The scent of a very delicious dinner in the process of being made flows through the apartment. Josh slithers behind Simon, who is cooking at the stove, and snakes his arms around the younger.

"Well hello there, Joshy." Simon hums.

"Guess who has great news?" he sings, placing his chin on Simon's shoulder.

"You because there's only two of us and I don't have any news?" Simon guesses correctly.

"Yep! Freya agreed to being our surrogate." Josh announces. Simon gasps,

"She did?!" He drops his spoon letting the marinara sauce splash. Simon turns around to face Josh. His eyes are shining with emotion.

"Simon, look, you've made mess." Josh peers behind him. Josh looks back at Simon whose eyes are actually shiny now from the tears forming in them. "Don't cry."

"I can't believe this is happening!" he sniffles.

"We haven't got a baby yet. We need to get Freya pregnant first." Josh reminds him.

"Oh yeah." Simon blinks away the incoming tears. "So then who's going to be the biological father?"

"Well I thought I would be since, you know, me and her dated and at one point we... ya know." Josh hints.

"Ew. Why you would you make me picture that? But yes, you should be the bio dad purely on that basis."

"I didn't think you'd wanna put your-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it, Josh."

"Inside of her."

"You can stop now it's grossing me out." Simon shoves Josh off of him in disgust. Josh chuckles at himself.

"By the way," he mentions, "Since Freya is going to be holding our baby, we both already agreed that she should stay with us."

"Oh." Simon feels a little bit of anger bubble over the fact that once again Josh is talking about things with Freya that he should consult with Simon first. "That would make the most sense." It's not like Simon disagrees however, Josh could've at least asked.

Suddenly Josh's phone starts to ring.

"I'll be right back." he excuses himself and dashes to the living room where his phone is. The name on display is, "Josie."

"Hello?" he answers.

"Hey, Josh!" She sounds kind of nervous but then again she always does.

"What's up?"

"Not much but I did call about something important." This doesn't bode well with Josh. "Remember that time I asked you for that really big favor years and years ago? The one where I randomly showed up at your door with Riley for the first time?"

"Yeah...?" A thousand thoughts ran through Josh's head at once. Each one containing a different outcome.

"Well, I need another favor from you."

Oh fuck.

"Can you do that again for me?"

"Come again?"

"I need you to watch Riley again. But just for the summer this time. Please? It's only her, her brother will be with Doug's parents."

"Josie, you do know that I have a lot going on right now?" Did Riley lie about telling her family the big news? Does Josie not realize Josh has his hands full at the moment.

"I know, I know. You and Simon are getting ready to have a child but... please?"

"I love Riley, don't get me wrong but can you at least tell me why she needs to spend the whole summer with me?"

"I can't- because I figured Riley is thirteen and she doesn't want to spend all summer tethered to her parents. She wants to go somewhere fun and what better place than with you! You and Simon never spend quality time with Riley and you guys only see her like twice a year so why not?" Josie prays Josh buys this. It's very true although it's not the truth of why she wants to send Riley away.

"Alright. Fine. I miss her and so does Simon."

Josh wraps up the phone call and lets out an annoyed moan. He can't believe he just agreed to that. He really appreciates this opportunity but it couldn't come at a worse time. Oh well, it'll be nice to have Riley around and maybe even help.

"I heard you say Josie's name." Simon says from the kitchen. "What did she want?"

"Riley's spending the summer with us." Josh blurts out.

"Is that so?" Simon grits through his teeth.

"Yep."

"How lovely." Simon is also excited to see Riley but he's more bitter at Josh right now.

"Yeah. Looks like we're gonna need a bigger house."

June 5, 2026

Riley hops off of the school bus for the last time this school year. She takes a deep a breath and holds it for second, letting the hot wind blow on her face. She releases and then carries on her way down the street to her house. When she arrived home, she opened the mailbox to took it inside - as she routinely does - and threw it on the pile of unopened mail on the kitchen countertop.

"Riley?! Is that you honey?" her mother calls.

"Yeah!"

"Good! You need to finish packing before your flight tomorrow morning. You leave nice and early in the morning so you won't have time to pack then." Josie shoos her daughter up to her room.

Her mother must've already packed all of Lucas' things for him. Riley steps into her room and pulls out her suitcase. Riley is already a light packer but if she's going to spend three months elsewhere, she's gonna need to pack heavier. Riley went to get another suitcase.

She begins to pack her clothes and as she does so, a wave of mixed emotions washes over her. She's so incredibly enthusiastic and ecstatic for the trip but something feels a little bit off. Her mother has been so anxious for the past few weeks with summer coming up and now that's here, she seems to be on edge to get her children out of the house.

Also, Riley's beloved younger brother is going to be away from her and from so long. It makes Riley feel uneasy.

But she tells herself that this is meant to be a fun and enjoyable summer with two of her favorite people in the entire world: Dad and the better stepdad.