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"You asked if it was because you spoke French so well"

"Je pense que le bébé est un garçon"

Jeff sat up really quick "How do you know it’s a boy?"

Oh od! "I don’t! I said that I think it’s a boy When did you learn French?"

Jeff leaned back and tookup and down, so he

"The day Gunner and Ellie gotso da Ellie to Paris when she got pregnant I liked the idea of taking you to Paris because I re about when you went to France before and howin French at dinner, I wanted to knohat you were saying, I bought Rosetta Stone for French that night, and I’ve been trying to learn the language since then"

I sat up, turned around in the bathtub, and looked at him

"Vous imbécile romantique"

"I think you just called me romantic," Jeff said with a wink

"Close I said you romantic fool! Je t’ai to face his around him in the bathtub and smiled

"I’m ready, baby, if you think you can handleit on, Mr Johnson, ‘cause Mrs Johnson is one horny pregnant woman"

"Fuck yeah!"

Jeff and I collapsed on the bed around 4 a I rolled over and cuddled up next to hi up and doas relaxingday yesterday and the night that followed I didn’t think I’d ever be as happy as I was right now

Then I sht about the baby

That state of

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

GUNNER

Late May

I walked around on the slab and took notes Ellie hadn’t been feeling good for the last teeks, so she took a trip into Austin with Ari for a change of scenery and so nicely Noe just needed it to stop raining so da

I looked up and saw Josh driving up in the Jeep What the hell? This is a nice surprise

He ju to shake hands

"Dude, what a nice surprise"

Josh smiled and slapped me on the back "You couldn’t have picked a better spot on the ranch to build y’all’s house Nicely done, bro"

I smiled as I looked around Our tree, the sa to be in the back yard of our new house

"Yeah, I wouldn’t want it to be anywhere else My dad is pushing the hell out ofwith Gramps and Gra so h

"Where are they now?"

"Las Vegas!" I said with a chuckle

My drill instructor father had turned into a carefree wild and crazy man ever since his heart attack last year

"What brings you out here?" I asked

"Jeff, needed sos, and I think a few of those mares are ready to pop With Ari so close to the due date, he just wanted an extra hand around I knew about ain new orders, andfor hed and shookto work your ass to the bone, and Iit, dude The more work the better You know I love it out here, and this shit is relaxing for me Besides, I needed out of the city If it wasn’t for Lynda, I think I wouldI really think I could easily h to Austin to do work there"

"Damn, dude, that would be awesome to have you closer"

"Yeah, if only Lynda wanted the sas with y’all?"

Josh shrugged his shoulders

"Have you seen Heather since Ari and Jeff’s wedding?" I asked

"No, I heard soh that botheredwith this Ellie and Ari had tried to talk to Heather, but they couldn’t see out and partying all the time, so much that even Amanda orried about it

"What did you hear?"

"Just that she’s been partying a lot Do you remember Smitty from UT?"

"Yeah, I reoes out every weekend Do you know if any of that’s true?"

"I hate to say this, but yeah, Ellie and Ari have been really worried about her She seeo after her school shit hard all week, and then ever Friday and Saturday night, she goes out and drinks with a few friends from school When Ellie tried to talk to her about it, she said it’s the only way she could forget for a while"

"Forget what?"

"Dude, that’s the million dollar question"