On the way back home, Kurt stopped at their favorite bagel shop. He was in and out quickly and back on the route home. He stopped one last time at the small market they bought fresh produce from. He put the bags in the back and drove home from there. When they pulled into the garage, Sebastian moved automatically to get Rose out of her seat and he took her inside and changed her. Kurt followed along behind him with Aliza. After they put them down for their naps, Sebastian went into the kitchen and began to unload the dishwasher. Kurt brought in the things he had bought on the way home and the girls' diaper bag and sat them on the dining table.
He went into the pantry and pulled out replacements for what they had used at lunch and put them in the diaper bag. He pulled out the used utensils, bottle, and cup and took them over to the sink. As he walked past Sebastian, he stopped and placed a kiss on his shoulder. He ran a couple of inches of hot water in the sink and added the dish soap and the dirty items from the diaper bag and began washing them. He rinsed them and placed them on the bottle drying rack. He let the water out and turned around to find Sebastian standing right behind him. He backed up a bit and hopped up on the counter and opened his arms.
Sebastian stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Kurt and leaned into his chest. "Going to the Botanical Garden brought back a flood of memories."
Kurt kissed the top of his head.
"I want our girls to have amazing memories too. Other than the zoo, I've avoided most of the places that I went to with my mom, or my dad, or both of them. I don't want to do that anymore, but I don't know how to move through the feeling of loss that I know I'll feel if I go."
"I'm not an expert, but I think the way to move through it is to go and actually create new amazing memories with me and the girls. And when they get a bit older, you can share your amazing memories with them. When you share your past joy, it's not a loss anymore. It adds value to the new memories."
"I hadn't thought about it like that."
"I think it also will help the girls learn that life goes on when we lose people we love, but we can hold onto the joy we felt with the person even after they're gone. My dad wouldn't talk about my mom. I only had my own memories to draw on. I wish he had talked about her with me. I know the girls will never have a chance to know your parents, but they will know about them through your stories."
"Yeah."
"I think death and adoption are going to topics that we'll have to wrestle with. I don't think there's any easy way to talk about either one. But we're going to have to work to prepare ourselves for the discussion on adoption sooner than most parents of adopted children because we're gay. Once they're four or so, it won't take long for another child to ask one of the girls why they never talk about their mom. Or ask why they have two dads that live together. This is where it would have been easier as a single parent." He tipped Sebastian's chin up and kissed him gently. "But we love each other and we love the girls. I'm happy with you. You know that, right?"
Sebastian nodded. "And I'm happy with you. I've just been struggling more the last few weeks."
"I know. It's okay. I'm here for you. I'm not going anywhere. Midterms were rough and the stress of waiting for the hearing adds to the difficulty of facing Rose's birthday and yours without your parents for the first time."
"Yeah. Can we just go snuggle on the sofa while the girls nap?"
"Absolutely. Go get everything set up like you want while I put what I bought away really quickly so it doesn't go bad."
Sebastian kissed him before letting go.
Kurt put everything away quickly. He put the flowers Sebastian hadn't seen in the beautiful vase he had gotten the day they got married and placed it in the middle of the island before joining Sebastian in the living room.
He climbed over the ottoman and snuggled up to Sebastian, who wrapped his arm around Kurt.
"I've decided that watching ridiculous rom coms while holding you snuggled against me is really nice."
"So, what are we watching?"
"You mentioned The Wedding Singer earlier, so that's my pick for right now."
"I still get to pick another rom com tonight, right?"
"You do."
"Well, be prepared for a lot of kisses during this one."
"Oh, really? That ridiculous, huh?"
"More."
"Perfect." He pressed play.
That evening when they went to bed, Sebastian curled up behind Kurt and they both rearranged until they were comfortable enough to sleep.
"I'm making an official request," Sebastian said, as he kissed the back of Kurt's neck.
"i see. And what is your request, which, of course, you already know I will grant you."
"You might not this time."
"I guess there's a first time for most things, but I highly doubt this is one of those times. You know I really don't have it in me to tell you 'no' or deny your requests."
"Oh," Sebastian smiled and chuckled quietly. "It's not that kind of request."
"I still doubt I'll turn you down. What's your request?"
"You know I love Sam coming to visit. And I don't mind him staying with us at all. I actually like it. He's a lot of fun. And he's the perfect uncle."
"Mmm hmm."
"Well, we agreed to me showing you movies I liked on Fridays and you showing me rom coms on Saturdays."
"Yeah."
"Can we change up the movie schedule?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, can we do two rom coms on the weekends that Sam doesn't come and do a movie Sam or I like twice on the weekends that he comes?"
"Not that I'm going to say 'no', but can I ask why?"
"It's very selfish of me."
"You're rarely selfish. Actually, I can't ever think of a time when you were selfish, so I'm not following."
"Well, the original deal was that every time I felt like groaning during the rom com or chick flick, you'd kiss me."
"Oh," Kurt chuckled. "When Sam watches them with us, I don't kiss you during the movies."
"Exactly."
"Sure. We can switch the schedule. Scoot back."
"Why?"
"I'm going to give you the kisses you missed out on during Miss Congeniality."
Sebastian scooted back and Kurt rolled over. He slipped his right arm under Sebastian's pillow and scooted up until their lips were nearly touching. Sebastian closed the distance and kissed him. Kurt smiled and kissed him the second time.
"Better?"
"Kissing you makes everything better."
The next day over lunch, Sam cleared his throat.
Kurt and Sebastian looked at him.
"Um, so, I'm moving to Columbus."
"Really?" Kurt asked, not completely surprised.
"Yeah. When I first came to visit, I thought about it because I wasn't really committed to living in Tennessee again. I just had no reason to move back to Lima, I didn't want to be in New York City anymore, and I didn't really know what I wanted to do. But I went back to my parents' and I did a lot of research. I looked through the degrees that are offered at OSU and I surprisingly found a few that interested me. After Trina and I started to date, I really put my heart into seriously looking into everything, and I applied to OSU. I'm eligible for in-state tuition because I graduated from a high school in Ohio. And I did some simulated financial aid calculations and figured out that I wouldn't have to pay much, so I decided to give it a go. The worst thing would be that I didn't get admitted and I'd have to either consider getting a full-time job or I could look into community colleges and start there in the fall and then try to transfer to OSU for my second year."
"Wow, that's a big change. I didn't realize that you had any interest in going to college at all," Kurt said.
"I didn't think I did, but Trina, and the two of you, made it sound a lot different than high school. And working minimum wage jobs forever isn't appealing."
"I get that," Kurt said.
"Well, I got a reply this morning. I got in."
"That's amazing!" Kurt practically yelled. "I'm so happy for you. Do your parents know?"
"I'm going to tell them when I get home. I didn't tell them that I had applied, so it will be a big surprise when I tell them that I got in. I figured if I didn't get in, there was no point in them knowing to start with. I'm actually waiting to tell Trina until I get my financial aid and scholarship information back. If it turns out that I can't afford it, I'll have to figure out where to go from there. I applied to a couple of community colleges as well. I want to have my decision made before I tell her anything. I just have a question for the two of you."
"What's that?" Sebastian asked.
"Well, I know that the two of you are going to France for five weeks and I wondered if you'd consider letting me stay here while you're gone. I could keep an eye on the place, plus I could look for a job. From my modeling savings, I've got enough for a deposit on a place of my own, plus enough to buy furniture, but I can't get a place without a couple of pay stubs to prove I've got a job. At least, I couldn't in Tennessee when I called around before after we moved."
Sebastian said, "Sure. You already know the security protocols, and you have your own key already. I just have to ask you to not have anyone over that Kurt and I don't already have over. You recognized the paintings. Other people could too. I don't want someone to case the place."
"I get that. The only person I'd have over would be Trina. If we get together with her friends, it would be at one of their places or hers, or out somewhere. It was a little weird to see Marley with a new group of people, like this one person you know interacting in a really friendly way with a bunch of people you've never met, but I got over it after like an hour. Roderick is a really cool guy. Jane and Mason are fun too."
"She invited us to do stuff with them, but I turned her down," Kurt said. "I don't know if Marley keeps in contact with anyone in Lima, but it's just not worth the risk right now. I'm enjoying our anonymity and freedom here. Even with the difficulty of being a new father, living where I don't feel like people are judging me all the time has been amazing. I know it won't last forever, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can."
"I get that,' Sam said. "She knows Sebastian too, so you're right about the risk. I agree with you about the unlikelihood of her staying friends with anyone, but you never know. She and Blaine got along pretty well."
Kurt nodded. "They sang lead together at Regionals. I remember. She has a really nice voice."
"I remember her fainting at Sectionals. She was at the proposal."
"She's super sweet. Maybe you two can join us in the future sometime," Sam offered.
"Yeah, maybe," Kurt said. "What are you planning to study?"
"I'm looking at both Athletic Training and Human Nutrition. Majoring in one, minoring in the other. I haven't made my mind up yet."
"That actually seems like a perfect fit," Kurt said. "I thought you might consider an art degree of some sort."
"I'm hoping to take some art electives. If I'm going to put myself through school, I want to come out with a marketable skill, and art is too iffy to bet on right now. I think it's a good hobby for now. I love it and it's stress-relieving. I want to keep it like that for now."
"That makes sense," Sebastian said.
"I can also take a course and get licensed as a personal trainer. I'd like to do that as soon as possible because doing that would pay more than flipping burgers and I could fit the training sessions into my class schedule."
"That's a really good plan," Kurt said.
Rose banged her hands on her tray and made all of them jump. "MOH!"
Kurt turned to her. "Please use your words and don't bang." He prompted, "More, please Daddy."
"Moh, Pweef."
"Sure. Daddy will get you more." He put more in her bowl and handed her a clean spoon and picked her other one up off the floor. He put it in the sink and sat back down.
Sam looked over at her. "We're still on for building a swing set week after next when I come back, right?"
"We are," Sebastian answered. "I was actually thinking that maybe we could go out and look at a few places to see what our options are once we finish eating."
Kurt nodded.
Sam said, "Sounds good to me."
After their talk, Sebastian looked up a variety of places that he had enjoyed going to growing up in the Columbus area. They sat down together afterwards and chose three places to visit over spring break.
Monday they packed the girls up and went to the Columbus Museum of Art. Kurt had never been before. When they got there, they packed the girls up in their backpacks and walked around outside for a bit before they went inside. Sebastian paid for a membership for two and they headed into the galleries. Sebastian reached for Kurt's hand as a source of comfort. Kurt looked over at him and smiled as he interlaced their fingers. Sebastian willed himself to take in the beauty around him and he began talking about the first painting they stopped to examine.
Listening to Kurt talk about his first impressions of the paintings pulled him out of his head and it didn't take long before he felt better, more like himself. After about an hour, they stopped and fed the girls their lunches and switched the girls' positions. They spent another hour and a half in the museum before the girls started to get tired. Once they were in their carriers, it didn't take long for them to fall asleep. They stopped by one of the dives that they had been to with Trina to pick up lunch. From there, they drove to a park they knew of that had picnic tables right next to the parking area and ate their lunch sitting right in front of their vehicle while the girls napped safely inside.
They had originally planned to go back to the Botanical Gardens on Wednesday, but the weather was predicted to take a turn for the winter side again, so they went on Tuesday after the girls woke up from their morning nap. When they tried to put their jackets from the fall on, they realized how much the girls had grown. They packed a picnic blanket and took their lunches with them.
Sebastian made a quick stop at Kohl's and Kurt ran in to buy them new jackets. He bought them same size because Aliza had grown so much that he was concerned she'd outgrow the smaller size long before summer was over.
He got back in the car and pulled out what he had bought.
"Those are adorable."
"I thought so too. They're completely mix and match. Two pairs of floral leggings, two solid short-sleeve bodysuits, the orchid jacket with the owl face pockets and the turquoise jacket with the fox face pockets all match. They can wear them in any combination. And they were only $10.50 for each set. I was shocked. They had two others that I considered."
"Sounds like a steal. Just go back and get them while they're here. Wait. What are the other two?"
"A sunshine gold jacket with bee pockets and a warm orange one with monarch pockets."
"Sounds adorable too. Go back in and grab them. We'll go out shopping sometime soon, but those sound too cute to pass up."
Kurt smiled at him. "You're such a softie."
"I know." He leaned towards Kurt and kissed him. "It was my intention to spoil her from the day I knew she existed. And now I have two beautiful girls to spoil."
"I'll be right back."
When they got to the garden, they changed their diapers and put the new outfits on quickly before putting them in their stroller. Kurt grabbed their food and the diaper bag and slipped them into the baskets underneath the girls' seats. He carried the picnic blanket under one arm and helped push the stroller with the other.
"Those outfits really are adorable on them. I want to take some pictures of them while we're here. This is their first official picnic," Sebastian said.
"You're right. It is. We've had them with us when we've eaten different places at picnic tables, but we've never had them out on a blanket with us eating with us." Kurt looked around. "It's beautiful out today. I know we're in for a turn back to cold weather for a bit before it warms up again, but today is a perfect picnic day."
Perfect with you. "It is."
There still weren't a lot of flowers to see, but they enjoyed walking around outside in the sun and the warm weather before they settled on a spot to have their picnic. Kurt spread the blanket out and they put the food out in the center. Kurt picked Rose up and sat down with her in his lap. Sebastian sat facing him with Aliza on his lap. They put bibs on both of them before opening the containers of food they had brought for them. Kurt fed Aliza and Sebastian fed Rose. They took a few pictures of each other while they fed the girls. Once the girls finished, they put them back in the stroller with bottles of formula to finish off their meal while Kurt and Sebastian ate their sandwiches and chips.
"Up!" Rose demanded as soon as she finished her formula."Up. Up. Up."
"Up!" Aliza demanded in unison with Rose. it had been one of her first words after Dada and Papa.
Kurt moved to take their empty bottles and packed the remnants of lunch away, along with the trash, and put the bag back under the stroller seats. Sebastian wiped their mouths on their bibs and took them off before he pulled them back out of the stroller and put them down on the blanket with a few of their toys. He lay down on his stomach with his camera and took photos of them crawling around. Kurt didn't realize that he was taking pictures and lay down between them and started playing wth them. Sebastian took a burst of 10 photos to capture them before Kurt realized.
"I want some of you with them too."
Sebastian nodded. "Sure." He looked through the photos he had taken. "They won't be as good as these because you're beautiful."
"You're silly. They'll be perfect because I love the three of you and I love to see all of you happy together."
Sebastian smiled. "I have the most beautiful loving family."
After Kurt got a few photos of Sebastian and the girls together, he propped the camera up on the diaper bag and used the timer to take a few more of the four of them together. Afterwards, he put the camera away and lay back on the blanket. Aliza crawled over to him and he showed her a new book that he had pulled out of the diaper bag. When Rose heard him say that he had a book, she crawled over to him as well. With Sebastian's help, he got both girls to lie on their stomachs between the two of them to look at the book while Kurt read it to them.
"Papa, weed again!" Rose demanded when Kurt finished.
Kurt handed the book to Sebastian and he read it to them a second time. When he finished, he and Kurt both rolled onto their sides and propped up on their elbows facing the girls, who rolled over onto their backs to be able to see their fathers' faces.
Kurt ran his hands along Rose's tummy and tickled her just a bit, like she liked. She giggled, and when he'd stop, she'd grab for his hands back and get him to do it again. He tickled her feet quickly before he'd move back to her chin and tummy. Sebastian and Aliza played several rounds of "Eye blinker, nose smeller, mouth eat, chin chomper", which ended with him tickling her under her chin and her laughing.
After a bit more tickling and reading the book two more times, they put the girls in their stroller and went inside to look at the flowers. By the end of their trip, Rose had learned the word "flower". When they visited the gift shop, they bought a book of flower photos for toddlers, which Rose looked at all the way home.
Sunday morning, Nick, Jeff, David, and Wes arrived right after the girls had gone down for their nap. Sebastian had pulled both of their CRVs out into the driveway before they arrived to make room in the garage to practice the dance for their song for the Bicentennial Concert. They took the baby monitor with them in case the girls woke up early. They had all learned the vocals and recorded themselves singing the song first so they could practice the dance they way they would perform it and they sang along as they danced. Before they finished up, they video recorded themselves doing the dance so they could use it as a reference to practice on their own.
When the girls woke up, Kurt and Sebastian changed them quickly, and put them in their car seats to head to Westerville. They had changed their day to spend time at Sebastian's grandparents to coincide with his birthday since his grandparents didn't drive more than 10-15 minutes from their house anymore. Kurt stopped at the gas station to get gas on the way there. When they pulled up, Kurt moved quickly to grab Aliza out of her seat and head inside before Sebastian. He stepped back with the group inside just in time to quietly say "Surprise!" when Sebastian came in carrying Rose.
"Now, I see why we had to stop to get gas on the way here," Sebastian said. He looked around and smiled as he saw Nick, Jeff, Sam, Trina, Wes, David, Daniel, his wife Lia, and Daniel's parents, Ethan and Mary Montgomery, in addition to his grandparents and Kurt's parents.
Dotty stepped forward and hugged him tight.
Richard was next to hug him. "Come on in." He reached for Rose, who fell into his arms.
"Gampa!" She flashed him a huge smile as she grabbed for him.
Kurt handed Aliza to Carole and went over to Sebastian. "Happy birthday."
Everyone else dispersed from the entryway and headed to the the living room.
Sebastian pulled him close and pecked him on the lips. "You were sneaky."
"Because I love you and wanted to surprise you."
"Well, you succeeded." Sebastian kissed him again.
"Let's go in there before one of them comes looking for us."
"One more kiss."
"Of course. After we take our shoes off."
Once they were sock-footed, Kurt kissed him. and then took his hand.
Everyone started to sing as soon as he stepped into the room.
Sebastian smiled. He wrapped his arm around Kurt's waist as they stood there. The addition of the Warblers added 4 harmony parts making it, by far, the best rendition of "Happy Birthday" that Kurt had ever heard.
When they finished singing, Dotty said, "We had planned to have a cookout, but then the weather turned back to winter today. It's barely above 30 outside, so we're improvising and cooking the meat on the grill and having indoor picnics. I got some blankets out for the younger generation. Us old folks will sit at the dining room table. Burt has offered his grilling expertise, so Richard and Ethan will be joining him with that. And instead of yard games, we've brought out some board games." She pointed to a stack of games on one of the end tables. "We'll put the girls in their high chairs at the table and give them some toys and we'll entertain them while we play Dominoes and you all play whatever you choose. We'll grill and get everything together."
No one moved at first, so Kurt took it upon himself to grab a blanket and hand it to Jeff. "Put that one down and grab a game." He handed another to Sam. "You too."
Within a few minutes, they had opted to play Scrutinize so they could all play a game together first.
Between rounds, Sebastian went into the kitchen to get a drink. He ran into Burt bringing in a tray of burgers. "I thought you weren't going to be back until next weekend."
"You didn't think Carole and I would miss our son-in-law's 20th birthday, did you?"
"Well, to be fair, I didn't know I was having a 20th birthday party."
Burt chuckled. "That's why we didn't let on that we'd be back in Ohio this weekend."
"Your car is at our house."
"We took a taxi here from the airport," Carole offered. She hugged him again. She stepped back and looked him in the eyes. "Honey, you're family. Of course, we came."
Sebastian remembered what she had said about choosing him, Kurt, and the girls over her own family. He nodded. "Thank you."
She rolled her eyes and smiled. "You're welcome. How does it feel to have completed two decades of your life?" she teased.
He huffed. "Well, the last year of my second decade was a doozy, but I'm happy and I have a beautiful family and great friends."
"That you do." She started to say something else, but Kurt came in looking for Sebastian, so she went back to taking the lids off of the bowls and putting them out on the counter so everyone could serve themselves buffet style.
Sebastian extended his hand in Kurt's direction, so Kurt walked over to him and took it. "Oh, it looks like the food is ready. I came in to get you for the next round." He squeezed Sebastian's hand. "I'll go back and get everyone."
Sebastian didn't let go of his hand.
Kurt raised his eyebrow.
"Grandma will go get them. Stay with me, okay?"
"Always."
Sebastian squeezed Kurt's hand, and then let go. He wrapped his arm around Kurt's waist and stood so that they were touching from ankle to shoulder. He leaned into Kurt's ear and said, "This is really nice. I haven't seen Ethan and Mary in a long time."
"Wes mentioned that they missed seeing you and that they wanted to meet me and the girls, so I invited them too."
"I hadn't thought about it. They did come over for lunch fairly frequently when we'd come – the two of them, Daniel, Lia, and Wes. With my parents being gone and Wes being in New York, I just never considered inviting Daniel and Lia and their parents."
Everyone came in from the living room to get in line. Sebastian was ushered to the front since it was his birthday. He didn't let go of Kurt and they went through the line together.
Later, after they'd been playing games for a while again, Dotty pulled out two ice cream cake rolls for dessert.
Burt and Carole and Daniel and Lia stayed with Dotty and Richard to spend some time getting to know each other better while Kurt and Sebastian left to do their shopping.
When they came back, they ate dinner made up of the leftovers from lunch before Daniel and Lia drove Burt and Carole back to the airport.
Burt gave Kurt and Sebastian bear hugs, followed by Carole.
"Happy birthday, honey. I'm glad we got to see everyone. We'll be back next weekend for Miss Rose's birthday party."
The girls waved as the four of them pulled off.
Not quite a week later, on Saturday at 10:30, the Smythe-Hummel home was having the last of the details for Rose's birthday party completed as quickly as possible before it filled with two families from the girls' Kindermusic class.
They had borrowed Dotty and Richard's high chairs when they left after Sebastian's party so they'd have room to seat two more infants. They moved the playard to the living room and put the leaf back in the dining table and centered it in the room like it had been before they had gotten the playard. They put a tablecloth on and a table runner that Kurt had made for birthdays. They put the walk-through gate across the hallway, linking the girls' room and the playroom.
They set up make-your-own sub buffet along with a fruit tray and a veggie tray and dip for the adults. Kurt made a smaller fruit tray and a cooked vegetable selection for the babies. They had made tea, lemonade, and had bought a selection of 20oz bottles of sodas. The last thing to do was to put out plates, utensils, and glasses, which they did quickly.
Kurt looked around. "The birthday napkins."
Sebastian opened one of the cabinets and pulled them out, opened the packaged, and put them out next to the plates. "There. I think that's it," He said as he tossed the plastic wrap into the trashcan. He stepped closer to Kurt. "I'm nervous."
Kurt hopped up onto the counter and opened his arms. Sebastian stepped into his embrace and let himself be held. "Me too. All we can do is try. The honest truth is that Rose will never remember this day, so the idea is just to have fun. Even if we never invite these two couples back again, all that matters is that Rose and Aliza have fun with their kids. We invited them to watch Frozen since it seems to be super popular, but our kids were too young to enjoy a trip to the movie theater. We don't even have to talk to them that much."
"You're right. I can do this. We can do this. I love you." He nuzzled into the nape of Kurt's neck.
Kurt ran his hands up and down Sebastian's back. "I love you too. We need to get the girls and ourselves dressed before they get here in 20 minutes."
Sebastian kissed Kurt before he let go and stepped back.
They went back to scurrying around to get themselves ready for their guests, who arrived right on time.
Kurt went to the front door and opened it. He let Carrie, Marcus, and Amelia in and closed the door behind them. "We're glad you could come. We've already got lunch ready if you want to get Amelia situated at the table.
Carrie nodded. "Sure. Thanks for inviting us. This is the first kid birthday party we've been to."
"Well, I'm not sure that this is very typical. We're pretty low key and we just wanted the girls to have some fun. We're not even sure if they're really old enough to try having playdates, but I guess we'll see."
Kurt followed the three of them to the dining room. The doorbell rang again. He went back to the door and let Marguerite, Damion, and Lily in. They followed him to the dining room and got Lily situated in the empty high chair.
Once everyone had food and sat down, Damion spoke up. "I know it's really nosy, but you two seem pretty young."
Kurt nodded. "We're both 20. And I'll just answer the most obvious question. The girls are adopted, but we don't talk about it in front of them because we're waiting until they're older and can understand. We don't want them confused."
"That makes sense. What do you two do?"
Sebastian answered, "We're both students at OSU."
Damion was clearly doing his best to look around without anyone noticing. Kurt attempted to ignore it and focused on eating and feeding Rose the chicken salad he had made that she loved so much. Sebastian was feeding Aliza the same thing in between taking bites of his own sandwich.
Damion looked at Kurt. "Look, I'm sorry. I don't know what to talk about. We've never done this type of thing with people we don't already know. Marguerite and I met at OSU and she ended up pregnant. My parents help us out financially. We both work part-time and we live in her parents' mother-in-law suite in their basement where her grandma use to live. Marguerite's mom watches Lily when we both are gone. I was just shocked by how nice this place is for how young the two of you are. We're both 20 as well. My parents gave Lily the Kindermusic class as a Christmas present."
Marcus joined the conversation. "We're the only couple in our group of friends that has a baby too. We've not been to anyone's house that we didn't already know either. We're older than the four of you. I'm 28. I'm an accountant. My job allows me to work from home or the office, and I can work any hours so long as I work 40 hours each week and I get all of the work done." He turned to look at Carrie.
"I'm 27 and I'm a photographer, but right now I'm working as a real estate agent. I still do weddings on the side, but only one a month because it's a lot of work in a short period of time and it leaves Marcus unable to work for three days in a row. I set the house showings to coincide with Lily's naps in the mornings and afternoons as best I can so it doesn't interfere with Marcus's work too often."
Sebastian said, "It sounds like a lot of work to keep everything scheduled so carefully."
"It is, but we have a goal to get out of our apartment by the time Amelia turns two. We want to save up enough to buy a place of our own where she can have a yard to play in. I want a garden too. We tried to get a house before she was born, but the bank wouldn't consider the income from my photography business because it wasn't dependable. We pay more in rent than a mortgage would be." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'm selling as many houses as I can so we can save up half the cost of a house so we can get approved with just Marcus's "dependable" job. And I'm two months along. We wanted our kids to be close in age."
"That makes sense," Kurt said. "Rent can be a killer. And congratulations on your new little one on the way. That's exciting."
"This isn't a topic I want to discuss further, but Kurt and I live here in such a nice house because my parents died and I inherited this house. It's where I grew up."
Kurt changed the subject quickly. "I grew up in Lima. I'm majoring in Music Education with a French endorsement."