"Are you ready?" Easton took my hand in his as we walked up the path to the Williams's house.

"I think so." I was nervous but also excited to see Cody again. We'd been able to visit him when Easton came home for winter break from NYU this December, and I couldn’t wait to see how much he had grown. Nadia had sent us a video of Cody taking his first steps just two weeks ago, and I was eager to see it in person at his birthday party.

"I still think it's crazy they named him Cody," Easton said, his eyes shining bright in the late afternoon sunlight.

"I think it's just a sign that we really did make the right choice. How else could we explain the coincidence of them picking the only name we'd ever remotely agreed on?"

He squeezed my hand. "I still think he would have made a great Titan or Brody. But I guess I'll have to save those for the future."

I laughed. "I still hate those names, by the way."

He grinned. "Well, lucky for me I still have a few years to convince you to come to my side."

I smiled, liking the thought of discussing names for future children with him someday. Someday when we were ready to be parents.

Easton was finally, officially, my boyfriend, and we'd been doing the long-distance thing since he left for Manhattan last September. It would be great to have him home for the summer after his finals, which were coming up next week. And in just a few months, I would join him in New York so I could go to the New York School of Design.

The future looked bright, and I was excited for what was coming next. The past year had been difficult, and we had taken the time to grieve over not being able to raise Cody ourselves. But we got frequent updates from his parents, and eventually, things got easier as time passed—we adjusted and resumed our regular lives of going to school and hanging out with our friends, like regular teens our age.

And going through that experience with Easton had bonded us together even more. It had been healing just to have someone else by my side who was going through the exact same thing I was. We were able to be there for each other in a way that no one else could.

We made it to the Williams’s porch and Easton rang the doorbell. I gripped the gift bag in my hand. Nadia had told me that Cody really liked trucks these days, so I hoped he'd like the dump truck we got him. And I couldn't resist throwing a few outfits in the bag. That way, every time she sent me a photo of him wearing them, I could feel like I was next to him somehow.

Cameron opened the door a moment later. "Come on in." He smiled as he waved us inside. "Cody was just about to show off his new walking skills."

I gripped tighter onto Easton's hand as he led the way into a living room full of Cody's grandparents, aunts and uncles, and way more toys and presents than one child could ever need. And in the middle of all the people who loved him was Cody. Nadia sat cross-legged on the ground and held him in her lap—a look of pride and love on her face.

"Is everyone ready for this?" she asked, looking around the room. And when her gaze landed on Easton and me, she gave us a special smile.

"We're ready. Show us what you can do, buddy," Cody's grandpa, Nadia's dad, called to him.

Cody giggled, and when Nadia lifted him from her lap and put his feet on the ground, he immediately started walking to his grandpa who had his arms outstretched.

My heart swelled in my chest as I watched Cody toddle across the room. When my eyes met Easton’s, I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was. We had made the right choice. Cody was surrounded by so many people who loved him, and he was happy and thriving.

And he was also adorable, too. He had dark hair like me, but his eyes were big and blue, and he looked so much like Easton's baby pictures.

I was just thankful that I would be able to watch him grow up and see what kind of man he’d become. Because if he was anything like his biological father, all those girls better watch out because they might just get their heart stolen by him, too.

"So how do you think that went?" Easton asked as we drove back to my house after the birthday party.

"It's always bittersweet to see him, but it was really good, too," I said. "I can see how much he adores his parents, and it's comforting to see how the rest of their family loves him, too. I'm pretty sure his grandpa is the same way with Cody as your dad is with Grant."

Easton smiled. "Yeah, looks like he's his little buddy."

He pulled up to my house a few minutes later and followed me inside.

"What time does the party start?" he asked as he followed me up the stairs to my bedroom.

"Eight." I glanced at my watch. We had a little over forty minutes to be there, if we wanted to be on time.

Easton was already ready for the party, since he was a guy and could get away with wearing anything.

But I wanted to change out of my jeans and into something dressier—the dress I had started sewing before I went to Paris and had finally finished sewing last week, to be exact. I'd worried it might not fit me after having a baby, but thankfully, basketball season had helped with that.

I grabbed the red dress out of my closet, keeping it out of Easton's view before I did the big reveal. I closed the bathroom door and quickly changed my clothes. Then I put on a pair of dangly earrings and opened the door again so I could talk to Easton.

"You sure you don't mind hanging out with a bunch of high school students tonight?" I asked, peeking through the doorway to watch him. He was lying down, with his head on my pillows, tossing my basketball into the air and catching it.

"It's not like I'll be the only college freshman there. Noah's coming with Lexi." Then he noticed me looking at him, and he did a double take before saying, "Whoa." And his eyes took in my dress.

"Do you like it?" I asked, doing a slow twirl so he could see it from all angles.

He sat up and set his feet on the carpet. "Like it?" He stood and walked toward me, never taking his eyes off me. "I think it's illegal in all fifty states to look that good."

I pushed on his chest, unable to keep myself from blushing. "You're just saying that."

He grinned and leaned his forehead against mine. "I think I recall having a conversation like this with you before. And I still have freedom of speech, so, no, I'm not just saying that."

"So it's okay then?"

I turned to look at myself again. I may have been sketching clothes for years, but this was the first thing I'd actually brought to life. It was nerve-racking to think about going out in public wearing my own design.

Easton stepped up behind me and slid his arms around my waist to pull me against him. "It's more than okay. You look stunning."

I studied his reflection in the mirror, taking in how he looked in his light blue button-up shirt that really brought out his eyes. Then I turned to face him. "You don't look so bad yourself." I smoothed his collar and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

His expression softened. "It's amazing that you're able to create a design on paper and then put it all together. That takes true talent."

I looked up at him through my lashes, feeling suddenly shy. "I just hope the people at the New York School of Design agree."

He took my chin gently in his hand. "They will. You have big dreams, and I know you'll stop at nothing to make them come true."

I smiled, feeling a little emotional at the sacrifices that had been made to get us to this point. "Thanks for believing in me. I'm so lucky to have you."

"I'm the lucky one." He bent his face closer and pressed his lips to mine. "Because I'm the guy who got a second chance with you."