I don’t know if what happened on Sunday qualifies as make-up sex or not. I guess we make amends after our little spat. In fact, we make amends two times. Either way, when I drop Juliette off at her house, her mood seems lifted. Well, until she sees her brother occupying her porch. I offer to stay, but she insists she’ll handle it. When I call her later to talk about it, all she says is they didn’t scream at each other, but they didn’t make up either.

I can’t bring it up tonight. She switched shifts with another elf so we can subject ourselves to the loudest place on Earth. No, not the happiest place on Earth—the loudest. With Abby down about Courtney’s diagnosis, my sister and Arthur want to take her mind off of it for a while. According to Courtney, Abby asks questions all the time, and she’s having difficulty dealing with it. An evening at Bounce & Flip, the area’s go-to bounce house and germ-infested play area, comes at the perfect time. They invited me and Juliette, so now they can finally meet.

The roads aren’t bad after the snowfall yesterday. The plows did an excellent job cleaning up and with all the normal traffic today, now they’re only wet. Parking is tight, though, with the snow pushed into banks, taking up a few spots. We find a place to park near the exit.

I’ve never been to a bounce house, and upon entry, I figure out why. As we stand at the front desk to purchase wristbands, kids run in circles around us, the screams can be heard from the other rooms, and my shoes stick to the floor. It’s, in a word, gross, but I know Abby will have fun. I’ll just bathe in sanitizer later.

Two blue wristbands later, we brave through the crowd to the main area. A kid knocks into me, says nothing, and keeps running. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many kids running around in one place. No one is wearing shoes. They are in piles throughout the area instead of in the cubby holes provided. Three bounce houses surround us, one with two levels, a smaller one for the little kids, and another called “Sports Zone” with a basketball hoop.

“Landon!” I almost don’t make out Courtney’s voice as she yells to me. She and Arthur are at a table shoved between a few others. Juliette and I can barely fit through the tables to get to them. Audrey is underneath a blanket as Courtney feeds her.

I pull a chair out for Juliette. My sister reaches out to her as she sits, never disturbing Audrey.

“I’m so happy to meet you! Finally! This is Arthur and this one,” she points to the blanket, “is Audrey.”

“How old?” Juliette asks.

“Four months.”

“Aw, so precious.”

“Where’s Abby?” I don’t see her anywhere.

“Bouncing somewhere,” Arthur says as he points to the double and single level houses. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to pull her out of there.”

The pizza they’ve ordered is on the table, the cheese melted and burned on the edges. It doesn’t look appealing but my stomach growls. I’d eat anything right now.

“Help yourself!” Arthur pulls a piece off and plops it onto a plate. “There’s a full bar, too. We started a tab.”

A tab? How much do they plan on me, Arthur, and Juliette drinking? “I can pay for my own drinks.”

“No. This is on us. For being such an awesome brother.” Courtney reaches her hand over to Arthur. “Thanks to you, we’ve had a long talk. The separation is off the table.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.” Why am I questioning this? I should be happy they aren’t separating. “What changed your mind?”

“Life is too short.” Arthur touches the blanket and runs his hand down Audrey’s back. “Courtney needs us. And we need her. We’ll get through this.”

The change of heart warms me, and I take a bite of the pizza, not caring how much it tastes like cardboard. This is good news, and I won’t let bad pizza change that.

A young boy knocks into me as he squeezes through the tables, not apologizing as he continues on. “It’s so loud in here. How can you even think in here?”

“We can’t!” Arthur says as he picks up his beer. “The floor is sticky, the kids are screaming, and it’s crowded, but damned if my daughter doesn’t love it.”

“Uncle Landy!” Abby runs up and wraps her arms around me as best she can. “Julie!”

I don’t correct her that her name is Juliette. I assume it’s a mouthful to say, and I don’t think Juliette minds. The smile on her face doesn’t speak differently, anyway.

“Hi, Abby! It’s so nice to see you. Are you having fun?”

“Yep. Will you bounce with me?”

Arthur, Courtney, and I look at each other. It’s not like Abby to connect with someone like that. The only other girl I’ve ever dated and brought around Abby she never exchanged a word with, and here she is inviting Juliette to play with her.

“I don’t think adults can go in there.” I don’t know how to get Juliette out of this, but I try.

“No. They can. There are lots of grown-ups in them. Please?” She bats her eyes at Juliette.

“I would love to!” Juliette surprises us all by jumping from her chair and reaching her hand out. “Lead the way.”

We watch as the two work their way through the crowd, tripping over shoes and squeezing between people. Once Juliette’s shoes are off, the two disappear into the bounce house.

“I love her. Marry her.” Courtney says as soon Juliette is out of earshot.

“Excuse me?”

“Marry her. My daughter likes her. That’s all you need to know.”

“So Abby should pick out my future wife.”

“She sure should,” Arthur joins in. “Abby has me for a dad and Courtney for a mom. She knows what’s good.”

I laugh at Arthur complimenting himself. “We haven’t been dating long. I’m not exactly thinking about marriage yet.”

“Yet.” Courtney points a finger at me. “You said yet, and that means it has crossed your mind enough to know it’s something you’ll consider.”

I don’t think I can talk my way out of this one. Courtney knows me too well. Marrying Juliette crossed my mind a few times. Something about this girl makes me want to spend all of my time with her. I’m not sure she’s all in, though. She’s not opening up to me one-hundred percent. If we’re going to have a chance, she needs to.

I’m done talking about this for now. I don’t want to risk her coming up to us while we’re talking about her. I’m not sure I’m ready to go too deeply into this conversation, anyway. “I had lunch with Jeff the other day.”

Courtney spits her drink out of her mouth. She puts her glass down, her eyes wider than I’ve ever seen them. Audrey finishes eating, so she takes the blanket off after she covers up and places Audrey on her shoulder to burp her. “You didn’t! Why would you have lunch with that jerk?”

“He’s not entirely a jerk. I’m sure the higher-ups put pressure on him to let me go.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“No. But I won’t sit and dwell on it. Anyway, he asked if I want to come back to work there as a contractor.”

“He’s got some nerve. Tell me you didn’t say yes.”

“I didn’t, but I didn’t say no, either. I told him I needed time to think about it.” I’m not making any progress in my job hunt, and I’ve barely brainstormed ideas to start my own business. If I go that route, I’ll need time to plan. This can provide income in the interim.

“What does Juliette think?” Arthur reaches over and takes Audrey from Courtney, snuggling her against him. “Have you discussed this with her?”

“No. She doesn’t know yet. We’ve talked about my job situation briefly. Part of me wants to never work again and spend all my time with her.” I spot her in the bounce house. She and Abby are in stitches, bouncing up and down as others jump around them. She’s beaming from ear to ear, throwing her head back in laughter. I don’t think I could ever ask for a woman more perfect.

“You’re so smitten, Landon.”

I think I’m more than smitten. I think I’m in love.