“Wine?” Anya asks.
“I’ve got enough breast milk pumped to feed a small infant army. Yes please.”
“I’ve got her,” I tell Rosie when she turns for Olive.
She presses a kiss to my lips before following Anya back into the house.
I’m glad she’s letting loose a bit tonight. It’s already difficult with a four month old at home, but losing her mum almost completely has been tough. Thankfully Terry has done his best to be a doting granddad to ease the sting, andmy mother came over for the first two months to help, but I know the distance has been hard on her.
Olive wiggles in the stroller, her tiny arms stretching as she stirs. I can’t resist pulling her into my arms. She fusses for a few seconds, staring up at me with her big blue eyes so like her mother’s before she conks back out on my arm, face smushed into my tattoos. She just wanted a cuddle.
I spot Danny near the grill and wander over. “Hey, bro.”
Danny turns ready to hug me but spots the sleeping baby in my arm and awkwardly waves instead. “She looks comfortable.”
I chuckle, swaying side to side as Danny reverently touches Olive’s toes.
“Nice day for it,” I tell him.
“Yeah.” He turns back to the grill. “Though I’m sweating over here. I’m never doing this myself again.”
“As if Anya will let you hire a cook.”
Danny laughs. “It was a struggle to let her get a cleaner to come twice a year to deep clean. And even then we pay her double.”
Anya and Rosie are the same, as stubborn about clinging to as much normalcy as possible. It doesn’t matter that her husband can afford a fleet of staff, Anya would never allow it.
“God, that smells good,” Cassie says as she appears at my side, her red curls bouncing as she jumps on the balls of her feet.
“Here. You can have this non-burnt one.” Danny offers her a burger from the side.
“Non-burnt, you say?” Cassie asks as she assesses the charcoaled burger.
“You should have seen the ones I made before this.”
Cassie laughs as she takes a bite, her eyes rolling to the back of her head with a groan.
“Do you want to take one to yourfriend?” Danny asks her with a wiggle of his brows.
“A friend?” I ask, rounding on Cassie with a grin. “Who?”
Cassie takes an exaggerated bite of her burger, gesturing to her full mouth helplessly before spinning on her heel and escaping back into the crowd.
“Who’s the friend?” I ask Danny scanning the faces gathered. I don’t see anyone I don’t recognize.
He snorts, “Showed up just before you guys did, I haven’t had the–fuck’s sake,” he mutters as his attempt at flipping a burger ends with half of it splattered on the ground.
“I’ll go put the baby down and take over,” I pat Danny on the arm.
“That might be for the best.”
I turn back to the house and glance down at Olive who’s starting to blink back awake. “Let’s go find Mummy.”
48
ROSIE
“Well,at least Cleo didn’t show up,” Anya says, clinking her nearly empty glass to mine. I’ve spent the majority of my glass recounting my afternoon.
