has your phone," Dylan tells her.
"Get my phone back while you're down there," Lily advises.
"He knows not to put his tongue on my cake!" Chloe says. "Honestly, you guys let him get away with everything. It's so not fair. Nana would totally agree with me!" The two of them race toward one of the tables on the lawn where Chloe's cake – all four layers of glittered extravagance because Lily went way overboard but I'd never in a million years tell her that – is perched.
"I think he pickpocketed that phone right off of me," Lily notes. "He's been spending too much time with Tempest."
"He's going to be hustling people at cards by the time he's ten," I tell her.