Page 97 of The Bartender's Baby

He shrugged off my appreciation, and I noticed the gift bag in his hand.

“You here for a party or something?”

He pointed out a boy and girl running around with a few others by the firetruck, ironically. “Those two belong to me. Here for some classmate’s birthday.”

“Nice,” I said, though he obviously didn’t think so. Bringing his wrist up, he checked the time on what appeared to be some kind of fancy military watch.

“I hate these kind of parties. All the…chaos.”

I chuckled. “You’re welcome to hang out with me and my friends.”

He shook his head. “I’m not staying. Their nanny is coming to pick them up. I gotta get to work.”

Nanny?Fancy. Then again, he didn’t wear a wedding ring, so I assumed, with his job, a nanny was probably a necessity.

“Hey, well, have a good one,” I said, and he tipped his chin at me before sticking his fingers in his mouth and whistling. It caught everyone’s attention, including his two kids whoimmediately ran over. He bent, speaking in a low tone, giving them directions.

I didn’t know much about Captain Stone, but he seemed like the type of guy who didn’t stand for any shit. I watched as he patted his kids’ heads then stood up straight as an arrow and marched back out of the doors.

He was a captain, all right.

“Anybody have big plans this summer?” Liam asked, when I walked back over to the guys.

Jude held out a Tupperware of chocolate chip cookies for us to help ourselves. “Not this summer. It’s tough for us with Brooke’s schedule. I’ve been trying to get her to loosen the reins on being a micromanager.”

All three of my friends slanted their gazes to me.

“What? I’ve already done that. I’m, like, a macromanager now.”

Liam muffled his laugh with a bite of cookie. “That’s not a word.”

“Yes, it is,” I argued, knowing full well it wasn’t. But I couldn’t look bad in front of my kid.

Jude elbowed Liam. “What about your plans?”

“We’re going to Boston for a week,” he said, then craned his neck, cupping his hand around his mouth. “Hey, Finn, you gotta watch what you’re doing.”

A few months ago, Finn had been diagnosed with ADHD, and he’d started some different therapies to try to help. He was still hyperactive but followed directions better now. Finn had often been a topic of conversation during our meetups and on our text threads because the diagnosis process had been stressful for Liam, Kennedy, and Finn’s mother. They’d all been on the same page, but it hadn’t been easy.

Before, I might not have appreciated how often parents stayed up at night, anxious about the decisions they needed to make for their children on a daily basis. But I understood it now.

And I did not envy Liam and the struggles he had to endure with Finn.

The three of us then turned to Dylan, awaiting his answer on their summer plans. He switched Bennet to his other arm. “We’re taking the kids to the beach for a few days. It’s gonna be fucking awful.”

I snickered. “You’re outnumbered now.”

He nodded. Scarlett and Tucker were eight and six, respectively, and Dylan was starting all over again from the beginning. Another one I didn’t envy.

Sebastian slinked over to us, his hair in his eyes, a cell phone in his hand. “Dad, are we leaving soon? My friends are all going to the movies. You said we’d only be here an hour.”

Jude nodded and checked the time. “Yeah, and we’ve been here for, like, twenty-five minutes.”

“Ugh,” Seb grunted. I did feel bad for him. The kid was turning thirteen in a few weeks, and he was being forced to tolerate “imaginative play.” I’d hate it too.

“This is so stupid,” he groaned, and Jude threw his hands out in response.

“I told you, you coulda stayed with Brooke.”

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