Jess was standing in the doorway to her room with 6-month-old Ellie on her hip. She watched as Winston and Nick were struggling to move her dresser.
"Damn it, Nick, could you help me out here!"
"Quit pulling."
Jess laughed and turned to Ellie, "Your daddy and Uncle Winston are CRAZY, Ellie." She turned and looked at the two guys, "Maaaaaaybe, if they TOOK THE DRAWERS OUT," she smiled sweetly and batted her eyes, "it wouldn't be so heavy."
Nick and Winston looked at each other. Nick shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. Winston threw his arms in the air "Well hell, Nick," he motioned toward the door, "she's got your kid on her hip and she's still doing better than you."
Nick walked toward Jess and she handed the baby over to her husband, "Here, I'll just do it. Take Ellie."
Nick grabbed the baby and kissed her forehead, before he smiled and hugged her close in front of him. The little girl rubbed her eyes and buried her head in her father's chest.
Jess and Winston started with the top drawer and one by one, removed them and stood them on their ends on top of the bed. As Jess was taking out the bottom drawer, Winston started to move the dresser shell.
Winston shook his head "Man, how did we not think of this before?!"
Jess laughed and lifted the last drawer onto the bed. She stopped when something on the underside of the drawer caught her eye. "What is this?"
Nick turned to Jess and saw what she was looking at. He slowly smiled. He thought back to the day, nearly 5 years ago when he had assembled it.
You will not build her that dresser. It implies that, one day, you will share it with her. And that's never gonna happen.
He laughed to himself and rocked back and forth gently as the baby started to fall asleep.
Jess turned to Nick. "You wrote this?"
He tilted his head to the side and nodded, smiling proudly, "That I did Jessica Miller"
Winston knelt down at the end to the bed to see what they were talking about. He read the message out loud, "To Jessica: Maybe someday. Love, Nick." He stood up and scratched his head. He glanced back and forth between the two of them and shook his head. "You kids are freakin' WEIRD." He turned to Jess. "Do you even know what that means?"
Jess turned around and looked at Nick, just as curious as Winston.
Nick walked over to the bed. "Remember Winston...you told me not to build this for her, because I was her "fluffer". Remember?"
Winston put one hand on his hip and scratched the back of his head with the other. "I do remember that man." He gave a little laugh. "And you STILL built this damn thing."
"You told me something about building this would imply I would share it with her one day..." Nick motioned toward the drawer with his head, and then looked Jess in the eye, "I guess I knew what I was doing."
Jess' face softened and she started to cry. She ran over to him and her arms around her husband and daughter. "Niiiiiiick, that is SO SWEET." She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling, "God, Miller, you're full of surprises..." Nick laughed and bent down to kiss her. Ellie stirred in his arms and he shifted her to his right shoulder, putting his left arm around Jess. "I guess I DID know what I was doing, huh Winston?"
Winston just shook his head, motioned between the two of them, and then crossed his arms in front of him. "You two really do deserve each other, you know that?"