Chapter 3
Chapter 3
J ordan entered, Nash in her arms and still wailing, Charlotte strangling her legs and also joining the cacophony. Amelia trailed helplessly behind, trying to calm one or both of the kids.
“Hey, buddy,” Ethan tried, reaching for Nash while Ribs knelt next to Charlotte, trying to coax a smile. Absently he wondered if a love of children ran proportionate to testosterone because he and all of his buddies loved kids. In fact he couldn’t think of one guy who didn’t love them, even the ones who were averse to commitment went gooey at the sight of a cute baby.
No such luck, though. The kids wanted their mother and only their mother who currently looked close to tears herself.
“New idea: Jordan can tend to the kids and we can get supper,” Amelia said, taking charge. She bypassed them and began setting things out. Ethan joined her, opening a drawer to find hot pads. Jordan sat and pulled both kids into her arms.
“Can I get you anything?” Ribs asked her, still kneeling from his attempt to woo Charlotte.
“No,” she said, tossing him a distracted smile as she rubbed the baby’s back and patted Charlotte. “They don’t spend a lot of time away from me. I think maybe it was a little traumatizing.”
“Where’s Daddy?” Charlotte wailed.
“He had to go to work,” Jordan said. Ribs heard the weariness in her tone and hid his wince. She was exhausted, had been exhausted since Charlotte was born, and where was Shimmer?
He’d better have a good excuse for dodging his family, and it had better not involve another woman, Ribs thought, reaching for his phone.
“Guess what? I have a video of Smokey on here.” Last time he was in town they went to Ridge and Maggie’s house for supper. The kids went wild for their dog, Smokey, who loved them in turn. Ribs had grabbed a video, with a prescient understanding that he might need to use it to impress them. Today they weren’t impressed, but they did stop crying as he pulled up the video and turned it to face them.
Thank you, Jordan mouthed, tossing him a tired smile. He realized, belatedly, that she always looked tired lately. Her eyes were shadowed, rims red. An air of heaviness and exhaustion radiated off her and he wondered when she’d last slept a full night.
Ethan’s eyes burned a hole in him, and he refused to look because he already knew he was treading dangerously. Not with his nearness to Jordan and the kids, there was nothing untoward or unusual in that. He’d always been hands-on, willing to pick them up, read to them, change diapers. But there was something new there, something that had never happened before—a simmering resentment toward Shimmer and his absence. Ribs had never taken sides before, and now that he had he realized he was squarely in Jordan’s camp. She was clearly drowning, being pulled under by the heavy weight of motherhood, and where was her husband? Not working like he said, and that was ominous.
I need space, Ribs thought, forcing himself to take a breath because he knew Ethan was right. No good would come of putting himself in their marriage. For twelve years he had managed to keep the proper space and distance. Messing that up now would only end in pain for everyone.
His phone beeped. The kids whimpered when he paused the video of Smokey to check it. “It’ll just take a second,” he promised as he glanced at the text, coincidentally from Smokey’s owner, Ridge.
Are you available for an assignment?
Ridge wasn’t his boss, but they worked in the same interchangeable realm, enabling Ribs to take the odd assignment when Ridge needed another hand. It was usually something that needed kid gloves and the thought of something Ribs could sink his teeth into had never been more welcome.
Yes. What’s up?
Jones. Got a situation. Go forth and be tropical.
Ribs smiled as he flicked the screen back to the video of Smokey. They’d all piled on Jones when he took the cushy job on a remote island, but now Ribs was glad. Getting away and clearing his head had never felt more appealing. By the time he returned, he was certain Jordan and Shimmer would have sorted their problems. And if they didn’t, it was still no business of his.
His eyes flicked to Jordan as she lovingly caressed Nash’s neck, kissing the top of his head and pausing to inhale his baby scent. His heart kicked and he turned away. No business of mine. None whatsoever. I’m sure wherever Shimmer is, he has a good reason.
“ Y ou did what?” After the Jones situation was sorted and settled, Ribs returned to work and arranged a lunch with Shimmer, hoping to touch base and get some answers, if only about where he went when he left for his assignment a day early.
“I got a vasectomy.” As if to drive the point home, Shimmer slid his finger across his throat in a motion of finality.
“Without telling Jordan?” Ribs said, aghast. Granted he wasn’t married, but even he knew it was the sort of thing husbands and wives were supposed to discuss.
Shimmer shrugged. “She’d been getting that look in her eye again, the I-want-a-baby look the last few weeks. Had to be done.”
“I don’t understand,” Ribs said slowly.
Shimmer let out a breath and swiped a hand wearily over his face. “Look, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, okay? That first decade, when it was only me and Jordan, things were fire. And then the kids came along and everything changed.”
“You love your kids,” Ribs insisted.
“I do,” Shimmer said earnestly. “But having them took a battering ram to our relationship. Nothing has been the same since. Jordan is exhausted all the time, the kids always come first. We can’t get a break, a minute to think, let alone…” He broke off and shook his head. “She’s not rational when it comes to babies. Someday she’ll agree this was the right decision. We’re done, we need to be done.”
Ribs didn’t reply, but he had grave doubts. Knowing Jordan as he did, she wouldn’t take kindly to Shimmer making such a massive life decision without her input. And knowing how much she loved her kids—despite her ongoing exhaustion—learning she would never have another would be a blow, probably a big one.
“What are you going to do when she’s ready to start trying and magically can’t get pregnant again?” Ribs asked.
Shimmer faltered, frowning. “I’ll face that when we get there. In the meantime I’ll start prepping her, slipping in things about needing to be done, that kind of stuff. Maybe she’ll agree with me and it won’t even be an issue.” He picked up his cup and took a drink while Ribs stared at him. He was concerned and uncertain but, as he’d so recently reminded himself, this wasn’t his business. At least Shimmer wasn’t running around on Jordan. That was a massive relief, even if an entirely new set of issues had been unleashed.
Not my problem, Ribs reminded himself. “How are things otherwise? With you, I mean. You’ve seemed a little…off or something the last few months.”
“Nah,” Shimmer said, shrugging off his concern. “It’s been a lot, you know, with Jordan and the kids and work. Normal stuff, nothing I can’t handle. Tell me about Jones and the girl.”
“You should have seen Jonesie with her, it was hilarious.”
Shimmer smiled, the first real smile Ribs had seen in a while. “Start from the beginning and tell me everything. Is the job as cushy as we imagine?”
“Cushier,” Ribs said, leaning in as he really got in to his story.
They ended lunch on a good note, the best encounter they’d had in months, if not years. It made Ribs realize an odd sort of tension had crept between them. He had no idea what it was or where it had come from, but he was relieved it now felt gone. Maybe fatherhood had weighed even heavier than Ribs realized. Maybe the relief of taking the possibility of another off the table had fixed everything, not only between Jordan and Shimmer but with Shimmer himself.
Whatever the reason, Ribs felt optimistic as they said goodbye, not only for Shimmer but for his relationship with Jordan, too. They were solid and committed; whatever issues they had, they would work them out, he was certain. As the best friend, he’d be on standby to make certain. Or at least whenever he was around, which wasn’t often these days. Someday they’d all be old and retired and they’d have more time. Until then, he was always on standby, a part time friend with a fulltime kind of love.
That’s pretty good, I should write it down, he thought, smiling as he jogged to his car.
Later he would remember it as the last good day in a seemingly unending nightmare.