Chapter 31
ALEX
Forty-five minutes and two hundred are we there yets after leaving my house, Ryder and I pull into Shane’s driveway in the Pacific Palisades.
Willa had the baby a couple of weeks ago, and Shane’s texts have been brief hilarious shit shows of typos and random emojis.
He’s battling insomnia again. I got an email from Grammie, of all people, inviting us over to meet baby Oliver and check in on Shane and Willa. Nico’s car is in the driveway too.
“Is that Tate’s car?!”
“Yup. Nico and Kat are here too.”
“Yessss! Can I stay and hang out with Tate and Lucky even if you leave?”
“Maybe.”
Truth is, I was planning on letting him stay here for the afternoon so my pulsing hot cock and I can spend some time with Emilia when she’s done at the library.
But first—good friends and babies and Grammie Todd.
“Help me carry this bag with the pies in it, okay?”
I give Ryder the shopping bag with my mom’s homemade pies in it and then grab the container of barbecue chicken I grilled this morning.
The Millers have a nanny, of course, but it’s her day off, and my mom insisted that people always bring food when they visit new parents.
Almost a full minute after buzzing at the front gate, we hear Grammie’s voice on the intercom.
“Hello, Vega men. You may enter.”
The gate clicks open, and Ryder looks up at me, frowning. “You didn’t tell me she’d be here,” he whispers.
I give him a wink, and so does Grammie when we walk up to the front door.
“Nice to see you again, Mr. Ryder. What did you bring me?” She holds her hands out to take the bag from him.
“Pies. From my grandma.”
“Pumpkin and apple, homemade,” I tell her, leaning in to give her an awkward kiss on the cheek as we enter the house and remove our shoes.
“I thought I told you to stop hitting on me, Tongue.”
“Old habits die hard, ma’am.”
And that’s when Grammie Todd gives me a little spank on the ass, and now I’m scared again. Even though this whole house smells like lavender, which is supposed to relax me.
“Kids are in the family room,” she tells Ryder. “Baby and grown-ups are in the kitchen,” she says to me. “Bring that meat and follow me.”
“Hey, I thought we weren’t going to hit on each other.” Ryder runs ahead of us. “No running in the house!”
“You look a little happier than you did when I last saw you at the happiest place on earth, Tongue.”
“I am. I really am.”
“I’m glad. I really am.”
Entering into the kitchen, I’m greeted with a vast picture window view of the ocean, Nico, Kat, Willa, and Shane—who’s holding the baby and looks like the Big Lebowski, if the Big Lebowski was in really great shape, wore an expensive robe, and had a better haircut.
“Vega, baby!” Nico says, relatively quietly, while stuffing a bagel in his mouth.
“Hey everybody,” I whisper, placing the food on the counter and going over to look at the baby in my friend’s arms.
“You don’t have to whisper,” Shane says. “He’s awake. He’s always awake. And so am I.”
I give Willa a kiss as I go over to wash my hands in the sink. “Can I hold him?” I find myself asking. The little peanut is so cute. I haven’t held a baby since I held my own, I don’t think.
“Fuck yeah, you can take him,” Shane says, smiling. “Work your magic on the little turd.”
“Is that Tom Ford Oud Wood?” Willa asks, inhaling my neck.
“It is.” I take the little nugget from Shane. I can’t believe how little this guy is.
“Mmm, that’s my favorite men’s woody scent,” she says.
Nico almost spits out his bagel. “You said men’s woody.”
She ignores her brother and continues sniffing me. “The amber note is strong on you. You going out later?” She grins. “This can’t possibly be your everyday cologne.”
“I have vague plans with a specific someone,” I say, staring down at the baby. He’s wide-eyed and gurgling. I didn’t realize it until now, but I want another one of these. It hits me hard.
After giving Willa and Kat a few details about my lady friend, minus the very important detail about her being my son’s teacher, I mention that Ryder doesn’t know about it yet.
“You haven’t introduced her to him yet?” Kat asks.
“Um. Actually, he has met her. He just doesn’t know we’re seeing each other yet.”
“Intriguing,” Willa says, eyeing me. “What does she smell like?”
“Cake and sex and books and sharpened pencils.”
She lowers her voice and smacks my arm with the back of her hand. “Is she a teacher? Is she Ryder’s teacher?!”
I give Shane a look.
“I didn’t tell her anything.” He shrugs. “She’s a scent detective.”
“That’s kind of hot.” Willa gives me a nudge. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
“Me too,” Kat says. “But tell me everything.”
I don’t. But I do talk shop with her for a while. She’s a photographer who also directs documentaries and music videos, and we have a similar aesthetic. When Tate calls her and Nico into the family room so they can watch his magic trick, Shane takes the baby from me and I grab a bite to eat.
There’s a slight chill in the air, and I realize Grammie is standing right behind me, watching me watch Shane and Willa with the baby.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” she says without looking at me. “Seeing him with his second wife. And a new baby.”
“I remember when he was just a shell of a man.” My voice cracks a little.
“Everyone deserves a second chance.”
“What about you?” I fix her with a friendly stare.
She continues to watch Shane and Willa, but she gives me a little shove. “Some of us got it right the first time.”
“You don’t need a second chance?”
“I’m good, kid. You get your own life in order, why don’t you?”
“Workin’ on it.”
I pull my phone out and find a text from Emilia, telling me that she’s home and about to get ready to go to the library with her dog for a couple of hours.
Half an hour later, I’m saying goodbye to everyone and dragging my reluctant son out the door. Because I want to get our lives in order. As soon as possible.
Shane lets Willa take the baby and walks us to the driveway.
We talk about the script I sent him—the love story.
Our old Wizard producer Barry is now attached to produce it, along with a more prestigious film producer.
But Barry is hungry and motivated, and he’s going to get independent funding for this project if Shane is attached to star in it.
“I love the script,” Shane says. “But I’m going to take the next half a year off to do baby duty. So Willa can work on her stuff. If that’s okay with you, timewise, I’ll call my agent and tell him to make it work with my schedule.”
“Absolutely. You know I’ve been dying to work with you on something. We’ll keep developing the script until then.”
“Great. I’m in. I’m glad you finally found a good love story,” he says, in that annoying knowing way that he has. Fucking intuitive actors.
I pull him into a hug. “You let me know if you need anything, okay? Anything at all.”
“I’d love to sleep eight hours a night for the rest of my life—that’d be great, thanks.”
“I’ll put in a few calls. See what I can do.”
As soon as I’m in the car, Ryder’s whining about having to leave his friends so soon.
“I’m sorry, buddy, but I’m going back to Silver Lake to see Miss Stiles.” I look at him in the rearview mirror to watch his reaction. “It’s too far for me to go there and then come back to get you. So you can come with me.”
He looks so happy and has instantly forgotten that he was complaining a second ago. I know I’m making the right decision. “Does Miss Stiles know we’re going to go see her?”
“Not exactly. It’s going to be a surprise.”
“Are you and Miss Stiles still talking about the holiday show?” he asks, grinning.
“We’ve gotten to be friends.”
“I think that’s good!”
“I do too.”
“Plus, she likes monkeys! So she’ll be cool with me getting one.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“Where are we going?!”
“To the library.”
Okay, so he isn’t very happy at the moment.
But he will be.
And so will I.