Sully seemed to be holding back as he looked at me with a calculating glance.
I debated letting it go, not really wanting to delve too deep, but honestly, the lack of sleep had robbed me of a filter. “Spill, man. What?”
Sully leaned back, the picture of ease as he laid out truth bombs. “Just saying if you two are settling smoothly into the life of parents, you are a unicorn of a couple.”
I replayed his words, wondering if they’d make more sense a second time. “A unicorn couple?”
Drew muttered to the table, “Wasn’t aware we were going to be discussing Russo’s horn.”
“Watch it,” Jake growled with a nod toward Addie. She was engrossed in her manicure and hadn’t clued into Drew’s comment.
Sully cleared his throat, pulling my attention back to him. “What I mean is that I don’t know many that had smooth sailing moving from being a married couple to parents.” He looked to Jake. “Agreed?”
Jake shifted focus from where he’d been straightening Addie’s nail polish to lock eyes with Sully. “Smooth sailing in becoming a parent?” he asked, confirming our current debate.
“Yeah.” Sully tilted his head toward Addie. “How was your adjustment from zero to one, or the more recent shift from one to two?”
Jake sat back, appearing to consider his words. “I mean, Ads was four when I came on the scene, so I’m not sure that one is a fair comparison. I don’t know a relationship with Ivy without the peanut. Though it was still an adjustment, but one I was consumed by.” He rubbed a hand over his face, lost in thought with a slight grin before looking more serious. “Now, the past two weeks has been something else.”
Sully and I nodded, commiserating. Sleep deprivation was no joke. No wonder some assholes used it as a method of torture. I’d been so grateful when Mia started having a three-hour stretch in the middle of the night where she slept. It wasn’t enough, but it had been huge.
“Mommy was mad at Daddy Two this morning,” Addie said, not looking up from her job polishing Drew’s nails. I noted that she was alternating red and green on his fingers. A holiday feel. Nice.
Drew, as the consummate younger brother, didn’t let that comment go unnoticed. “Daddy Two irritated Bookstore, did he? Not surprising.”
Drew had called Ivy “Bookstore” since they’d met, something all of us, including Addie apparently, just rolled with at this point.
“Yep,” Addie said as she switched colors once again. “Mommy said he needed to get his hearing checked.” With that, she focused, picking up Drew’s pinkie finger and concentrating on the job at hand. Her tongue poked out of her mouth, and her brow furrowed.
The rest of us, on the other hand, had no such task in front of us, so we all turned toward Jake, who had a flush working its way up his cheeks.
“Need to go shopping for hearing aids, big bro?” Drew said, leaning into the teasing.
Jake looked from one of us to another, then tossed his arms up in defeat. “I’m not proud, guys, but in my defense, I was really tired. Like I didn’t know my name tired.”
“Do tell.” Drew’s eyes gleamed.
Jake said something so fast I didn’t catch it, and then he grabbed his beer and took a gulp.
“I’m sorry, did you just say that you pretended to be asleep so Bookstore would have to get up with Lorelai, your two-week-old baby?” Drew looked aghast, which was likely partly true, and somewhat a bit of acting to make his brother feel worse.
Was it wrong to be happy my brother wasn’t local?
Jake braced his elbows on the table and slumped forward, looking miserable. “I know, I know. And Ivy has been nursing through the nights, and she’s such a rock star. I feel horrible, and yet it’s like I’m not going to make it without some sleep soon. So I thought if I just lay quietly, Lorelai would go back to sleep. But Ivy got up, then saw me peeking or something—the woman justknewI was faking…”
“And how did that go over?” Max spoke up.
“Not well.”
“You better hope like hell that Bookstore doesn’t pass this info on to Steph,” Drew murmured, referencing their older sister.
We all winced, knowing the oldest Spencer sibling from her trips to Highland. She was not to be messed with, and Jake should probably fear for his life.
The table was quiet, and I had no idea what they all were thinking about, but I knew what was on my mind and I had to speak up.
“Been there, man.”
“Oh, you poor bastard.” Max shook his head with pity. “Did Grace catch you?”
