Invisible String

25

“Alright then,” Kylie grinned. “What’s something about motherhood you swore you’d never do but totally do now?”

“Oh, easy,” I said, laughing softly. “Let my kid eat snacks in bed. I was so smug about routines and structure and no crumbs, and now Lily has a literal snack drawer by her pillow.”

“Honestly iconic,” Travis said, raising his beer.

“Okay, your turn to ask,” Kylie prompted.

I scanned the group. “Jason. Truth or dare?”

Jason cracked his knuckles. “Dare. Hit me.”

“I dare you to let Kylie do your skincare routine for the rest of the trip.”

He groaned dramatically. “She uses so many products, it’s like a chemistry lab in there!”

Kylie just smiled smugly. “You’ll thank me when you’re forty-five and glowing.”

As the night went on, we laughed harder, got a little bolder with our questions, and slowly let the stress of real life melt away. Finnley shifted sleepily against me, and Travis tossed a hoodie over my shoulders without saying a word.

It was chaotic and sweet and everything I didn’t know I needed. Just friends, firelight, and memories in the making.

---

The fire had burned down to glowing embers by the time Jason dared Travis to try on one of Kylie’s face masks, which ended in all of us wheezing with laughter as Travis sat motionless, green goop smeared across his face like a statue.

“Don’t move or it’ll crease,” Kylie warned seriously, camera in hand, snapping photos while Jason egged her on.

“I feel like I’m in a hostage situation,” Travis muttered, narrowing his eyes at me through the mask. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I’m your wife, babe,” I said with a smirk, sipping the last of my wine. “My job is to love you and let you be publicly humiliated sometimes.”

“Marriage sounds great,” Austin quipped from his spot in the corner. He had joined us quietly a little while ago, nursing a ginger ale and looking more relaxed than he had in weeks.

“You’re just jealous you don’t have a glow-up mask,” Jason teased.

Austin chuckled and shook his head, and for a moment, the laughter faded into a peaceful lull. The kind that only happens when people feel safe. I glanced around the fire at all of them—my brother, my sister-in-law, my best friend, my husband—feeling overwhelmingly grateful.

Kylie leaned her head on Jason’s shoulder. “It’s kind of crazy, isn’t it? How fast it all goes. Feels like yesterday we were all figuring out how to raise one kid between the group, and now there’s like... a dozen.”

“Don’t remind me,” I said, glancing down at Finnley, who had finally drifted into deep sleep in my arms. “Lily was just learning to walk like, last week.”

Travis shifted closer to me, resting his arm along the back of my chair, mask cracking slightly. “You’ve always been the glue, Tay.”

I blinked at him. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “Just... even when things got crazy—new babies, late-night feedings, surprise kids—somehow you kept everyone grounded.”

My throat tightened a little, caught off guard by the sincerity in his voice. Kylie smiled gently and nodded. “He’s not wrong. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”