Always and Forever Read Free Page A

closer, held both Lisa’s hands tight in hers as she stared into her eyes. “Sweetheart, it’s normal. The ups and downs of what you’re feeling right now are all normal, and it’s worth every second.”
    “You didn’t sound that grateful for your little rug rats when you called the other morning to say they’d woken for the third time in a row at five a.m.,” Lisa said wryly.
    Kelly shrugged. “Some days I’d give them to any orphanage with a spare bed, and I’m not kidding! But others?” her sister smiled. “Seeing the smiles on their little faces as we made decorations for you and talked about the baby, or the way they ran into my arms after school today? Worth every crappy moment. A hundred times over.”
    “Thanks.” Lisa pulled her sister closer, needing a hug. “Matt’s insanely excited about being a dad. You should see him stripping the walls in the nursery.”
    Kelly hugged her back tightly, not letting go. “I have no idea how you found a husband who’s so thrilled about being with his wife after so long. It’s not just the baby that he’s excited about.”
    Lisa let her sister go, but this time she moved around into the kitchen to help her, happy to take cling wrap off and make sure the plates were arranged all pretty, just how her sister liked.
    “Everything’s okay with you and Richard, isn’t it?”
    “Of course! I love Richard. He’s . . .” Kelly shrugged. “Richard is Richard. We’re like any other married couple with kids, I guess. We have fun together; we parent as best we can and get through each day.”
    “I’m not following,” Lisa said, laughing at the just-as-puzzled look on her sister’s face.
    “You must be blind. Have you not noticed how Matt looks at you? Like he wants to eat you up? After years together, you guys still have that ‘first love’ spark. We all laugh about it.”
    Lisa planted her hands on her hips, trying not to laugh and struggling. “Who’s ‘we’? Kelly!”
    “Everyone! My friends see you two at a party or something and talk for days about how lucky my little sister is with the big burly husband who can’t take his eyes off her.”
    Lisa knew she was blushing; her face was on fire. What could she even say in response to that? “He doesn’t look at me like he wants to eat me ,” she muttered. Although she did have to admit that Matt always had his hands on her, still acted like they were teenagers sneaking around sometimes. And she did kind of like it.
    “Sorry, did I need to spell it out? By eat I mean . . .”
    “I know what you mean!” Lisa hissed. She was trying to be angry with her sister but she couldn’t stop giggling.
    “What’s so funny?”
    Lisa tried to stop when she heard Matt’s deep voice but it only made things worse. She hadn’t laughed so hard in forever.
    “Your wife has crazy pregnancy hormones, that’s all,” Kelly said, cracking up again and making it even harder for Lisa to stop.
    When she managed to look up at Matt, his eyebrows were raised.
    “What’s going on, you two? Spill.”
    Lisa smiled at her husband, forgetting the sandwiches she’d been busy arranging.
    “Nothing,” she said. “Just two sisters forgetting their age and being silly.”
    “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with silly,” Matt said, grinning. “I’ve been telling you that all along.” He held out a hand and tucked her tight into his body when she went to him, under his arm and warm to his chest, her favorite spot in the world.
    “And there he goes,” Kelly murmured.
    “Kelly!” Lisa scolded.
    “I’m missing something here, or else you guys are actually going crazy,” Matt said.
    “Kelly has this silly idea that you give me a look all the time that most husbands don’t give their wives after five years of marriage. Like you want to eat me up ,” Lisa confessed.
    Matt wrapped his arms around her in a big bear hug and growled deep in his throat. “But I do want to eat you up all the time, Lis. Your sister knows me