Teddy continued cuddling the baby while Winnie went back to opening presents and the group started chatting about going over to Kallum and Winnie’s later to light Kallum’s menorah. Teddy started humming low in his throat and gently patting the burrito, habits from when Angel and Astrid had been little baby burritos themselves. He missed it sometimes, the snuggly sweetness of those early days, when he’d felt permission to block out the entire world and focus only on the people who needed him the most. But of course, today’s days were great too. Seeing his son in love, even if it was with—sigh—the extremely intense Luca. Seeing his daughter chase her eco-friendly dreams, however off the beaten track they were.
Kallum and Winnie were on the very edge of something beautiful and hard and ever-changing; and the most beautiful thing about it was that their love would deepen with everymilestone, every inch ticked off on that special wall in the kitchen reserved for keeping track of growing humans. Yes, the burrito years were the ones that gotoohs andaahs and sip-and-sees, but the rest of the years were even more precious and rewarding, and the ones that made parents remember they were raising their little humans to be the most interesting and curious and kind people they could possibly be. People that they would be happy and grateful to share the world with.
Teddy was excited for them, even if he did also hope they had plenty of TV shows queued up to watch while rocking a baby, because the next few months were not going to be easy.
“So then I saidyesto the cruise, but now I have all this stuff to figure out,” Addison was telling the group. Bee and Sunny were examining Winnie’s new breast pump shields from Gretchen and Pearl as Addison spoke, testing them against their own boobs.
“Like what stuff?” Gretchen asked, digging a celery stick into a glob of pimento cheese dip and then using it to point with. “How are they going to askyouto do an Addison Hayes cruise, and then make you figure out logistics?’
“Well, to start with, I have to bring my own security,” Addison said with a sigh. “I haven’t had dedicated security since my last arena tour four years ago, and I don’t even know where to start.”
“I think Isaac’s been really happy with his team,” Bee chimed in, “and he’s downsizing now that he’s moving to Vermont, so they’ll be available.”
Sunny set down a breast shield. Picked it back up. Didn’t look like she knew what to do with her hands.
Teddy was abruptly reminded that despite Sunny’s incredible,ah, performance skills, she’d never been fantastic at acting without a script.
“Isaac is moving to Vermont?” Sunny asked in a fake-casual voice that probably fooled Grace the baby and no one else. “When?”
Kallum shrugged, holding up a baby Royals onesie and giving a satisfied nod at the number on the back. “I don’t know. Soon? He bought the duke mansion in Christmas Notch.”
Now Teddy was interested too. “He bought what now?”
“You know, the mansion,” Kallum said as he folded the onesie against his stomach with admirable expertise. “Up in the mountains? Where Bee and Nolan shot the duke movies? He said he wanted a place to hide that had less sunshine than Cali.”
Nolan, whom Teddy hadn’t even realized was here, wandered in from the kitchen with a plate of deviled eggs. It quickly became apparent that these were not the group’s deviled eggs, but Nolan’s personal plate of deviled eggs. “Isaac still owes his label an album,” Nolan said through a mouthful of mustard-laden yolks. “But he’s been creatively blocked since Brooklyn’s death.”
“Which is not really here or there,” said Bee. “What does matter is that Isaac’s security team will be ready for snatching up.”
“Aw, man, he’s even downsizing Krysta out of the picture?” Kallum asked. “She’s amazing. She’s like Brienne of Tarth, but maybe without theheart of goldpart. Actually, I think her heart might be made of gunmetal and ice.”
“Hot,” Sunny and Bee said at the same time.
“Hmm,” mused Addison, and years of messy adult film drama had trained Teddy to recognize that tone of voice. It wasa tone of voice that said something incredibly chaotic was about to happen.
But then a crisp voice announced, “Sorry I’m late,” and Teddy’s heart flipped over. And then flipped over again. Because there was Steph D’Arezzo hovering awkwardly in the doorway, holding a gift card that wasn’t even wrapped or tucked inside a greeting card or anything.
“Um, here,” she said, shoving the gift card at Kallum, and just then, Grace started to make the tiny goat noises that preceded a Great Fuss. Wanting to give Kallum and Winnie enough time to finish opening presents, and possibly wanting to escape Steph, Teddy stood and carried Grace into the kitchen, where he deployed his proprietary sway-pat-hum combo. Within a few minutes, Grace was back asleep.
“You’re good at that,” Steph said from behind him.
Teddy turned, reminded himself that the pantsuited divinity in front of him had been slowly breaking his heart for the last two years. “My ex-wife used to call me the fuss-buster,” he replied. “But really, it’s all in the baby psychology. A uterus is a noisy and constantly moving place. You just have to make the baby feel like they’re back inside their old home again.”
Steph’s hand came up to twirl at her pearls. Teddy would have said that she looked nervous, except he didn’t know if Steph D’Arezzo had ever been nervous a day in her life. “Iwasmy daughter’s old home, and I was still never good at the baby stuff. Give me a soccer or volleyball schedule to manage any day.” She cleared her throat, dropped her pearls. “What I really wanted to say was that I’d like to see you after this. After the sip-and-see is over. My hotel isn’t far from here.”
Where the courage came from, Teddy would never know. Maybe it came from being in his forties and ready for better games thanDo you even like me?Maybe it came from Bee and Nolan and Winnie and Kallum over in the next room, all of them desperately in love.
Or maybe it came from the little lump in his arms, a gently snoring lump who reminded him that he was better at more things than making cheap movies.
But instead of sayingYes, please, like he would have a few months ago, Teddy lifted his chin and bravely said, “I want more than just a visit to your hotel, Steph.”
Her long fingers tugged on the ends of her suit jacket. “More?” she asked faintly.
“More,” affirmed Teddy. “I like you. If I’m being brutally honest, it’s a lot more than liking you at this point. And if we’re going to keep doing this, then I want more than sporadic moments when we’re in the same town. I want moments on purpose. I wantyouon purpose.”
Steph dropped her hands. She took a long breath.
“I haven’t had a relationship since my divorce,” she said. “And I’m going to level with you, I wasn’t great at relationshipsbeforemy divorce either. Hence the being divorced part.”
