Page 112 of Everything After

“Does any child have a say? Better they live our life than one in poverty and neglect.”

“See that’s the other thing, neglect. I worry that our child will feel neglected by me doing my job and not staying home with them.”

“And I’d say you worry too much. There are plenty of stay-at-home fathers out there. I know you, Lily. You get inside your head too much.”

“You make me sound neurotic,” I said, frowning.

“Not neurotic, baby, just afraid to get things wrong. You’re a perfectionist and that means giving one hundred percent to anything you do. I think the reason why you’re so concerned about parenthood is because it’ll split your loyalties between wanting to care for your child and continue to do what you do to the best of your ability.”

I considered his comment, and he’d nailed it. “Yeah.”

Alfie dipped his head and pressed a slow kiss to my lips. “You are going to rock motherhood just the same as you do with anything else.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I mumbled, smiling.

“Now that we’ve gotten acquainted with our digs for the next two nights, how about we head out to the restaurant that I’ve booked, then we can come back and have a movie night?”

“Restaurant bookings as well, damn, Alfie, anyone would think you’re trying to impress me.”

“Baby, I do that every time I take down my pants in your presence.”

A laugh burst out of my chest and the worries I’d spoken of that had tightened my chest instantly dissipated.

“And there he is again, that cocksure guy who crept up on me back in college and swept me off my feet.”

“Well, you know what they say… if you’ve got it, flaunt it.”

“Flaunting your cock in public, won’t only get the attention you’re so hellbent on bringing to what’s in your trousers. That sucker will get you arrested.”

“Ah, talking about suckers…”

I smacked his chest and tried to break away, but Alfie tightened his grip and pressed me closer. He swayed his hips and rubbed his bulge against me. “You’re incorrigible. Stop with the dick talk, or we’ll never make it to dinner.”

“Aw, you’re no fun when you’re hangry,” he muttered, unclasping his hands but planting them firmly on my butt. “Alright, Mrs. Black, let’s get some sustenance in you, then I might get to do the same.”

“You… get inside me?” I asked. The thought of that made my heart race.

“Well… if you’re offering…” he trailed off and flashed me his most beguiling smile. It would have been all too easy to give in at that point and drag him into bed, but I reminded myself that neither of us had eaten and we still had the whole weekend to indulge in our bedroom fantasies.

“That’s it. Let’s get going before I end up on my back and we miss that dinner reservation.” Letting me go, he chuckled and shook his head.

CHAPTER 61

ALFIE

Seeing Lily relaxed and happy filled me with a sense of calm. Life had been full on and taking her somewhere, where we had some time on our own, I hoped would invigorate her.

Since we’d told her band the news about the baby, Lennie had been stressing her out. In my view his reaction was selfish, and surprising. Up until then Lennie had been Lily’s greatest protective advocate of all her bandmates.

Although he was one of our closest friends, I’d had my suspicions for quite some time that XrAid’s schedule had largely aligned with those of Cobham Street, to maximize the time Rick and Lennie could carve out together.

Lily’s news about our baby means the pressure is on Lennie to consider our family life in the scheduling for their band, thus impacting upon his, Rick’s and Coral’s collective downtime.

When we arrived at Sunset Pier Restaurant for dinner, it was crazy busy, as I knew it would be. It wasn’t ideal for us to dine in such a public place without security, but Key West was knownfor being chilled. After a few minutes of selfies and shaking hands, I made a plea to the other patrons of the restaurant.

“Thanks, everyone. It’s great to meet you all. As you can imagine, alone time with my beautiful wife isn’t easy to come by… it isn’t that I’m not extremely proud of each of our successes, because I am. However, we’ve come down here for a couple of days R&R before Lily goes back to the studio while XrAid cuts their next album.”

A round of applause rang out. Lily sweetly curtseyed and waved, then people left us alone. After that we were escorted to a table at the furthest end of the pier.