I looked back at Maggie and Emma, trying to work out the emotions running rampant inside me.
Emma took the chance to give my leg a sympathetic squeeze. “We’ll figure it out, Grace. Aidan loves you; that’s clear.”
I nodded. I knew he loved me, but something was missing, and I didn’t know how to fix it.
“At least while we figure it out, we can all appreciate your gorgeous husband, who has zero reservation about walking around with a baby strapped to him. Because that just makes his hotness factor skyrocket, am I right?” Maggie was nothing if not blunt.
Tim appeared and leaned against the doorway to the kitchen. “Girl, you are so right. I had to fan myself when that hot hunk of man walked in here with little Mia on his chest.” Tim was apparently done with giving us privacy. “So what’s up with this dry spell I overheard you talking about, and how can we get you some action?”
Palm to the forehead. The last thing I needed right that minute was Tim. But the man did have a good point.
Chapter2
Dad on Duty
Aidan
Walking into the Homestead, I scanned the bar for the guys. Mia shifted in the sling, and I patted her little butt as I moved through the crowd, using my arm to protect her from anyone who might inadvertently bump into her.
My mind jumped from Grace’s face at the library, to the way she’d been acting of late, to my growling stomach and desire to devour some food. I couldn’t think on an empty stomach. Time to remedy that. Maybe the guys would be able to help me sort out what was going on with my Gracie.
A look to my left gave me a Maxwell Harp sighting. With a quick turn, I was headed into the bar area. It was lunchtime, so it wasn’t like anyone was bellied up and having too many. No. Instead, a low table on the side with an assortment of soft armchairs was taken up by Cole Sullivan and his and Maggie’s daughter, Ellen. El was turning a year any day now. Sully had her plopped into a high chair with a container of Cheerios, which El seemed to enjoy pounding on the table rather than eating any.
Next to El on a bench was Addie, Jake’s stepdaughter with Ivy. Jake was nearby, keeping an eye on her and El, but Addie was five and pretty self-sufficient. She was stacking the Cheerios that were being scattered by El into little towers, much to El’s delight.
“Gahhhh.” El laughed and smashed her hand on another tower, which had the chain reaction of making Addie laugh as she looked to Jake.
“Daddy Two, I can make her smile.”
“You sure can, peanut.” Jake looked her way with clear affection on his face.
I’d known Jake and Sully since they began working on this place years ago. Max I’d met when he moved home a year and a half ago. He joined us by pulling up a chair at the end of the table next to Sully. I noted Drew and Logan on the couch across from the bench at the table. Those two were more recent friends. In the past few years, they’d all paired off, found their happy-ever-afters.
And now babies were booming. Max and Emma were having a baby in May, Allyson and Logan had just announced they were having one in June, and Jake and Ivy had just had baby Lorelai two weeks ago, which likely explained why Jake was joining us with Addie, who was on the first day of her break from kindergarten, giving Ivy a moment of peace with the baby at home.
Our group had grown and then some.
“Maybe we need a dad’s playgroup,” I said as I lowered myself and Mia to the armchair at the other end of the table.
“No babies for us yet,” Drew said of himself and his wife, Kate, “but I’d be down to hang with yours anytime.”
“You’re pretty much a kid yourself,” Jake said with a look across the table at his brother.
Drew shrugged, not seeming to disagree. “Hey, Ads,” he said, leaning across the table to talk to his niece, “want to do my nails?”
Addie quickly turned and grabbed a bag of nail polish that Jake had sitting beside him as Drew placed his hands on the table so that she could reach. The girl loved painting nails. Jake had said she’d asked her teacher if she could make it a center at school and they’d said yes. Apparently she’d started with Jake and Drew. The two men often sported painted nails when they visited her classroom. As a result, boys and girls alike lined up to be Addie’s next customers.
Daryl was bartending and came over to take the table’s lunch order.
When Daryl finished, Sully looked around the table, then met my gaze. “Russo, how’s the dad gig going?”
I shrugged as I reached over to put a bottle on the table for easy access when Mia made it known it was time to eat. “Seems good so far.” I held back, not sure what Grace would want me to share, though I was certain she didn’t hold much back with Maggie and Emma. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said with me. In all fairness, I’d not been speaking up much either.
“And you and Grace are settling into life as parents?” he asked as he seemed to search my face. For what, I had no idea. “No setbacks?”
My gut tightened. We were doing as well as could be expected for new parents, weren’t we? I felt judged in a way I wasn’t in love with. Instead of examining that, I decided to answer Sully.
“I mean, yeah? I’m tired. Hell, I know Grace is too, but isn’t that pretty typical of new parents? No one promised a baby who came out and enjoyed a solid eight hours.” I shrugged away any concern as I continued to rub Mia’s back. She should be waking up anytime now, and I didn’t want to get her off schedule.
