“Well, my gain,” Jax said. “Alice and I got bored at home—I’m on babysitting duty—so we decided to see what thrills central London had.”
Alice squirmed, and Jax put her back down. “We’ll have to follow her,” he said apologetically, but Afra waved him off.
“Is your sister busy again today?” Ari asked.
Jax hummed. “Yeah, some growing pains involved with a new job and moving to a new neighborhood, so I got conscripted for another afternoon of niece-minding.” His expression turned hopelessly fond. “Not that I mind.”
“No, I bet not. She’s pretty adorable.”
“You’re just saying that because she looks just like me.”
Afra smiled. “She does. Looks like she could be yours.”
Jax laughed. “Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his head as he stepped to follow Alice a few feet down the sidewalk. “I’m probably giving off all the dad vibes right now.” He cast Ari a mischievous grin. “What do you think, Ari, DILF or Weird Dad vibes?”
Ari glanced at Afra, then at Jax, and said, “I plead the Fifth.”
“He’s fishing for compliments anyway,” Afra advised.
Jax acknowledged the hit with a grin and allowed Alice to lead him to the playground, where she patted the slide in an obvious sign. Jax scooped her up and helped her “climb” the ladder to the top.
Afra clapped Ari on the shoulder. “You are completely fucked, bro.”
Ari nodded. “I think you may be right.”
They watched Jax with Alice for a few moments, during which Ari was uncomfortably aware that they had just picked the scab off a deep wound from Afra’s past and now they were getting awfully close to it with the salt. “Do you want to head back?”
But when he turned to look at her, she didn’t seem upset. She was smiling gently. “I do have to go, actually, but I’m fine. Weirdly fine. I think….” A shrug, a wry twist of her lips. “I think it’s easier now that I have a final answer, in a way. I’m not going to get pregnant. No more IVF, no more fertility treatments, no more waiting and wondering. We’ve already started the courses for foster to adopt.”
“If you’re sure,” he said doubtfully.
She ran a hand down his arm, squeezed his wrist. “I’m sure.” Then she jerked her head over her shoulder at Jax. “Say goodbye from me, will you?”
He promised, and she set off with her purse full of sugar, leaving Ari to pine helplessly over Jax’s adorable uncle act. Though he felt a little strange watching from afar—maybe he was coming across as a creeper? A quick glance around proved that no one was paying him any attention, but he stepped up to Jax’s side anyway, drawn inexorably into his orbit. “Afra had to run.”
When Alice shrieked with glee as she slid down into Jax’s arms, Ari understood the sentiment.
Jax lifted Alice onto his hip and nuzzled a kiss to her cheek. “Guess it’s just the three of us for this date, eh, Alice? You okay with Ari being the third wheel?”
“Ba!” Alice agreed.
“You’re right, heishandsome. We’ll allow it.”
“Thank you, Alice,” Ari said.
She patted Jax’s cheek.
Alice wanted to try the swing next. Jax produced a bleach wipe from the diaper bag. “Would you mind?” he asked, handing it to Ari. “New-old habits.”
Ari dutifully sanitized the plastic over the chains and the swing, but he was still thinking about the worddate… and the fact that they had never actually been on one. “Speaking of dates….”
Jax wrangled Alice into the baby swing, making silly faces at her all the while. When he looked up at Ari, he was still cross-eyed with his tongue sticking out. He uncrossed them and raised his eyebrows. “Yes?”
Oh, so he was going to make Ari work for it. “It occurs to me that I have been remiss in taking you out and showing you off.”
“I do thrive in the spotlight.” Jax gave Alice a little push, and she waved her hands in delight. “What are you proposing?”
That was the question. “Dinner would be traditional,” he said. “But that seems like it might not be possible with your work schedule.”
