Asher
I offered to do nights, but Hallie turned me down.
Ben
Of course she turned you down. Because they’re our kids. Not yours.
Asher
Growly Daddy Ben is Hot Daddy Ben.
Jeremy
Asher, I would shut the fuck up if I were you. Ben hasn’t slept since the twins were born last month and murder is not out of the question, even if you are married to his sister.
Gabe
If you and Hallie want a break, give us a call. Molly and I can come hold down the fort for a while so you guys can nap.
Jeremy
Ems and I can come too. For sure the four of us can handle two tiny babies.
Asher
Jules and I too! We’ll throw ourselves a little party while mom and dad get some sleep.
The elevator doors open, and I step inside, swiping a hand over my face as a pang settles in my gut when I think about all of them being together. Once upon a time I would have been there too. With Allie. I shove that thought away because,not today, Satan.
Ben and Jeremy are my best friends from college. The three of us, along with Ben’s now wife Hallie, Julie, and their best friends and law partners Emma and Molly were a pretty tight group for a long time. Then Julie fell in love with Asher and, surprising no one, Jeremy finally gave in to a decade’s worth of feelings for Emma. When Molly reunited with tech billionaire Gabe Sullivan, her college sweetheart, it seemed like we were all destined to live happily ever after.
Until two years ago when my world crashed down around me, and I fled the job I loved, the city where I lived, and every good memory I had. Now, my best friend has newborn twins with the wife he loves more than life, the rest of my friends are rallying around them, and I just finished a shift in a job I don’t like and I’m on my way home to a two-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan that I hate.
Is it any wonder I’m grumpy and boring?
The elevator doors open and I’m making my way across the lobby when my phone chimes in my hand. When I check it, I’m not surprised to see a separate message from Jeremy. I don’t know how he does it, but somehow, he has my schedule memorized. He texts me at the end of every damn shift. In the two years I’ve been living here, he’s never stopped, no matter how short and sometimes nonexistent my responses are.
Jeremy
Hey, man, how’s it going?
Me
Same. Just heading home from the hospital.
Jeremy
No after work drinks?
Me
Nope.
Jeremy
That Lucas guy still hasn’t broken you down, huh?
Me
