Chaser (Dive Bar #3)(41)

But as for this whole face-kissing thing … fucking outrageous. Andre was seriously crossing a line. Where was Nell to lecture him when he needed it, huh?

“How are you doing?” he asked in a much warmer voice than was required. Making my hands curl into fists.

“Great,” said Jean, smiling on. “How about you?”

“Better now that I’ve seen the two cutest girls in town.”

Gag.

I grabbed Ada’s cloth out of my back pocket and wiped her chin before an impressively long line of dribble could hit the floor. Obviously, she was as unimpressed by Andre’s hustling as I was. The girl had taste.

Jean and Andre chatted for a minute, while I distracted myself by quietly singing Ada some Janis Joplin. “Me and Bobby McGee” was our go-to track, though she also enjoyed “Mercedes Benz.” “Cry Baby” would have been too obvious, plus possible subliminal messages that wouldn’t end well for anybody. I didn’t really know any proper baby songs, but she didn’t seem to mind. Jean didn’t seem to mind either. She always told me not to stop on her account. And the other day I heard her humming “Mercedes Benz” to Ada as she changed her diaper. Classic rock was everyone’s friend. Forget Mariah Carey and her Christmas carols playing over the store’s speakers.

“Right, Eric?” asked Andre.

“Huh?”

“She should come to the bar’s Christmas party next week,” he said. “Jean and the baby, right?”

Jean grimaced. “I don’t know…”

“Come on.” Andre grinned. “You can both be my dates. It’d be an honor.”

My heart stuttered. I swear, it stopped for like a second or something. She had been getting cabin fever lately being stuck at home with Ada all the time. Given the frosty weather conditions, it wasn’t like even going for a walk was easy.

“It is just downstairs and there’ll be plenty of people to help look after Ada,” I said.

A kind of light came into her eyes. Excitement, perhaps. “You think?”

“Sure. You should come.”

Later I’d kick myself for not asking her before Andre. Later.

“It’ll be fun. You’ll have a good time,” I rambled on. “Stupid of me not to have asked you already. We’ve just been so slammed at work with all the Christmas party bookings and everything. Damn.”

“Snooze and you lose,” quipped Andre. Never had I wanted to kill a friend quite so much. Strangle him with tinsel or something equally fitting for the festive season.

“Okay,” said Jean, still a little hesitant. “That would be great. Thank you. We accept your kind invitation.”

“Excellent.” Andre leaned down and kissed her on the cheek again. Bastard. “I’ve got to keep going, but I’ll see you later.”

“Bye.” Jean stared after him, wistfully or something. Whatever it was, I didn’t like it. “Eric, wasn’t that nice of him?”

I grunted.

She slipped one of her fingers into Ada’s tiny grip. “We’ve got a hot date, baby girl.”

I was going to smother the son of a bitch to death in his sleep. Either that or insist he join me on the celibacy wagon. Death or abstinence, the man had a choice.

All right, so maybe there was a little jealousy. Maybe Nell was right that I sucked at being just friends. But I gritted my teeth and held back the venomous snipe at Andre burning on the tip of my tongue. Fake it ’til you make it and all that. One thing was for certain, this personal growth thing hurt.

“Come to my folks’ place with me, Christmas Day,” I blurted out. “You should … yeah. No reason to spend the day on your own. Mom would love having you and Ada there. Also, she’s a great cook.”

Her mouth opened.

“I mean, Dad’s a bit of a downer, but you just ignore him. Grumpy old bastard. I mean, if they ever flicked the switch and sent up nukes, he’d probably be like,”—I lowered my voice—“‘about time.’”

“Oh, Eric, I—”

“We should do this. It’ll be great. Please?”

“We’ve already got plans,” she said with a wince. “Sorry. Nell already invited us to spend the day with her and Pat. Lydia and Vaughan.”

Shit. Too late again.

“She did?”

Jean nodded. “Sorry.”

“No worries.” I smiled at her so hard my cheeks hurt. “I mean I think it’s great that you’re getting out and having some fun. Better that than climbing the walls.”

“Me too,” she said. “This whole mommy business kind of takes over your life, becomes your whole identity. I love Ada. But it’ll be good when there’s a little room for me to be me too.” She paused, frowning a little. “God, she’s only a month old. Does that sound completely awful of me?”

“No,” I said simply. Honestly, I could hardly get my head around how much of her life Jean had been willing to put on hold. It was almost scary what some people were capable of doing.

The smile she gave me was slow and it spread across her entire face. More beautiful than any dawn I’d ever seen. All I could do was stare dumbstruck at her magnificence.

“Thank you,” she said.