“Yes!”
Gareth tilted his head and studied his friend. Cian, the charming ray of sunshine among their trio, was usually in an unnervingly good mood. But this outburst was extremely uncharacteristic of him, except…
“Tell me, has Ada’s mother contacted you again?”
Cian opened his mouth as he threw his napkin on the table. “Sometimes it pisses me off that you know when we’re lying.”
Gareth shrugged. “Sorry. So, she called?”
Cian sighed heavily. “Yes. She…she wants to see Ada. Preferably every other weekend.”
“Isn’t that good?” Connor asked, confused. “You are always saying that you wish she’d make more of an effort with Ada.”
“Yeah, but...”
Gareth’s phone vibrated, and he pulled it closer to look at the screen — but halfway through, he changed his mind and put it in his pocket.
Cian stopped talking and when Gareth looked up, he saw his friends staring at him in shock.
“What?”
“Don’t you want to see who’s calling?” Connor asked hollowly.
Gareth blinked, his fingers twitching. Yes. He did. His inner workaholic had a real problem leaving the phone out of his pocket. But… “What Cian wanted to say sounded important,” he replied slowly. “I wanted to…listen.”
“Since when?” Connor asked, confused.
Gareth pressed his lips together. “Since today. I’m trying.”
Cian looked at him as if he’d just announced he’d talked Ada out of the turtle and into the nuclear weapons.
Fuck. That he waslisteningshouldn’t be anything special. How could he not have noticed that he hardly ever did it anymore? Because it was too damn exhausting to listen to the constant criticism of his character? By doing so, though, he was also missing other important things.
“You wanted to talk about your ex, Cian?” he reminded his friend, looking at him expectantly.
“Okay, yeah…” Cian still looked skeptical, but he nodded. “She has a new guy who lives in Texas. She wants to see Ada and is practically demanding that I move to Texas to make that possible. As compensation for hoarding our daughter for the past thirteen years.”
“Fuck,” Connor commented.
“She can’t make you do that,” Gareth said, shaking his head. “But if I have to talk to her…”
“She hates you more than me, Gare,” Cian reminded him, amused.
“You tell her once that she’s a deceitful, selfish bitch, and she takes it personally,” he replied dryly. But it had been thetruth. She had hurt Cian so badly and left him alone with all the responsibility of a baby. Someone had to say it out loud.
“Yeah, women are weird that way,” Connor said sarcastically. “But he’s right. She can’t make you.”
“No.” Cian rubbed his face. “But she can still do enough damage. She’ll tell Ada it’s my fault that she rarely gets to see her.” He shook his head, his frown deepening with every second. “Let’s talk about something else. This topic depresses me. I find it much more exciting that Gareth is suddenly prioritizing us over his phone.”
“Yeah, I was almost moved to tears,” Connor agreed, eyeing Gareth skeptically. “What happened, Gare? Did you have a near-death experience, and all you saw were us, not your day planner and phone?”
He laughed dryly. In fact, it had felt a bit like that. “What’s so weird about me wanting to make more of an effort?”
“Everything,” Cian replied.
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. The whole situation made him extremely uncomfortable. He opened doors, bras, and beer bottles — not himself. But he might never be able to sleep properly again if he didn’t pull himself together and be honest and direct. Apparently, he did have a conscience after all. That surprised him as much as it surprised everyone who had ever had anything to do with him. “Okay. If you promise not to overreact, can I ask you something?”
“Oh no,” Connor stated dryly. “It’s time. He finally wants to know where babies come from.”
