Page 88 of Everything After (Everything Trilogy)

LILY

Of course, Rick blamed Cody for them showing up at all. Coral was a fan of Cody as a solo artist and had been desperate for personal news about him since he’d left my band. It was incredible how he had managed to keep his marriage in the dark.

Cody and Alyna had been at the party for a couple of hours, mostly talking to Digs, Shawn and their partners, before he’d left his wife with them to seek me out.

“Charlie’s an amazing little boy… he’s so bright, and he knows words already?” Cody questioned. It appeared incredulous to him that Charlie could say drink, cookie, mommy, dada, truck, Vivi and teddy—Vivi being Vicky, the one person whose name was too tricky at that time.

I didn’t think those words made him a genius, after all he had three adults at his beck and call all day to learn from, five if you included my parents.

“You’re a dark horse,” I suggested, smiling up at Cody’s happy face.

I took a second to take him in. He looked great…

better than great, and from the adoring looks he sent Alyna’s way he was most definitely in love.

My heart swelled with excitement, relief and love that Cody had found his happily ever after.

He chuckled as he looked at his wife, then his gaze came back to mine. “She’s amazing,” he mumbled, looking slightly embarrassed by his admission.

“She’s lovely,” I agreed. “No one could be happier for you, than me. So… tell me this love story,” I insisted, moving quickly from that admission.

He shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets, the way he always did whenever he was either embarrassed or found a situation awkward.

“Not much to tell really. After I left the band and got my shit in order, I took a trip to California with my surfboard. I stopped at a deserted beach when I saw the waves in the ocean were firing. Spent a few hours there… I mean you should have seen me, riding through the most awesome barrels, I would have graced any men’s cologne ad. ”

“You turned down Hugo Boss that one time they offered,” I reminded him.

He laughed and his eyes sparkled with humor and light at the memory.

I mirrored his smile. “You know, it was during that simple connection with the elements that I realized it was the first time I’d felt free of everything that had been burdening me.

” I wondered if he’d meant free of me, but I’d never have asked him that.

“So, you surfed,” I stated. Encouraging him to keep talking.

“I did, until my leash plug broke off my board. I couldn’t just leave it like that, so I found a small surf shop, in the hopes it could be mended. You know how I feel about my board.”

“Vaguely,” I said, trying to recall if he’d ever surfed in my company. I felt a stab of guilt when I couldn’t.

“Anyway, there I was all disheveled and shaggy haired, fresh from the water when I wandered into Alyna’s store with my wounded board in hand.” He shrugged and stopped talking.

“Come on, you’re not leaving me hanging like this,” I grumbled.

He laughed. “The moment our eyes connected, something happened in here,” he admitted with his hand over his chest. “Of course, I’ve never been one to shy away from what moves me, so I asked her out.”

“That’s it?” I asked, incredulously.

He chuckled. “No. She said no. And I mean a flat no.”

“What then?” I asked as I folded my arms. I was totally invested because Alyna’s no had moved her up a notch in my estimation. Cody was a famous rock star and apart from that stuff with me, I reckoned any girl had seldom told him no.

“I asked her if she was married. She said it was none of my business.” He laughed. “I took that as a definite no to the married question, because if she had been, she’d likely have said so.”

I smiled. “We’ll make a detective out of you yet,” I teased, unfolding my arms and elbowing him in his ribs.

He grinned. “So, I said something like ‘Ahah’, like I’d caught her out, and she smiled.

I then charmed her by saying the dating pool in a remote spot where we were must be very small, pointed out she could do worse, and who knew what the result of our date might be?

I think, I even said the worst that could happen is she’d have a full belly for free. ”

I laughed because I could imagine that scene. “Anyway, Alyna, cocked her head and raised an eyebrow at that comment like she was considering my point, so I went in for the kill and added, ‘And at best she might well end up with a husband’. I was joking, of course.”

I laughed harder. “You must have been keen when you put so much effort into an argument for that date.”

He smiled a smug-looking smile. “She said the same. Then she said, ‘Look, I have a six-year-old daughter, and although I don’t doubt you have the moves in bed, judging by the state of your board, I wouldn’t risk a one-night stand with a surfer boy again, not after what happened last time’.”

“Last time, meaning a surfer dude is her daughter’s father? Damn, I love her already. She’s a single mom?”

“No, she’s my wife, and I have a stepdaughter, Amalia… and yes, she was the result of a one-night stand.”

“How did you win Alyna over?”

“I stuck around. Kept showing up, and I was honest. I told her my history, even the stuff with you, then she told me she thought I’d looked familiar.”

“She’s not into music?” I asked.

“Not really, I mean she listens to the radio but that’s about it.”

“I can’t believe she fell for a rock star, given her history. They’re worse than surfers in my book,” I remarked.

“That’s mostly true, unless you take a chance and fall in love with ‘the one’, right? Everything after that is plain sailing, even when times aren’t smooth,” Cody countered, nodding toward Alfie.

I smiled because he spoke the truth, in my case at least. “Sounds to me you should have left XrAid years ago. You look genuinely happy.”

“I’m fucking deliriously happy. Forgive me for saying this, but all that shit with you… that was part of my burden. I sound like that song by Selena Gomez, “Lose You to Love Me.” Except in my case I never had you, but yes, leaving XrAid did heal my soul.”

My heart squeezed at his reference to us and the history that had gone before. “I’m ecstatic you found your princess, Cody. You have no idea how delighted I am to see you in love.”

“I am… sooo in love. Alyna is incredible. And now, fatherhood blended and otherwise is on the cards for me. I’m excited—and nervous.

I now understand some of the feelings that you went through when you found out you were pregnant with Charlie.

This is an accidental pregnancy for us, just like Amalia was for my wife.

But this time Alyna’s got a man who’s going nowhere. I’m obsessed with her.”

“Would you mind if I borrowed my wife for a few minutes, Cody?” Alfie mumbled, breaking up our conversation. He took my arm to lead me away.

“Just a sec, Alfie.” I said, stepping back into Cody’s space. “May I have a hug?” I asked carefully.

“Sure,” he said, grinning, and held out his arms.

When he wrapped me in his embrace, happy tears sprang to my eyes because Cody hugged me like he always had, except this time when he did it, I felt none of the tight desperation from him that used to be there. “I’m so happy for you,” I whispered.

He stepped back, tipped my nose with his finger, and smiled. “Not as happy as I am for me, Lily.”

“When you two are done making up,” Alfie grumbled. “It’s time, baby. Do you want to say it, or shall I?”

“Since I did it last time, I’ll let you have the floor,” I said.

Alfie pulled me into his side. “My only wish is that Lennie was here to see his reaction to this,” Alfie mumbled, chuckling as he called out to get our guests attention. I smiled but predicted there wouldn’t be a hissy fit from my bandmate like there was last time.

“If I can have your attention for a few moments, guys. We just want to say thanks to you all for coming to share our beautiful son’s first birthday.

And to let you all know, Lily won’t be touring next year, because she’s pregnant again,” Alfie said without fanfare.

“I’d also like to clear up that this one is a girl, Layla after my sister, for those already guessing the name.

So, no surprises here, I’m afraid, because I had to know if this was a girl as I needed time to prepare. ”

Everyone laughed.

Jack cleared his throat. “I’m moving in this time. No way are you having another baby and I’m being cut out of the loop,”

“Fuck off, Jack,” Alfie replied playfully.

“You never told me you were trying,” Elle remarked when she caught up with me. “We weren’t… not really. I think it happened when I was weaning Charlie off breastfeeding and starting my pills.”

“Jesus Christ, I can’t keep up with all these new editions,” Mya mumbled, rubbing her own belly.

“Not you as well,” I muttered.

“Shh, I think so… but don’t tell Jack, I haven’t done a test yet.”

Right then, a group text alert chimed on all our cell phones. We each pulled out our devices.

“It’s Rick,” Jack said.

Rick: Baby Finn Manny Lennon Fars, safely delivered at 15:01, weighing in at a bouncing 7lb 11oz and he has all the handsome hallmarks of me.

“Really? That was quick. That’s not fair, my first was sixteen hours,” Elle grumbled.

“FML Fars?” Alfie muttered, chuckling. “I wonder if that’s what the kid will be saying once he gets to know his dad.

So, are we drawing straws to see who’s going to point out the little slip with the kid’s initials?

” Everyone laughed, then fell silent. “Oh, well, it appears that none of you are brave enough to take Rick on? Then, I guess that pleasure is mine.”

Alfie gave a sinister laugh after he said this, and everyone let out a collective breath and cracked up laughing.

Rick’s text was quickly followed with the first picture of Finn.

“Must be Lennie’s baby. The kid doesn’t have a drink in his hand,” Jack offered.

I laughed as I took in the sight of the new life to our circle and remembered the overwhelming love that hit me when Charlie was minutes old. My chest felt tight when I glanced over at him in the nanny’s arms as I fought back the wave of emotion that had threatened me with tears.

“Their boy looks more like Lennie than Rick,” Jack mused, tilting his screen to see the baby from different angles.

“But as Lennie, Rick and Coral have agreed not to know who Finn’s dad is, I won’t burst Rick’s bubble and keep that little observation to myself,” Jack added, having shared his thoughts aloud.

“It doesn’t matter to them. What’s important is that he’s the start of a new life, not just for Rick, Coral and Lennie, but for all of us in more ways than one.”

Over time, music had no longer become our sole passion. Nor the only source of our joy. There was no doubt that we’d all continue to make music, but it wasn’t our primary focus anymore.

During the years we’d changed from young, fame-hungry rockers, into the much wiser public figures and everything else that being famous brought. To us, forming bonds was what mattered. Bonds that were sometimes tested, but never completely broken.

Now as we all faced the future, as a close circle of trusted friends, we had two different kinds of music to make. The one where we’d all excelled, and the beats kept us creative and carefree, with lyrics and melodies that came from the soul and had shaped our destiny.

Then there’s the other kind of music, where the score would be filled with trust, loyalty, laughter and sage advice.

All of it shared within a community of like-minded, extraordinary people who had been thrown together by life.

I believed that in time, each one of us would bring our own rich blend of chaos but also harmony that would shape the creativity and unique personalities of those most precious in the world to us—our next generation of rock stars.