It's April and Holt and I go to family brunch together.
My parents take their Sunday brunch very seriously. It's a tradition they've kept up since before they were even dating. My dad likes to say that my mother fell in love with him during brunch.
Since Eloise and I moved away for college, we can't exactly go back home every Sundays. But we try to do it as often as we can. We'll often miss each other, because she'll be able to go one Sunday and I won't, but this week, everyone is here.
Eloise is kinda huge now and it's hilarious. We have to do the brunch at home because she needs to put her feet on a chair and be surrounded by pillows.
"You know what they don't seem to talk about enough when they talk about pregnancies?" my sister begins to rant, "How much a baby actually moves. Like, you have cutesy moments in movies where the chick is like, oh touch my belly, he just kicked. Kicked? That baby inside me is doing freaking summersaults."
We're all laughing. "What? Did you think he was going to stay still the whole time?" Mom asks her.
"No, but no one told me it feels like an alien trying to burst out of my uterus," my sister whines.
Our mother grins. "Try having twins."
That prospect seems quite daunting to the pregnant lady at the table. "Oh god, two of them."
We're all laughing again.
I shoot a quick look at Smooches beside me. He's smiling and laughing at my sister's antic.
There's something just so perfect about this moment, with my parents here and my pregnant sister and her boyfriend, and my boyfriend, all sitting at a table together, joking around and being happy with one of Holt's leg hooked with one of mine under the table..
I love how natural all of this feels. I love how comfortable Holt fits in my family and how accepting of him my family is.
I'm just happy.
I've been staring at Holt like an idiot for a little too long now, so he catches me.
We both smile at each other. He presses a quick peck on my shoulder. My heart is full.