Page 84 of Everything After (Everything Trilogy)

ALFIE

My suspicious eyes bounced between Lily and Lennie the moment they came back from their talk, and the tight feeling I’d had in my chest immediately dissipated. The small smile on her face was the only visible hint their discussion had gone well.

“Aw, I need my baby back, Rick,” Lily informed our big bad rocker friend.

Rick had totally melted the moment he’d held Charlie in his arms. “You know if we had one of these that didn’t disturb our sleep, I’d be more than happy for you to be my baby mamma,” Rick informed Coral.

“I’d love to have a baby, but it would have to be Lennie’s. There’s no way I’d give birth to a mini version of you,” Coral countered as she stroked Charlie’s cheek while Rick held him over his shoulder.

“What am I being volunteered for now?” Lennie asked, stepping away from Digs and Shawn and into the conversation.

“Babies… Coral wants to have your baby,” I informed him. Lennie’s eyebrow lifted like he was intrigued by our discussion.

“You want one now while he’s all warm and contented. I wonder if you’d think the same if you were up to your elbows in shit at 3:00 a.m. That’s when parenting gets real, buddy,” I informed Rick.

“You don’t have the nanny take care of the shit in the night?” Rick asked, puzzled.

“Lily’s breastfeeding. If she’s up in the night to keep our boy nourished, the least I can do is keep his ass clean while she does that.”

Rick scoffed and I predicted his next sentence would be laced with sarcasm. “Sounds like domestic bliss.”

“I wouldn’t swap it for the world,” I stated honestly, smiling as my eyes met Lily’s.

“Better than walking out on stage with a hard-on to an 80k audience of screaming fans?” he probed with narrowed eyes.

“Yup. Better than that,” I admitted.

“Hm, either you’re delirious from lack of sleep or there’s something to this baby bonding thing,” he mused while he swung his hips from side-to-side, soothing Charlie.

“Give me my baby back now,” Lily demanded of Rick again.

He reluctantly peeled Charlie away from his shoulder and gently handed our son over to her. “You’ll bring him back when he’s done, right?” Rick inquired.

“I think your man just caught feelings for my boy and he might want one of his own now,” I said to Coral to stir the pot.

“Do you?” she asked Rick wistfully. There was no mistaking the sparkle in her eyes and the hopeful tone in her question.

“I… might agree to a baby, but it would need to be mine,” Rick mumbled, scratching the stubble on his chin.

“Yours? And what if I don’t agree?” Lennie muttered, moving away from Digs, Cody and Shawn, and fully engaging in our conversation.

“Mine or no baby,” Rick insisted, like the consideration part of having a kid at all had been forgotten.

“I’m better looking,” Lennie argued. “And I thought you said that you didn’t want kids?”

“I didn’t then. Now? After seeing how well-behaved Charlie can be, I might have changed my mind.”

“What about your band… the world tour?” Lennie argued again.

“So what?” Rick challenged. The defiance in his tone made me chuckle. “The kid wouldn’t be with us all the time, right, Coral?”

“Oh, are we being serious? I’d get a say in having a baby now?” Coral muttered, doing her best to hide the excitement I imagined she felt, while she pretended to act miffed.

“That would be your job… looking after our baby. There would be times when we’re both gone and we’d need you to hold down the fort,” Rick explained. “You’d need to be willing to do that… or give up your job and come on the road with us.”

“You sound like a raging misogynist, Rick. You’d play your part in taking care of our child, but of course I’d take parental responsibility while you go do your jobs,” she responded, nodding.

“What about me?” Lennie muttered. “She’d need time with me as well.”

“She? Who? Coral?” Rick queried.

“The baby,” Lennie muttered.

“Oh, so we’re already having a girl? Do any names spring to mind?” Rick bantered.

“I’ve always wanted a little girl named Pixie,” Coral disclosed.

“Are you fucking serious? No kid of mine is being called Pixie.”

“So… you’re going to have a baby, Coral?” I interjected, bringing the conversation back to a less acrimonious level.

Rick shrugged, glanced toward Coral, who grinned widely, then to Lennie who scowled before Rick spoke.

“Listen, there’s nothing we can’t do. It’ll just take a bit of planning that’s all.

” The second he’d finished voicing his reasoning, his eyes flared wide, indicating he was just as surprised as I was, by his statement.

“Really?” Coral said with stars in her eyes.

“But let’s not be hasty about this. We’ll take a breather, reconvene on this topic in a couple of weeks. If we’re all still on board then we’ll let nature take its course,” Rick muttered, backtracking.

“The course as in no contraception and take pot luck who’s the daddy?” Lennie muttered. “That’s the only way I’d agree to having a kid.”

“I wouldn’t have put it like that, but if you’re up for the challenge, I’ll take my chances,” Rick said. “I’m undoubtedly the alpha here… I’m bound to have the strongest swimmers.”

The interaction between the throuple made me laugh, because Rick had been adamant for years that he’d never tie himself down. Yet, there he was, talking babies not with one permanent partner but two.

“Any chance we can have a conversation?” Cody asked, taking an at ease stance beside me and crossing his arms. I noted he’d waited until Lily had left the room.

Until Cody came to ask, I could have sworn he was avoiding me.

“Find your balls?” Rick asked, chuckling.

“Leave it,” Lennie warned Rick.

As Lily was feeding our son, I figured now was as good a time as any, so I nodded. I gestured toward the patio. Letting him lead the way, I followed, closing the glass doors behind me.

“Congratulations, Charlie’s gorgeous,” Cody said, eyeing me carefully.

“Thanks, I think you’re the first person in Lily’s band to say it. Everyone’s been here about an hour now, and I guess with the strained atmosphere, the happy occasion got lost in all of that.”

“I know we’ve had our differences lately, but I really am sorry for what happened with the paparazzi that day. The allegation about me and Lily came out of left field. I had no idea about that influencer until the question was posed right before I was getting on a plane.”

“Yeah, but no comment to something like that was like pouring gasoline on a tinder-dry, wooden barn.”

Cody’s guilty expression and cloudy gaze showed me how regretful he was by how the media reacted to his sideswipe comment.

“I know you had nothing to do with it now. Sienna already confessed that she’d started the rumor.”

“Yeah, I saw that video piece you did.”

“You were seeing her?” I asked.

“’Was’ being the operative word. I’d never go after someone that does that to her friend.”

I nodded, but at the same time Lily was his friend, and he had constantly tried to get in the middle of us. I’d obviously stared too long, only realizing this when Cody shifted his feet and stuffed his hands deep into his pockets.

“I should cut you some slack,” I muttered in a moment of clarity. “I have no idea what loving someone who’ll never love you back feels like. But I can imagine it feels like shit.”

Cody chuckled, pulled a hand out of his pocket and rubbed the back of his neck. “So shit,” he muttered in agreement. “But Lily having this baby has given me the push I need to truly understand she’ll never be mine.”

I should have felt incensed at Lily, mine and Cody’s name in the same sentence, but I didn’t because my wife and I were solid, and in the best place that we’d ever been in.

“Guess we’ve all had a reset, huh?” I suggested.

Cody nodded. “I should have heeded that threat you made years ago,” he mumbled and glanced down at the floor.

“Threat?”

“Right before we went on tour with Cobham Street you asked me to take care of her…”

I nodded. “Right, I remember that well,” I agreed.

“Then in the next breath you said, ‘Fuck her and you’re dead, we clear?’”

I nodded. “Yup, I did make that threat,” I agreed again, wondering where he was going with the conversation.

“Lily means the world to me, but hand on my heart, we’ve never crossed a line.”

“I know.”

“You know how?” he challenged.

“My wife said so,” I admitted flatly.

“I want you to know I never tried. But I’ll admit, I talked the talk a few times… what I’m saying is your wife loves you… and only you.”

“So where does that leave everything?” I asked with narrowed eyes.

“That depends on Lily,” he admitted.

“On Lily? I’m not sure I know what you mean?” I said, frowning.

“Is she staying with XrAid?”

“You’d need to ask her that question. Can I ask why you want to know?”

“I’ve been putting feelers out… and there’s a solo record deal on the table with another label. If Lily wants to stay with XrAid, I think I’m going to take it.”

For a second or two I wasn’t sure what to make of his news, then I carefully eyed him to see if he’d expected a reaction of one kind or another from me. When all I saw was a guy who was trying to make amends, I knew I could afford to sound gracious in my reply.

“Do what makes you happy. I’ve told Lily the same.

It’s her call what happens next. A solo career might be exactly what you need to break the cycle of this eternal pining phase about Lily you’ve been in.

But if you both stay with the band, I won’t interfere.

I accept it must have been tough to have gotten nothing back with the feelings you have, but I want you to know, it hasn’t been a smooth ride for me in all this either.

No matter how pissed it makes me, I do give you kudos for having the balls to be honest with both me and my wife about having those feelings for her. ”